Bill Gates, one of the richest men on the planet, said he is giving $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation this month, adding that “rather than returning the foundation’s budget to pre-pandemic levels, we will continue to expand it.”

                By                    Yaёl Bizouati-Kennedy

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The Gates Foundation intends to increase spending from nearly $6 billion per year before COVID to $9 billion per year by 2026, Gates said in a blog post on July 13.

The foundation currently has $49.9 billion in endowment, according to a fact sheet.  

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Gates also thanked fellow billionaire and philanthropist Warren Buffett, saying that “although it is named the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, basically half of our resources to date have come from Warren Buffett’s gifts.”

Gates added that since 2006, Warren has gifted the foundation $35.7 billion, including his most recent gift of $3.1 billion in June.

“As I look to the future, my plan is to give all my wealth to the foundation other than what I spend on myself and my family. I do some giving and investing in U.S. health care issues, including Alzheimer’s, outside the foundation,” Gates wrote. “Through Breakthrough Energy, I will continue to invest and give money to address climate change. Overall I expect that the work in these areas will make money, which will also go to the foundation. I will move down and eventually off of the list of the world’s richest people.”

“My giving this money is not a sacrifice at all. I feel privileged to be involved in tackling these great challenges, I enjoy the work, and I believe I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for improving lives. I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up in this moment too,” he concluded.

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Gates is at the number four spot on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with a $113 billion net worth. He follows Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Bernard Arnault. 

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