Moving forward

This note was shared with Gates Foundation employees.

Over the past two months, Bill, Melinda, and I have been exploring potential changes to the foundation’s governance and decision-making. These conversations have occurred within the context of their divorce announcement and Warren’s decision to step down as a trustee, but reflect our broader intent to ensure the foundation is positioned to enhance its impact for years to come. 

I would like to share some initial outcomes of those conversations.

First, Bill and Melinda have decided to expand the number of trustees that oversee the foundation’s work and help guide key decisions around our programs, strategies, and resource allocations. 

With Warren’s departure, currently there are only two remaining trustees: Bill and Melinda. That is an arrangement that dates to the foundation’s early days, when we had a single office in Seattle, far fewer employees and were focused on a few specific challenges. Today, we have more than 1,700 employees and have opened regional offices across Africa, Asia, and Europe. While our programmatic priorities have remained focused, the scale and scope of our work has evolved to include some of the most complex and urgent challenges the world faces. 

By expanding the number of trustees, our governance and decision-making will similarly evolve. The new trustees will bring fresh perspectives, insight, and expertise to help guide the foundation and act as an additional resource to the Executive Leadership Team (ELT). Bill and Melinda have asked me, Connie, and the ELT to develop detailed recommendations around the selection of new trustees and their oversight role. Over the next several months, we will work with both internal and external experts to develop those in consultation with Bill and Melinda. Our intention is to finalize decisions by the end of the year and to announce the new trustees in January 2022. 

Second, Bill and Melinda have decided to contribute an additional $15 billion to the foundation’s endowment. The donation is their single largest contribution since 2000—when they transferred $20 billion in Microsoft stock to the foundation—and will bring the total endowment to approximately $65 billion.* This generous new gift underscores their enduring commitment to the foundation and continued belief in our ability to effect positive change around the world. The new funds have an enormous potential to make a real difference in the lives of millions of people, and I look forward to working with Bill, Melinda, the new trustees, our partners, and all of you to maximize the impact we achieve with these and the additional resources generously provided by Warren. 

Since their announcement in May, Bill and Melinda have been true to their word and remained fully engaged in all aspects of the foundation’s work, including by approving our $2.1 billion announcement at last week’s Generation Equality Forum, regularly reviewing our pandemic response efforts, and agreeing to an ambitious new strategy and funding for polio eradication initiatives.  Over the past two decades, Bill and Melinda have nurtured the foundation’s growth, often referring to it as their “fourth child.” They have repeatedly made clear their joint commitment and expectation to remain long-term partners and co-chairs. However, as an additional step, they have agreed that if after two years either one of them decides that they cannot continue to work together, Melinda will resign as co-chair and trustee. In such a case, Melinda would receive personal resources from Bill for her philanthropic work. These resources would be completely separate from the foundation’s endowment, which would not be affected.

As their strong statements today demonstrate, they are excited and optimistic about the foundation’s future. 

Melinda French Gates 
I am deeply proud of all that the foundation and its partners have accomplished over the past two decades to bring us closer to a world where everyone, everywhere has the chance to live a healthy and productive life. Every success we’ve seen is a testament to our partners and a broad coalition of government leaders, global experts, community organizers, activists, advocates, healthcare workers, farmers, teachers, and researchers—all united in their efforts to promote a healthier, safer, more equal world. Their faith that progress is possible fuels mine. These governance changes bring more diverse perspectives and experience to the foundation’s leadership. I believe deeply in the foundation’s mission and remain fully committed as co-chair to its work.

Bill Gates 
Our vision for the foundation has grown over time, but it has always been focused on addressing inequity and expanding opportunity for the world’s poorest people. These new resources and the evolution of the foundation’s governance will sustain this ambitious mission and vital work for years to come.

The announcements I have detailed here are all guided by one overarching objective: to ensure the foundation is best equipped to tackle the complexity of global challenges that lie ahead over the long-term. Bill, Melinda, and I are deeply proud of what we have collectively achieved with our partners over the past 20 years. We are confident that these changes will strengthen our work and ensure that remarkable impact continues. 

I joined this organization more than 14 years ago because I was inspired by its vision of a world where everyone has the chance to live a healthy and productive life. I believed the foundation was uniquely positioned to deliver on that vision, and that belief has only deepened with its many successes. I am eager—impatient, even—to see what we can achieve together moving forward. 

*The $15 billion commitment will be paid to the foundation over the course of multiple years.