World of Philanthropy is Abuzz After Bill Gates' Announcement

The Gates Foundation has announcement that it will ramp up its spending to $200 billion over a 20-year period - then close its doors at the end of 2045.

Bill Gates told Fortune that the commitment will help the foundation eradicate or dramatically reduce the world’s deadliest diseases and cut maternal and child mortality rates to a fraction of what they are. “By spending the money sooner than later, it allows us to be very ambitious,” he said. Over two decades ago, The Gates Foundation was established to "create a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life," and now it is going to turbo-charge its mission for the benefit of millions of people.

While “spend down” foundations are becoming more popular, the decision by the world’s largest private foundation is a marked departure from other such large organizations. The charitable endeavors of the industrialists of old, such as the Fords and Carnegies, were set up to endure for generations.

“This is by far the most significant kind of example that we’ll have of a spend-down foundation,” Michael Moody, a professor of philanthropic studies at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, says. “People will be watching this as an example.”

The move comes at a fraught time for global public health and the charitable sector more broadly, with the Trump administration dismantling the country’s international aid infrastructure and the agency that oversees it, while also cutting domestic programs designed to help the most vulnerable.

For Wendy McGrady, Chair of Giving USA, said: “Perhaps there is a line in the sand to say, let’s not do it incrementally. Let’s go all out.”