Recently, Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and the world’s most recognized philanthropist, laid out an ambitious plan. His plan is to give away almost all of his fortune and shutter the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in the next two decades. Gates’ ambition now is to be the first on the list of the world’s billionaires to become zero. Of course he hopes that his legacy is seen primarily for the good he did for global health and education, not what he left behind in wealth.
The foundation currently is slated to close its doors on December 31, 2045. Since its establishment in the year 2000, the foundation has donated over $100 billion to a range of global causes. Gates’ intention to increase its annual budget from $6 billion per year to $9 billion. This boost will focus on critical areas such as maternal and child health, disease elimination, and poverty reduction.
For his part, Gates has expressed concern. He worries that philanthropic institutions—like his own—will not be able to fill the gap left by governments cutting their global assistance. He stated, “No philanthropic organization — even one the size of the Gates Foundation — can make up the gulf in funding that’s emerging right now.” Such a focus highlights the urgency he is feeling in tackling some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
Over the next 20 years Gates would like to see that number drop dramatically by preventing their deaths in the first place. His ambitious goals to achieve the eradication of polio, malaria, measles and Guinea-worm disease are clear examples of that. He says he wants to pour billions into education and agricultural advances in African countries. …his main goal is to get hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
More notably, Gates understands that achieving such ambitious goals will take constant and deliberate partnership with governments around the globe. He remains hopeful that the foundation can meet its set objectives while influencing other wealthy individuals to consider their own philanthropic contributions. “I hope other wealthy people consider how much they can accelerate progress for the world’s poorest if they increased the pace and scale of their giving,” he remarked.
Gates’ devotion to philanthropy is informed by his childhood and guided by his mother, Mary Gates. She taught him that “to whom much is given much is expected.” This philosophy has guided his approach to giving, encouraging him to focus on widely impactful initiatives rather than individual personal wealth accumulation.
So he takes a lot of inspiration from Warren Buffett. Buffett has publicly committed to give away the bulk of his fortune to philanthropic initiatives, and is pushing his children to do the same. In discussing his views on philanthropy, Gates noted, “I have spent a lot of time thinking about that quote lately,” referring to Andrew Carnegie’s statement, “the man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.”
Gates remains optimistic about the future and believes that significant improvements in global conditions are possible within the next two decades. “I think it’s objective to say to you that things will be better in the next 20 years,” he asserted, attributing this optimism largely to ongoing advances in technology and healthcare.
It’s pretty clear that Gates is preparing for a post-foundation future. He encourages us to think deeply about our own motivations, and the impact we genuinely want to create. He really insisted on the idea that he didn’t want to be remembered for how rich he was, but what he did. “People will say a lot of things about me when I die,” he said, “but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them.”
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