Bill Gates announced at the 2022 Forbes 400 Philanthropy Summit that he plans to run the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the charitable organization that he co-chairs with his ex-wife Melinda French Gates, for the next 25 years, as per Interesting Engineering.
The foundation has been around for more than two decades since its establishment in 2000. Now, the Microsoft founder-turned-philanthropist made an announcement of his plan to wind down the foundation in 25 years.
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Aims to End Infectious Diseases
"The goal for the foundation is to run for another 25 years," said Gates in the keynote conversation at 2022 Forbes 400 Philanthropy Summit.
According to him, that's probably the timeframe where Melinda and him will be available to help make sure that the foundation stays on track. After 25 years, Gates will be 91 years old, and French Gates will be 83.
In 2010, Gates and French Gates created the Giving Pledge together with Warren Buffett. The project asks billionaires "to publicly commit to give most of their wealth away to philanthropic efforts either during their lifetimes or in their wills."
For the next 25 years, the foundation aims to bring infectious disease, or "all of the diseases that make the world inequitable," to an end, according to Forbes. The goal is to eradicate or to get the diseases at a very low level.
According to The Business Insider, the foundation pledged a total of $912 million to the Global Fund earlier this week. The said amount will be used to help tackle AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria.
Two months ago, Gates donated $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with the aim of increasing its annual spending.
In June 2022, Warren Buffet donated $3.1 billion. The combined donation makes the foundation's endowment to approximately $70 billion. This makes the foundation one of the largest charitable organization in the world.
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Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Will Remain Focused on Eradicating Diseases
In 2000, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was established with the goal of fighting poverty, disease, climate change, and access to healthcare and education worldwide.
Since its establishment, nearly $80 billion was spent by the foundation to fight diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and the coronavirus, as per Interesting Engineering.
The foundation has more than $70 billion in assets. Since its establishment in 2000, it has given out $65.6 billion. According to the charitable organization, it would increase its annual giving to $9 billion by 2026, up from $6 billion.
Even before COVID-19 happened, Gates predicted a pandemic would happen. In a 2015 Ted Talk, he said that the world was "not ready for the next epidemic."
With all these problems on diseases, he called for a global task force earlier this year to monitor future pandemics.
According to Gates, he's been asked to move into other areas of philanthropy but he said that the foundation will remain focused on healthcare and eradicating diseases.
When asked if his relationship with French Gates will affect the foundation, Gates said there is no reason to worry as there's only a very small chance that they won't be able to work together.
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