$9 billion effort: Bill Gates’ 2026 directive supercharges foundation’s final push to save lives, end infectious disease, and lift millions out of poverty

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has approved a record $9 billion annual payout, establishing an inspiring new standard for global philanthropy and accelerating momentum toward its 2045 mission goals.

This milestone, the result of a carefully executed four‑year strategy to reach a steady‑state budget at this level, means more resources than ever will flow each year to lifesaving and opportunity‑creating efforts around the world.

Guided by its governing board, the foundation has aligned this unprecedented annual commitment with a pledge, announced in 2025 by chair Bill Gates, to deploy more than $200 billion between now and the end of 2045—roughly twice what it invested in its first 25 years.

This purposeful “spend‑down” reflects a confident, forward‑looking belief in acting now, concentrating resources over the next two decades to deliver tangible benefits for people and communities who stand to gain the most.

The expanded budget is organized around three clear, ambitious goals: ensuring no mother, child, or baby dies of a preventable cause; helping the next generation grow up free from deadly infectious diseases; and enabling hundreds of millions of people to escape poverty as more countries move onto a path toward lasting prosperity.

Approximately 70% of the foundation’s resources are focused on global health—including maternal and child health, vaccine development, and polio eradication—while the balance advances powerful drivers of economic mobility such as U.S. education and agriculture in low‑ and middle‑income countries.

To sustain this record level of giving in a complex global environment, the foundation is elevating its stewardship so that the greatest possible share of every dollar supports mission‑driven work.

The board has endorsed increased program budgets across priority areas—from women’s health to next‑generation uses of AI in U.S. education—while maintaining a firm cap on operating expenditures at about 14% of total spending, or $1.25 billion annually, to help ensure resources continue to grow for partners on the front lines.

Foundation CEO Mark Suzman has underscored that the 2045 time horizon offers a “once‑in‑a‑generation” opportunity to deliver transformative change when every dollar is managed for maximum impact.

With nearly twenty years of runway, clearly defined goals, and a now-secured $9 billion annual payout, the foundation is poised to enter its most consequential chapter—supporting scientists, educators, health workers, farmers, and community leaders who are expanding opportunity and saving lives across the globe.

This commitment was formally endorsed and approved by the Gates Foundation’s governing board, under the leadership of chair Bill Gates and CEO Mark Suzman.

The $9 billion steady‑state payout fulfills a vision first articulated in 2022 and reinforced in 2025, when Bill Gates announced that the foundation would invest an additional $200 billion ahead of its planned 2045 sunset, signaling a confident and optimistic bet on what focused philanthropy can achieve within a generation.