Why Bill Gates is giving away his money faster

Summary

Consider This from NPR: Why Bill Gates is Giving Away His Money Faster

Release Date: May 12, 2025

In this compelling episode of NPR's Consider This, host Ari Shapiro delves into billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates' groundbreaking decision to accelerate his philanthropic efforts. The conversation explores Gates' motivations, the strategic focus of his accelerated giving, and the broader implications for global health and philanthropy.

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1. Gates's Philanthropic Legacy

The episode opens by reflecting on Bill Gates' legacy, questioning how he wishes to be remembered. An email from Linda in Princeton sets the stage for this introspection.

Bill Gates [00:28]: "Well, I, I don't care about being remembered, of course."

Gates, co-founder of Microsoft, established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000 alongside his then-wife Melinda. By 2010, the foundation had become a powerhouse in global health, contributing nearly as much annually as the World Health Organization. Over the years, it has been instrumental in saving over 80 million lives through initiatives targeting vaccines, AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.

Despite these monumental achievements, Gates expressed a desire not to etch his name into history permanently. He envisioned the foundation as a temporary vehicle for change, not a lasting legacy.

Bill Gates [01:17]: "No. The foundation should spend all its money and go out of business and then other foundations will come along."

2. The $200 Billion Accelerated Giving Plan

Fifteen years after his initial statements on legacy, Gates announced a significant shift in his philanthropic strategy. He revealed plans to spend over $200 billion within the next 20 years, effectively closing the foundation once his wealth is depleted.

Bill Gates [03:43]: "Well, I've learned a lot in the last 25 years, including the incredible impact that these resources can have... I'd like to make sure we do as much as we can in these 20 years."

This decision underscores Gates' urgency to address pressing global issues, leveraging both his accumulated wealth and the advancements in technology to maximize impact within a defined timeframe.

3. Focus Areas: Health, Agriculture, and Education

Gates elaborates on the specific areas his accelerated giving will target:

• Agriculture: Improving seed quality and educating farmers, particularly in Africa, to combat low productivity amidst climate change and population growth.

• Health: Ambitious goals like curing HIV and treating diseases such as sickle cell at a fraction of current costs.

• Education: Continued investments to uplift millions out of poverty through better educational frameworks.

Bill Gates [04:54]: "Well, one of the areas we work in is agriculture... curing HIV, curing sickle cell... please go full speed ahead."

These initiatives reflect a blend of straightforward solutions, like vitamins for pregnant women, and complex scientific endeavors, such as gene editing technologies.

4. Response to Government Cuts in Foreign Aid

Gates addresses recent reductions in foreign aid, particularly those initiated during the Trump administration, which have hampered efforts in global health.

Bill Gates [06:22]: "It's strange that here we are in the middle of a global health emergency where the US made gigantic abrupt cuts..."

He expresses deep concern over the potential rise in child mortality rates due to these cuts, emphasizing that progress made since 2000 could be jeopardized.

5. Vaccine Skepticism and Public Health Policy

The episode touches upon the challenges Gates faces in advocating for public health measures amidst rising vaccine skepticism. He mentions his attempts to engage with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., highlighting the difficulties in finding common ground.

Bill Gates [07:49]: "No, I'm still hoping to get that meeting..."

Despite these hurdles, Gates remains committed to influencing policy to ensure sustained investment in medical research and public health initiatives.

6. Philanthropy and Responsibility with Wealth

Gates discusses the ethical responsibilities that come with immense wealth. He references the Giving Pledge, an initiative he co-founded with Warren Buffett and Melinda Gates, which encourages billionaires to commit the majority of their wealth to philanthropy.

Bill Gates [08:52]: "I've been involved in what's called the Giving Pledge... philanthropy is on the increase, not just in the United States."

He acknowledges the influence of Warren Buffett, who inspired him to prioritize societal betterment over personal wealth accumulation.

7. Optimism Amid Challenges

Confronted with setbacks like reduced funding and policy changes, Gates maintains an optimistic outlook. He believes in the resilience of the foundation's mission and the potential of technological innovations, including artificial intelligence, to address global challenges.

Bill Gates [10:13]: "But no, I'm not pessimistic because I think the case is so strong that we can get the money back..."

He emphasizes that the current challenges are surmountable and that continued advocacy can restore essential funding for life-saving initiatives.

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Conclusion

Bill Gates' decision to accelerate his philanthropic endeavors represents a significant pivot in global philanthropy. By committing to spend $200 billion over two decades, Gates aims to address urgent global health and poverty issues with a sense of immediacy and purpose. His approach underscores the profound impact that concentrated resources, guided by strategic vision and technological innovation, can have on the world's most pressing problems.

This episode of Consider This provides invaluable insights into the motivations and plans of one of the world's most influential philanthropists, offering listeners a comprehensive understanding of the future of global philanthropy and the persistent challenges it seeks to overcome.

Transcript

[Ari Shapiro]

All the money in the world can't buy you a flattering obituary.

[Bill Gates]

Bill Gates used to be the world's.

[Ari Shapiro]

Richest man, and he once responded on NPR to a question about how he wants to be remembered.

[Linda]

Here's another email. This is from Linda in Princeton.

[Ari Shapiro]

This is from a 2010 interview with the late Neil Conan, who hosted the call in show Talk of THE Nation.

[Linda]

I'm a big fan of Mr. Gates philanthropic works. This makes me wonder about his legacy. Would he prefer to be remembered most for his work at Microsoft or through the Gates Foundation?

[Bill Gates]

Well, I, I don't care about being remembered, of course.

[Ari Shapiro]

Gates made his fortune as a founder of the tech giant Microsoft, and with his then wife Melinda Gates, he launched the Gates foundation in the year 2000 to give that money away. I'll note here the foundation is a supporter of NPR, but we cover it like any other organization. By 2010, it was contributing nearly as much to global health each year as the UN's World Health Organization. Over the years, the foundation says it has helped save more than 80 million lives by supporting work on vaccines AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. But the man who put his name on that multi billion dollar philanthropic effort was saying he didn't care how history remembered him. In fact, he said he didn't even expect the foundation to outlive him by that much.

[Linda]

So you don't intend this as a the foundation itself is a legacy?

[Bill Gates]

No. The foundation should spend all its money and go out of business and then other foundations will come along. I can't craft in my will some words that anticipate the problems of the future.

[Ari Shapiro]

Well, 15 years after that interview, Bill Gates is speeding up the timeline. Last week he announced that over the next 20 years, the foundation will spend down more than $200 billion from virtually all his accumulated wealth and then it'll close. Consider this. Bill Gates has thoughts on how to save lives, the state of global health, and what the uber rich owe the world. We'll talk to him after the break. From npr, I'm Ari Shapiro.

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[Bill Gates]

It's called in game theory a trigger strategy or sometimes called grim trigger, which sort of has a cowboy esque ring.

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Foreign.

[Ari Shapiro]

Bill Gates has a lot of ambitions for his foundation before it closes its doors in 20 years. In his letter announcing its last chapter, he says the goal is to save and improve as many lives as possible in that time to end preventable deaths of moms and babies and lift millions of people out of poverty. On the day he made the announcement, I asked him why he decided to accelerate his giving.

[Bill Gates]

Well, I've learned a lot in the last 25 years, including the incredible impact that these resources can have. And so I know there'll be lots of rich people in the future and the needs are very urgent today. I want to spend at an even higher level than we are right now because I see the pipeline of innovations. Some are pretty straightforward, like vitamins for pregnant women or things that are complicated, like AI health delivery or gene editing to cure hiv. So with that in mind, I'd like to make sure we do as much as we can in these 20 years. And I built a strong organization. Hopefully I'll be able to help guide it during all of those 20 years. But if not, it's got a strong culture and I'm sure it'll it'll do well.

The amount of money we're talking about can be hard to imagine. So can you give us an example of what specifically you'll be able to do in the next couple decades with 200 billion plus dollars that you would not have been able to do with the mere tens of billions of dollars that you had been planning to spend over that next 20 years?

Well, one of the areas we work in is agriculture. It's, you know, health is by far biggest, about 70%, and then education is about 15. But agriculture, some people are surprised that we can do incredible things to improve seeds and educate farmers so that even in Africa, where today the productivity is the lowest and they face climate change and population growth, we want to get kids even more nutrition despite all of that. So we do that. Better seeds, better chickens, better cows. And that's an area we're growing, our spending a lot, this idea of curing hiv, curing sickle cell. A few kids have been cured of sickle cell, but it costs millions of dollars for each case, and we want to do that for less than $100. So it's very advanced science and it'll take us even spending, full speed, maybe 8 to 10 years to get that, that done. But I'm able to say to those scientists who are incredible, please go full speed ahead.

You've mentioned some ambitious goals like curing hiv, but less ambitious goals like treating HIV have seen dramatic cuts since the Trump administration has ended many of its foreign aid programs like usaid. So does your announcement have anything to do with the government pulling back on foreign aid spending? Are you trying to fill that gap?

No. My decision came after thinking about this for several years and it's really timed with the year I turned 70 in our 25th anniversary. It's strange that here we are in the middle of a global health emergency where the US Made gigantic abrupt cuts and some of the European countries are also making cuts because of the demands to raise their defense spending. And so I can't overstate how awful it is to be in a period where the number of children who die is going to go back up. It went down from 10 million to 5 million. We cut it in half since the year 2000, right? Since the year 2000, exactly. And it was supposed to keep going down, but with these cuts, millions will die. So I'm going to try and make the case that a lot of this money should be restored. There's a lot of benefits that have come from this.

Less than 1% of the US budget on vaccines specifically. A lot of your work has been about getting these life saving vaccines into developing countries. And the last time you were on this program, back in February, you told my co host Scott Detrow that you were hoping to meet with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Who has questioned the science around vaccine safety and effectiveness. You said you were optimistic and hopeful about finding common ground. Have you been able to meet, Were you able to find common ground?

No, I'm still hoping to get that meeting. Since then there have been some headcount cuts. So I'm worried. The US Medical research has been hugely beneficial to the world. So I think the US Commitment to medical research is great. We gotta make sure it continues and we'll try and influence it in the right direction.

You recently told the New York Times the world's richest man has been involved in the deaths of the world's poorest children. That's a reference to Elon Musk leading the effort to defund usaid. Have you spoken with him about that?

No. Although he's a genius and, you know, expert in a lot of things. You know, I've been out and met these people. I've been to Nigeria and seen their great work. I've been to the Democratic Republic of Congo. And so this is one where I think he made a mistake.

What responsibility do you believe comes with enormous wealth?

Well, trying to avoid killing children, maybe. So I been involved in what's called the Gideon Pledge that Warren Buffett and Melinda and I created to get philanthropists to share their thoughts to encourage better giving, more giving. And, you know, philanthropy is on the increase, not just in the United States. You know, I'm trying to set an example by giving 98% of the money I, I have. Warren Buffett's been an inspiration to me. He, even before I met him, he'd written an article about how, you know, giving too much money to your children isn't necessarily good for them or society as well.

You're a notorious optimist. And sometimes when people who listen to the news every day ask me about the state of the world, I say, well, there's, you know, the Bill Gates view, which is that more people have access to clean water and education and fewer children are dying and more people, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. You've in this very conversation said millions more children are going to die in the coming years than otherwise would have. And so how do the cuts of the last few months shape your outlook on the state of the world?

Yeah, I think the tragedy that this is so far away means that people don't feel it. And, you know, I think the basic religious principle of treating other people well still applies. So you're going to see me speaking out a lot about these budget things. But no, I'm not pessimistic because I think the case is so strong that we can get the money back and then take advantage of pipeline of innovation, including a lot driven by advances in AI.

Microsoft founder and global health philanthropist Bill Gates. Thank you so much for speaking with us today.

Thank you.

[Ari Shapiro]

This episode was produced by Alejandra Marquez Hanse and Connor Donovan with audio engineering by Simon Laszlo Jansen. It was edited by Patrick Jaranwattanan. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun. It's consider this from npr. I'm Ari Shapiro.

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