On its 25th anniversary, the Gates Foundation has announced that it is winding down – but in 20 years’ time, during which it expects to spend $200 billion.

“During the first 25 years of the Gates Foundation – powered in part by the generosity of Warren Buffett – we gave away more than $100 billion. Over the next two decades, we will double our giving,” said Bill Gates,  foundation chair in post on Thursday.

“The exact amount will depend on the markets and inflation, but I expect the foundation will spend more than $200 billion between now and 2045.”

The funding pledged exceeds the foundation’s current endowment, with the balance coming over time from Gates’ personal fortune.

‘The man who dies rich dies disgraced’

Gates said he did not want to “die rich”, but that he had initially planned for the foundation to wind down decades after his death.

However, he was influenced by an 1889 essay by Andrew Carnegie called The Gospel of Wealth which “makes the case that the wealthy have a responsibility to return their resources to society” and argues that “the man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.”

This notion is as radical today as Carnegie’s article was then, given the era of widening wealth inequality and the concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands.

The foundation’s charter initially stated that the organisation would sunset 20 years after Gates’ death.

“There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people. That is why I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned,” writes Gates.

“I will give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world.”

The foundation intends to “much progress as possible towards three primary goals”:

• ending preventable deaths of mothers and babies;
• ensuring the next generation grows up without having to suffer from deadly infectious diseases;
• and lifting millions of people out of poverty, putting them on a path to prosperity.

Additional areas of focus will continue to be:

• helping US students to prosperity; 
• strengthening digital public infrastructure so more people have access to the financial and social services that foster inclusive economies and open, competitive markets
• applying new uses of artificial intelligence, which can accelerate the quality and reach of services, from health to education to agriculture
• Lifting up women, their families, and their communities by advancing gender equality to help women access education, health care, and financial services.

“Underpinning all our work—on health, agriculture, education, and beyond—is a focus on gender equality. Half the world’s smallholder farmers are women, and women stand to gain the most when they have access to education, health care, and financial services,” Gates notes.

Urgency and opportunity

This announcement comes in the midst of tens of billions of dollars in cuts to aid funding “that stand to have devastating consequences for the world’s poorest people”, according to the foundation

“The shift in the sunset date is driven by urgency and opportunity. The foundation hopes to capitalise on the extraordinary global progress in health and development between 2000 and 2025—a period when child deaths were halved, deaths from deadly infectious diseases were significantly reduced,” according to a media release from the foundation.

“The needs at this time are greater than any we’ve seen in the lifetime of the foundation, but the achievements of the past 25 years have shown the tremendous progress that is still possible,” said Mark Suzman, CEO and board member of the Gates Foundation. 

Since 2000, the Gates Foundation has contributed to saving 82 million lives through its support for the vaccine alliance, Gavi, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. 

“Along with Rotary International, we have been a key partner in reviving the effort to eradicate polio. We supported the creation of a new vaccine for rotavirus that has helped reduce the number of children who die from diarrhoea each year by 75%,” wrote Gates.

The foundation has also helped develop more than 100 innovations, including vaccines, diagnostic tools, and treatments to address pressing global health problems.  

“The truth is, there have never been more opportunities to help people live healthier, more prosperous lives. Advances in technology are happening faster than ever, especially with artificial intelligence on the rise,” writes Gates. 

“Even with all the challenges that the world faces, I’m optimistic about our ability to make progress—because each breakthrough is yet another chance to make someone’s life better.

 “The work of making the world better is and always has been a group effort. I am proud of everything the foundation accomplished during its first 25 years, but I also know that none of it would have been possible without fantastic partners,” says Gates. “I believe we can leave the next generation better off and better prepared to fight the next set of challenges.”

Image Credits: ©Gates Foundation/ Prashant Panjiar, Andrew Esiebo/ Gates Archive, Gates Foundation.