“We wake up every day driven by the determination to create a world where all people can lead healthy and productive lives. Most importantly, we believe that all lives have equal value. That is why we decided to donate our wealth from Microsoft to help others. The challenge is to do so in the most meaningful and effective way.”
This is the mission statement of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust – the $75 billion charitable organization founded by Bill Gates to fight poverty, disease, and inequality. With a budget of $8.3 billion for 2023, a 15% increase from 2022, the foundation is on track to meet its commitment to spend $9 billion annually by 2026.
“One day, we read an article about millions of children dying from diarrhea and pneumonia, diseases that richer countries could easily cure. It shocked us. As parents, the story affected us deeply,” quoted from the official website of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.
At the 2021 Generation Equality Forum, the foundation pledged $2.1 billion over five years to advance gender equality. The funds will be used to expand the foundation’s activities through alliances focusing on justice, economic empowerment, sexual and reproductive health, and feminism…
As a trustee for 15 years at the foundation, billionaire Warren Buffett has worked alongside Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates (Bill Gates’ ex-wife) to shape its vision and develop strategies. He continues to donate to the foundation despite officially stepping down in June 2021.
“Warren Buffett has been incredibly generous to the Gates Foundation for more than 18 years, both with his money and his time. We are deeply grateful for his contributions. The total value of his gift has reached $43 billion,” said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, to CNN.
With partners across the United States and other countries, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust supports new initiatives to improve people’s lives. “Philanthropy means seizing the opportunity for solutions that governments and businesses are not equipped to implement,” quoted from the official website of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust.
Currently, Bill Gates’ ex-wife, Melinda Gates, is no longer co-chair of the foundation. This loss was anticipated following the series of changes in her seemingly perfect marriage to billionaire Gates.
In her media interactions, Melinda shared that the impact of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust has been immense, from helping children lead healthier lives in many places to providing financial support for many women and changing the lives of many farmers with small profits from their family land. “After 25 years of representing the organization in the field, I can assure you that these changes are real. A large part of the credit goes to you,” wrote Melinda.
It is known that in 2000, Bill Gates and his wife founded the Bill & Melinda Gates charitable foundation with the goal of reducing global inequality. They transferred $20 billion in Microsoft stock to the foundation and began traveling abroad to study health issues. Gradually, Gates realized that his career would no longer revolve around Microsoft.
“Building Microsoft was something I did when I was very young. It was always the job I gave my full attention to until I was 53, when I switched to working full-time for the charity,” said Bill Gates.
According to Business Insider, Bill Gates has long intended to give away all his wealth. He doesn’t even plan to leave an inheritance for his children. “In the future, I intend to give away all my money to charity. I will gradually drop off the list of the world’s richest people,” affirmed the Microsoft founder.
Sharing his wishes, the Microsoft founder hopes that the foundation will continue to focus on healthcare and disease eradication, even without his involvement. “We have a fantastic team, and we will go deeper into the diseases the foundation is focusing on controlling, such as malaria, HIV, measles, and polio, rather than new ones,” he said.
“The foundation’s goal is to operate for another 25 years,” the billionaire emphasized in a significant speech in 2022. “The foundation’s goal for the next quarter of a century is to eradicate most of the infectious diseases that make the world unequal, or at least minimize the infection rate.”
This announcement came just two months after Gates donated $20 billion to the foundation amid a global crisis. He also pledged to spend an additional $20 billion on various charitable projects and to continue giving in the future, even if it means “sliding down the list of the wealthy.”
Currently, Bill Gates has a net worth of $161 billion, ranking 6th on the list of the world’s richest billionaires. His generosity has sparked countless praises, although there are sometimes controversial opinions surrounding the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust. It is known that in the US, the wealthy can avoid paying estate taxes when their children inherit by donating to charitable foundations and then having their children as shareholders behind the scenes.
According to: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, Summary
