On Wednesday, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation appeared to answer those doubts with an announcement that it will significantly accelerate its giving in areas such as global health, economic development, gender equality and education as its co-founders continue to raise money for what is already by most measures the largest charity in the world. The foundation said it would increase its grant rate from nearly $6 billion annually before the pandemic to $9 billion annually by 2026. To put that $3 billion increase in context, the Open Society Foundations, which is funded by George Soros and itself one of the nation’s largest philanthropies, reported total spending in 2020 of $1.4 billion. After pledging last summer to inject an additional $15 billion into the group’s funding, Mr. Gates said Wednesday that he is making good on that pledge this month, topping it up with $5 billion for a total of $20 billion. And there’s probably more money where that came from. “As I look to the future, my plan is to give all of my wealth to the foundation except for what I spend on myself and my family,” he wrote Wednesday on his personal blog, Gates Notes. “I will be leaving the list of the world’s richest people,” added Mr Gates, believed to be the world’s fourth-richest person, even though he and Ms French Gates had already given $39bn to the foundation since 1994. “Giving this money is not a sacrifice at all. I feel privileged to be involved in addressing these grand challenges.” Each year the foundation also receives a gift from investor Warren E. Buffett in the form of shares in his company, Berkshire Hathaway. This year’s gift came last month worth $3.1 billion. In total, Mr. Buffett has given the foundation nearly $36 billion. The foundation estimated that, with the new funds, its endowment would grow to $70 billion. Mark Suzman, chief executive of the Gates Foundation, said the foundation would not expand its focus. Instead, it believes the urgency of its existing projects—such as the battles against polio and malaria worldwide and against learning loss in the United States during the Covid-19 pandemic—justifies higher spending. Mr. Suzman warned that raising spending effectively would not be simple. “At this scale, giving is really incredibly complicated, and we learned that the hard way,” he said in an interview. “We are actively looking at this moment whether we can and should do more about the food security crisis,” he added. While the foundation has won praise over the years for its leadership in global philanthropy, it has also been scrutinized for its influence. It is one of the biggest donors to the World Health Organization, for example, and in poorer countries the scale of the foundation’s donations means that, intentionally or not, it can end up setting many of the priorities for critical ministries like health and education. . Mr. Gates wrote on his blog that the increased rate of supply was a reaction to the many challenges facing the world right now, including the war in Ukraine, the pandemic, rising inflation and climate change. In a statement, Ms French Gates said: “The foundation has spent more than two decades building relationships with a wide range of partners with the vision and expertise to accelerate the pace of progress for all. This additional spend will support the important work of our partners to promote a fair and inclusive recovery and a healthier, more equal future.” Under federal tax laws, private foundations are required annually to give away about 5 percent of their endowment, which for the Gates Foundation would amount to about $3.5 billion. The institution has undergone significant changes in the past year. Mr. Buffett stepped down as one of three trustees last summer. Mr. Gates and Ms. French Gates announced that they had agreed that he would leave the foundation if they found they could not work together. In January, the foundation said it was creating a new board that included Mr. Gates, Ms. French Gates, Mr. Suzman and three outsiders. “At a time when the push may be to turn inward, it is critical to do the opposite,” one of those new board members, Minouche Shafik, director of the London School of Economics, said in a statement on Wednesday . “Strengthening our resolve and strengthening our contributions is the only way to reverse these trends.” Mr Gates added: “The great crises of our time require us all to do more.”
