Name: Bill Gates says he will donate much of his fortune in the next 20 years | DW News
Uploaded: 2025-05-09T10:08:12.000Z
Duration: 5 min 42 s
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Microsoft co founder Bill Gates, one of the world's richest people, has announced plans to give away much of his fortune over the next 20 years.

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Since leaving the boardroom, Gates has devoted himself to charity work.

His foundation has already given away $100 billion on projects like vaccines and the global fight against diseases like malaria and AIDS.

But despite the support of wealthy individuals like himself, Gates said progress is only possible with government backing.

In an interview, Gates took a swipe at the world's current richest person, Elon Musk, for his U.S. government role in slashing vital programs like USAID.

I think Elon, you know, hasn't been out in the field and met these USAID workers like I have.

You know, we're talking about tens of millions of lives that have been saved through these partnerships.

And, uh, you know, everybody should be excited about every single death we avoid.

For more, I'm joined now by Antoine de Benji Pouvelet.

He's a researcher in global health policy at the University of Oslo in Norway.

He's been studying the work of the Gates Foundation.

It's good to have you on the program, Antoine.

I'd like to start by asking you how much of an example do you think Bill Gates is setting for the world's other billionaires?

I mean, do you think others will follow suit?

Bill Gates already had a tremendous impact on the philanthropic sector with his campaign, The Giving Pledge, which aims to convince other wealthy individuals to give more of their, most of their fortune while living or just in their wills.

So, um, it already has a tremendous impact, and this definitely sets a precedent.

You've studied the Gates Foundation's workings, and you co-authored an article raising some flags about the way it operates.

Well, it's definitely raises some questions.

The fact that the Gates Foundation has been incredibly, um, clever in convincing our governments to invest together with him in joint projects, and he has done so by elaborating a very elaborate strategic way of working to influence them, both directly through regular meetings.

So, for instance, in the UK, we could document over 10 meetings a year with ministers, between ministers and the Gates Foundation, but also working through other organizations like NGOs, the media, think tanks, universities, to influence policy through policy and advocacy grants.

For instance, in Germany, the Gates Foundation spent over 4 million euros a year in direct lobbying, and over 6 million euros a year in advocacy and policy grant to influence policy, but in more indirect ways.

So, you think that perhaps the foundation or Gates himself may be a little too political for his own good?

Well, they definitely have a considerable influence in the way our government spends development and aid budgets, and that raises some questions, because if everyone is a partner of the Gates Foundation, who's left to hold them accountable?

The Gates Foundation is a private foundation.

It means that it answers only to its chairman, who is Gates, so Bill Gates himself.

He's not an elected official, he doesn't have a public mandate, and there is very few ways to hold him accountable for the policies he implements.

So, he really shapes the entire global health field, which has done a tremendous work in saving lives and doing things, but also has brought the whole thing into a very particular, narrow focus, focused on technologies, vaccines, and these kind of things, and kind of leaving on the side more kind of structural health system approach that governments might have taken otherwise.

For the people who benefit from programs funded by donors, does it matter where the money comes from in the end?

Well, actually, the distinction is not so clear anymore, precisely because the Gates Foundation has been so good at working together with governments through public-private partnerships and joint programs.

So, what we find is that most of the Gates Foundation's money is actually very useful in convincing other governments to invest together with them.

They leverage the aid budgets to achieve their goals.

So, ultimately, the public and the private money are blended together in joint initiatives.

Yeah, the name and the money, of course, yeah, they have a lot of power, especially together.

Let me ask you, before we run out of time, what kind of transparency rules do you think are essential for charitable organizations like the Gates Foundation?

Well, they definitely need to be very open as to who they fund, how they fund and why they fund people.

But I also think it's not only about the rules to regulate the foundation, it's about our own rules, how our governments engage with them, how our civil society organizations engage with them, and how transparent they are about it.

So, I think it's very important to have solid regulations in place, oversight, public accountability and public debates around the role of private foundations like the Gates Foundation.

Antoine de Benguet-Puvelet, we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us this evening.