May 9, 2025: In a landmark philanthropic commitment, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently pledged to give away 99% of his estimated $108 billion estate over the next two decades. This effort will coincide with the final shutdown of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation by Dec. 31, 2045, roughly decades ahead of when it originally planned to dissolve.
Bill Gates explained this decision in a blog entry, citing a wish to quicken the foundation’s influence on world health, education, and poverty reduction. He reiterated that his legacy should not be measured by the accumulation of wealth, saying, “People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them.”
The Gates Foundation, which he and his then-wife, Melinda French Bill Gates , founded in 2000, has already donated more than $100 billion to causes. With this latest commitment, the foundation will spend another $200 billion by 2045 on eliminating diseases such as polio and malaria, lowering maternal and child mortality, and bringing millions out of poverty.
Gates’s choice is guided by Andrew Carnegie’s 1889 essay, “The Gospel of Wealth,” which calls for the rich to give back their wealth to society. He repeated Carnegie’s words, saying, “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.”
This news comes amid several milestones: the 25th anniversary of his father’s foundation, Microsoft’s 50th anniversary, and what would have been his dad’s 100th birthday had he lived. Gates mused on these circumstances, saying, “This is a moment of reflection for me.”
The foundation’s expedited agenda is also an answer to new global challenges, such as the slashing of international aid budgets. Gates condemned these cuts, saying that they have the potential to unravel decades of gains in world health and development.
Though stepping away from direct day-to-day operation, Gates remains very much in the driver’s seat for guiding the direction of the foundation. He remains strong in calling for more philanthropy globally and exhorting his fellow billionaires to devote greater assets to combating world problems.
As the Gates Foundation enters its last two decades, its purpose never wavers: to extend lives and enhance equity globally. Gates’s record-breaking commitment establishes a new benchmark for philanthropy as a testament to a deep commitment to a better future for everyone. Keep Reading Questiqa.us for more news.
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