Bill Gates Plans to Give Away More Than $200 Billion Over 20 Years

Bill Gates plans to spend more than $200 billion over the next 20 years to fight poverty, malnutrition, polio and other global scourges, accelerating by decades a commitment to give away nearly all of his wealth.

The 69-year-old Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist said he would give 99% of his fortune to his charitable foundation, which he chairs, sooner than originally planned because the world faces many urgent problems and he wants to fund—and encourage others to fund—new tools to solve them. 

This is an opportunity to say “philanthropy really can change the world,” Gates said in an interview. Over the Gates Foundation’s 25 years, “we’ve been able to have huge impact and so, hopefully, that inspires people both in global health and in other areas.”