Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has announced his most definitive plan yet for giving away his fortune: nearly all of it. In a blog post published Thursday, Gates announced that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will cease operations by December 31, 2045, and that he will spend the next two decades accelerating the distribution of his wealth to tackle the world’s most urgent problems.
“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,” Gates, 69, wrote. “There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people.”
Currently valued at $168 billion by Bloomberg, Gates has long pledged to donate most of his wealth. But Thursday’s announcement marked a turning point: not just a commitment, but a deadline. Since its inception in 2000, the Gates Foundation has already contributed more than $100 billion toward global health, poverty eradication, education, and climate-related programs. Gates now estimates it could double that figure by 2045, provided that market conditions remain relatively stable.
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The foundation’s annual spending will also increase, from $6 billion to $9 billion, according to Gates.
Among the foundation’s core priorities for the next 20 years:
- Reducing maternal and child mortality from preventable causes
- Supporting the eradication of diseases like polio, malaria, measles, and Guinea worm
- Advancing agricultural and educational systems in African nations to help “hundreds of millions of people break free from poverty”
Gates also acknowledged that philanthropy alone is not enough to close the widening gap in global aid, especially as governments, particularly the United States, continue to slash their foreign aid budgets.
“No philanthropic organization — even one the size of the Gates Foundation — can make up the gulf in funding that’s emerging right now,” Gates wrote. “It’s unclear whether the world’s richest countries will continue to stand up for its poorest people.”
His announcement came just hours before The New York Times published an interview in which he harshly criticized Elon Musk for playing a role in the dismantling of U.S. foreign aid efforts. Gates cited the closure of USAID and the sharp rollback of government support for global health programs under Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), calling the impact “stunning.”
“If foreign aid keeps dropping, the five million kids who die every year could become six million,” Gates warned in the interview. “The world’s richest man has been involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children.”
The Gates Foundation has operated as one of the most powerful philanthropic vehicles in modern history, and its closure will mark the end of a significant chapter in global development aid. Gates explained in his post that the foundation’s mission will not be to live forever but to achieve maximum impact within a set timeframe.
Gates noted that the personal motivation behind this shift is rooted in values instilled by his late parents. His mother, Mary Gates, was a firm believer in the idea that “to whom much is given, much is expected,” and his father served as co-chair of the foundation until he died in 2020.
“I was just a steward of any wealth,” Gates recalled being told. “I had a moral and societal obligation to give back.”
He also credited Warren Buffett, longtime friend and fellow philanthropist, with influencing his worldview.
“He was the first one who introduced me to the idea of giving everything away,” Gates wrote. Buffett has already donated tens of billions to the Gates Foundation and has instructed his heirs to give away 99% of his remaining fortune after his death.
Gates, his then-wife Melinda French Gates, and Buffett co-founded the Giving Pledge in 2010, which now has over 240 signatories committing to donate most of their wealth.
Gates cited 19th-century industrialist Andrew Carnegie’s essay, The Gospel of Wealth, as another pivotal influence. One quote in particular, he said, had stayed with him: “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.”
“I have spent a lot of time thinking about that quote lately,” Gates wrote. “I hope other wealthy people consider how much they can accelerate progress for the world’s poorest if they increased the pace and scale of their giving.”
Despite his sharp tone on aid cuts, Gates remains hopeful about the world’s trajectory, particularly with regard to technological advances and artificial intelligence.
“I think it’s objective to say to you that things will be better in the next 20 years,” he told The Times, though he added that his philanthropy is not dependent on optimism.
“Let’s say somebody convinced me otherwise,” Gates said. “What am I going to do? Just go buy a bunch of boats or something? Go gamble? This money should go back to society in the way that it has the best chance of causing something positive to happen.”
As for the 2045 end date of the Gates Foundation, Gates said he hopes it encourages both urgency and focus.
“We’re setting a finish line so we can run faster,” he said.
Gates made it clear that his legacy would not be built on hoarded wealth but on how much of it had been returned to the world. His decision is expected to inspire other billionaires to follow suit.