What happens to $67 billion Gates Foundation endowment after Bill and Melinda’s deaths
“We will spend ourselves down to zero within 20 years of the death of the last of Bill and Melinda,” said CEO Mark Suzman in an interview with Fortune.
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00:00 The Gates Foundation plans to spend its entire $67 billion endowment within 20 years of Bill and Melinda's deaths.
00:06 CEO Mark Sussman told Fortune they might want to even accelerate that a little bit.
00:10 This year, the foundation has committed to giving away $8.6 billion according to its annual donor letter.
00:16 And in the letter, Sussman encouraged wealthy people to be a bit more generous with their giving.
00:20 As the world's richest private foundation, the Gates Foundation believes billionaires should give more of their money away
00:25 to high-impact causes that can change and save most lives instead of giving just to elite universities.
00:31 For example, Sussman said, "What if, alongside a $100 million gift to a highly selective university,
00:36 they also gave $100 million to set up a system that makes online textbooks free for every college student in the U.S. forever?"
00:42 Sussman also said if every billionaire were to donate just 0.5% of their wealth, it would result in $61 billion.
00:49 And that would be enough to save the lives of 2 million mothers and babies,
00:52 reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1 gigaton a year,
00:55 and prevent 7 million deaths through vaccination, still leaving almost $50 billion left over.