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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchThe Gates Foundation plans to close permanently on December 31, 2045. Melinda French Gates, responding in writing to The Associated Press as the foundation marked its 25th anniversary, said the former couple had always intended to spend down their resources—but made clear that the specific timeline was Bill Gates’s decision with the foundation’s board of trustees. Her reflections focus on the kind of lasting change she hopes the work will leave behind: better lives, stronger communities, gender equality, and development shaped by local experience.
What Melinda French Gates said about the 2045 timeline
French Gates told AP that she and Bill Gates had long planned to give away their resources rather than preserve them indefinitely. She drew a distinction between that shared intention and the foundation’s specific closure date: “Ultimately, though,” she wrote, “the timeline was Bill’s decision to make with the board of trustees.”
The foundation announced on May 8, 2025, that it planned to close permanently on December 31, 2045. Its board affirmed the accelerated schedule by changing the charter, which had called for closure 20 years after Bill Gates’s death. French Gates’s answer should not be read as joint approval of the 2045 date: she described the timeline as Bill Gates’s decision with the board.
What legacy does French Gates hope the foundation will leave?
French Gates described legacy as the durable effect of the foundation’s work on ordinary lives—not simply the size of its grants or the institution itself. “To me, the greatest measure of success would be if long after the foundation closed, someone, somewhere, was living a life that looked different because we existed,” she told AP.
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She illustrated that idea with a child receiving a vaccine and a woman opening her first bank account. Those individual gains, she said, can benefit families and communities over time. French Gates also said gender equality was a cross-cutting priority in the foundation’s work: women and girls had often been treated as secondary in global health and development, leaving their experiences and health needs overlooked.
French Gates told AP that efforts funded largely by development aid had helped save more than 65 million lives from malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV. That is her figure as reported in the interview; the AP source reviewed here does not supply the underlying study.
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Why local knowledge matters in development work
French Gates used examples from her own experience to explain why solutions need to fit the lives of the people meant to use them. She recalled community toilets in India that women felt unsafe using at night, vaccine packaging in Vietnam that did not fit the small refrigerators available, and an irrigation pump in East Africa that did not fit women’s social context. These are her recollections in the AP interview, not independently established program evaluations in the sources reviewed.
Her stated lesson was to involve people with local knowledge and lived experience and trust what they say. “There are many ways to learn about the cultural norms and logistical issues that determine whether a solution is feasible — and they all boil down to engaging people with local knowledge and lived experience, and trusting what they tell you,” she wrote.
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The foundation says it plans to spend an additional $200 billion over the 20 years to its planned closure, with Bill Gates giving virtually all of his remaining wealth to the organization in the interim. Its current FAQ says it gave away more than $100 billion during 2000–2025 and expects to give away about twice that amount from 2025–2045. These are the foundation’s reported and planned figures, not a guarantee of future disbursements.
In its 2026 annual letter, CEO Mark Suzman described three goals for the final period:
- No mother or child dies of a preventable cause.
- The next generation grows up without deadly infectious diseases.
- Hundreds of millions of people break free from poverty.
The letter identifies maternal and child health, nutrition, infectious disease, agriculture, and U.S. education as focus areas. Suzman wrote that the deadline creates an opportunity for transformative progress, but that achieving it requires the foundation to focus on the people it serves and the outcomes it wants to deliver.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the 2026 budget and staffing announcement means
On January 14, 2026, the foundation announced that its board had endorsed a $9 billion annual payout for 2026. It also said a cap on annual operating expenditures would lower its current headcount target of 2,375 positions by up to 500 by 2030. These are announced plans and targets, not completed spending or staffing outcomes.
The spend-down does not mean every program will continue until the final day. The foundation’s 2026 letter says some programs will finish earlier or transition to partners before 2045, with time allowed for responsible transitions. The letter is Suzman’s, rather than a statement by French Gates.
How to understand the announcement
The central distinction is between French Gates’s personal account and the foundation’s institutional plan. She described a shared intention to spend down resources, but assigned the choice of the specific 2045 timeline to Bill Gates and the board. The foundation, meanwhile, has announced an accelerated spend-down, goals for the final period, a 2026 payout, and plans for some programs to transition before closure. The available AP interview does not establish a separate, later statement from French Gates about the 2026 budget announcements.
AP’s report provides French Gates’s written responses and contextual reporting. AP discloses that it receives financial support for some coverage from the Gates Foundation and Pivotal Ventures.
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