Melinda French Gates says the Gates Foundation’s commitment to spend its entire $200 billion on global health by 2045 is ‘fantastic’: ‘The vast majority of resources were to go back to society’

– 20-year plan. For the last several months, I’ve been working alongside Fortune Senior Editor at Large Geoff Colvin on a feature package about the 25th anniversary of the Gates Foundation. We exclusively reported this morning that the foundation, which spent $100 billion in its first 25 years, will double its spending to $200 billion in the next 20 years to fight the world’s deadliest diseases, reduce maternal and child deaths, and ease poverty. After which, the foundation will spend its last dollar and shut its doors in 2045—an unprecedented move in the world of philanthropy.

To understand the sweeping implications of this decision, Colvin and I interviewed both Gateses, alongside over 30 researchers, grantees, and outside experts. I was also able to visit Gates-funded efforts in South Africa, bearing witness to programs on the ground in townships outside of Johannesburg and Cape Town that investigate the causes of five million children dying before their fifth birthday, deliver HIV prevention to young adults, and enroll participants in a Phase III trial with what could be the world’s first new tuberculosis vaccine in 100 years.

Melinda French Gates has played a pivotal role in global health since the turn of the century, when she cofounded and served as co-chair of the then-Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for over two decades before stepping down in 2024 following her divorce from Bill Gates.

“It’s kind of unbelievable to think about the progress that has been made,” French Gates told me in her offices in Kirkland, Wash., in February, as she reflected upon the foundation’s 25th anniversary. In her role, French Gates traveled across the world to learn about the needs of children and families. She has since championed getting vaccines to children in low and middle-income countries, spoken on the world stage about how family planning and contraceptives are the most important poverty reducers, and taken philanthropic advice from Warren Buffett, who contributed a large portion of his wealth to the foundation.

Now, on the outside looking in, she told Fortune that she supports the foundation’s massive $200 billion announcement.

“I think it’s a fantastic decision,” she said, noting that the plan was always that the “vast majority of those resources were to go back to society.” This commitment comes as reports find investments in Africa from the U.S. for gender-associated funds are struggling as a result of President Trump’s rhetoric on DEI.

As for her current work, French Gates is more eager than ever to “set more of an agenda here in the United States.” Gates launched Pivotal Ventures in 2015 to focus on gender equality in the U.S., and is putting all of her resources into it. She recently published a memoir, where she discussed that work as well as her divorce.

“I have seen the rollbacks in this country, and I know that only 2% of philanthropy goes to organizations that work on gender,” she said. “This is the time for me to step in…I can more easily and more flexibly use every tool in my toolbox.”

Last year, French Gates made a $1 billion commitment to support organizations and individuals elevating gender equality and helping women step into their power. “I don’t know, there’s something about turning 60. My mom says you get even more opinionated, maybe because you have less time,” she said, laughing.

And what is she more opinionated about?

“I want this world to be better in the United States for my granddaughter than it is today. And right now, she has less rights than I had growing up, and that just shouldn’t be,” she said. “I am absolutely doing grant making internationally, but the majority will be in the United States.”

What’s more, French Gates has a message to the world’s wealthiest about the necessity—and moral imperative—of giving back.

“If you’re a billionaire in the United States, you benefited from this country. You benefited from good roads. You probably benefited somewhere along the way from the health sector,” she said. “People in other places don’t have those things, and so yes, we owe something back to society, and there are lots of ways to do it.”

Read my full interview with Melinda French Gates here and read the full story on the future of the Gates Foundation here.

Alexa Mikhail
alexa.mikhail@fortune.com

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PARTING WORDS

“You have to know your strengths and believe you are embarking on a strategy where you have the right to win."

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