Bill Gates announced today that the Gates Foundation, the philanthropic organization he founded 25 years ago, will spend down the entirety of its funds within the next two decades, closing its doors by 2045. Gates revealed his intention to donate 99% of his fortune—currently estimated at approximately $107 billion—to his foundation, directing that all of its remaining assets be fully expended over the coming 20 years. Through continued contributions and capital growth, the foundation is projected to distribute more than $200 billion during this period.
Explaining the motivation behind this significant decision, Gates wrote on his personal blog, Gates Notes, that this year represented a moment of deep reflection for him. This year marks several crucial anniversaries, including his own upcoming 70th birthday, Microsoft’s 50th year, and what would have been his father’s 100th birthday. Gates’s father was instrumental in helping first establish the philanthropic foundation that now ranks among the world’s most influential in fields like global health, education, gender equality, and sustainable development.
Originally, Gates had instructed that the foundation’s operations continue until 20 years after his death. Thus, today’s announcement represents a sharp acceleration in plans for winding down the organization. At age 69, Gates remains in good health, and his earlier directive had left operations open-ended for potentially decades more.
The magnitude of Gates’s projected donation would constitute the second-largest charitable gift in U.S. history when adjusted for inflation. Warren Buffett, whose wealth currently surpasses $160 billion, is expected to ultimately hold the record for the largest gift.
Since its founding, the Gates Foundation has disbursed over $100 billion primarily to struggling communities around the globe, helping fight persistent and deadly diseases such as malaria, improving education outcomes, and strengthening access to healthcare in impoverished regions. The foundation anticipates maintaining an annual giving rate of about $9 billion through 2045.
Gates’s announcement arrives at a crucial juncture in international aid, coinciding with recent dramatic cuts proposed by the Trump administration to U.S. foreign assistance programs, including deep reductions in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which currently administers approximately $35 billion in aid each year. The Gates Foundation’s continued commitments—especially at a scale that surpasses many national agencies—underscore both the organization’s pivotal role in global health and development and Gates’s intensified sense of urgency about delivering impactful philanthropy promptly and effectively.
