Bill Gates To close the foundation, give away the rest of the assets by 2045

Bill Gates plans to give away almost all of his personal assets and exclude the Gates Foundation within 20 years, the billionaire said on Thursday in a blog post.

“People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that 'he died rich' not one of them will not be,” wrote Gates, 69.

The co-founder of Microsoft, whose net assets Bloomberg is currently estimated at $ 168 billion, has committed itself to giving away most of his assets to his Philanthropic foundation for years. His ultimate goal is to “give up the list of the richest people in the world”, he wrote in a social media post in July 2022.

Now Gates has set a specific schedule for the payment of his assets: The Gates Foundation will close its doors on December 31, 2045. Since the start of the foundation in 2000, it has contributed more than 100 billion US dollars for global causes – in particular the extermination of diseases and poverty, climate change and access to medical and education.

Gates estimates that the foundation will be able to double this total and to distribute another 200 million US dollars by 2045, depending on factors such as inflation and market performance. He plans to increase his annual budget of 6 to 9 billion US dollars.

He wrote about his goals for the next two decades:

• Further reduction in the death of mothers and small children by avoidable causes
• Help
• Financing progress in education and agriculture in the African nations to help “hundreds of millions of people to free themselves from poverty”

While Gates is “hopeful”, the foundation can achieve these goals, but it is also realistic: “None of these progress is possible without a partnership between governments,” he wrote. His announcement is made at a time when the governments of the world, especially the United States, reduced their global aid budgets “by tens of billions of dollars”.

Gates commented concerns that philanthropic organizations like his will not be able to fill the emptiness in global help that have left the recent state cuts.

“No philanthropic organization – also one of the size of the Gates Foundation – can make up the golf in the financing that is currently appearing,” he wrote. “It is unclear whether the richest countries in the world will continue to stand up for its poorest people.”

Gates described the influences in his life, which shaped his commitment to the philanthropy, starting with his mother Mary Gates, who died in 1994. She was a determined creditor of the idea that “who” is given a lot, “wrote Gates.

After Microsoft had become successful and Gates reminded the richest person in the world for a time, he reminded him that he “was only an administrator of any wealth” that he accumulated and that he had a moral and social obligation to return something, he wrote. Gates' father shared the same view and was co-chair of the Gates Foundation until his death in 2020.

The attitude of gates compared to philanthropy was also influenced by the long -time friend and billionaire Warren Buffett, who already donated tens of billions of dollars to charity organizations and commissioned his children 99% of his remaining assets after death. Buffett “remains the ultimate model of generosity,” wrote Gates. “He was the first to present me with the idea to give away everything.”

Together with Buffett, Gates and today's ex-wife Melinda French, the Giving Pledge was in 2010. Since then, more than 240 billionaires have signed and undertook to give away most of their assets in their lives.

In his post, Gates also cited the influence of the steel engine for gilded age, Andrew Carnegie, whose essay “The Gospel of Wealth” from 1889 is seen as a model for modern philanthropy. When Gates read this essay decades ago, he said that he was impressed by the line, “the man who dies so dies, dies ashamed”.

“I have spent a lot of time recently to think about this quote,” Gates wrote and added that it influenced his decision to move faster with his donations. “I hope to think about other wealthy people how much they can accelerate progress for the poorest of the world if they increase the pace and the yardstick of their giving because it is such a deeply effective way of returning society.”

Gates is “naturally an optimistic person” who expects many global conditions to improve in the coming decades, which is mainly due to progress in technology and healthcare, he said to the New York Times on Thursday. At least some of these progress, he said, could be inspired by the rapid scaling of artificial intelligence.

“I think it's the goal of telling them that things will be better in the next 20 years,” said Gates.

However, he noticed that he was still inclined to philanthropy if he didn't feel optimistic.

“Let's say someone else convinced me,” said Gates. “What should I do? Just buy a few boats or so? Go gamble? This money should return to society, as is the best chance to cause something positive.”

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