Bill Gates to Give Away Nearly All His Wealth, Sets a Deadline: “A Man Who Dies Rich Dies Disgraced”

Bill Gates has announced that he plans to donate nearly all of his wealth, estimated at $200 billion, within the next 20 years, before closing his Gates Foundation.

Bill Gates says he has decided to close his foundation on December 31, 2045.

When he founded the foundation in 2000, the plan was for it to continue long after his death, but he now wants to accelerate the donation process, reports CNN.

Gates expressed a desire to use his donations to accelerate global initiatives in health and equal rights, hoping his example would inspire other billionaires to join the "Giving Pledge", an initiative he launched with Melinda and Warren Buffett in 2010.

This initiative now has over 240 signatories.

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Gates believes the time to donate is now, due to urgent global challenges. His foundation has already donated over $100 billion, including funding for vaccine development and the fight against global diseases.

He wrote about all of this in a personal essay published on the foundation’s website.

“When I first started thinking about how to give away my wealth, I did what I always do when starting a new project – I read a lot of books. I studied the lives of great philanthropists and their foundations to make the right decisions about giving back to society. I also read about global health to better understand the problems I wanted to solve.

One of the best texts I read was an 1889 essay by Andrew Carnegie called The Gospel of Wealth. It argues that the rich have a responsibility to return their resources to society – a radical idea at the time, which laid the foundation for modern philanthropy.

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The most famous line from that essay is: “The man who dies rich dies disgraced.” I’ve been thinking a lot about that line lately. People will say many things about me when I die, but I’m determined that ‘he died rich’ won’t be one of them. There are too many urgent problems to hold onto resources that could help others.

That’s why I’ve decided to return my wealth to society much faster than I originally planned. Over the next 20 years, I will give away nearly all of my wealth through the Gates Foundation, to save and improve lives around the world. And on December 31, 2045, the foundation will permanently close its doors.

In the next two decades, I will donate nearly all my wealth through the Gates Foundation, to save and improve lives around the world.

This marks a shift from our original plan. When Melinda and I established the Gates Foundation in 2000, we included a clause in its original charter: the organization would wind down a few decades after our deaths. A few years ago, I began to question that approach. More recently, with guidance from the board, I now believe we can achieve the foundation’s goals in a shorter timeframe – especially if we double down on key investments and provide more certainty for our partners.

In its first 25 years – partly thanks to the generosity of Warren Buffett – the Gates Foundation has donated over $100 billion. Over the next 20 years, we will double that. The exact amount will depend on markets and inflation, but I expect the foundation will spend over $200 billion by 2045. That includes both remaining endowment funds and my future contributions.

This decision comes at a moment of personal reflection. In addition to the foundation’s 25th anniversary, this year marks several other milestones: my father, who helped me start the foundation, would have turned 100; Microsoft celebrates its 50th anniversary; and I turn 70 this October.

That means I’m now officially at the age where many people retire. And while I respect anyone who chooses to spend their days playing pickleball, that life isn’t for me – at least not completely. I’m fortunate to wake up every morning full of energy and excited to work. I look forward to continuing to fill my days with strategy reviews, partner meetings, and learning trips, as long as I can.

The mission of the Gates Foundation is still based on the idea that where you are born should not determine your life chances. I’m excited to see how our next chapter continues to move the world closer to a future where everyone, everywhere, has the opportunity to live a healthy and fulfilling life,” he wrote at the beginning of his letter.