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Bill Gates says Andrew Carnegie’s 1889 essay The Gospel of Wealth helped shape his thinking about returning wealth to society. Carnegie argued that the rich should treat their fortunes as a responsibility and use them for public benefit. The connection is real, but it is not a single-cause story: Gates also credits his parents, Warren Buffett and Chuck Feeney, while the two men’s library projects show a striking parallel in practice.
What did Carnegie’s “Gospel of Wealth” argue?
In his 1889 essay The Gospel of Wealth, Andrew Carnegie argued that people who accumulated great fortunes had a duty to direct their wealth toward the general good. He framed the wealthy as trustees who should use resources for what they regarded as productive public purposes, rather than simply pass fortunes on or spend them on extravagance. Carnegie’s famous conclusion was: “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.” Carnegie Corporation of New York’s edition of the essay presents the text and its argument.
That was Carnegie’s own prescription, not a neutral definition of philanthropy. His approach favored organized, lasting institutions, including libraries, universities and trusts. He believed the living donor was better placed than heirs to decide how wealth could serve society.
How did Carnegie influence Bill Gates?
Gates made the link explicit in a 2025 essay about his plans for the next chapter of his life. He wrote: “One of the best things I read was an 1889 essay by Andrew Carnegie called The Gospel of Wealth. It makes the case that the wealthy have a responsibility to return their resources to society, a radical idea at the time that laid the groundwork for philanthropy as we know it today.” Gates’s May 8, 2025 article connects Carnegie’s argument to his own intention to give away virtually all his wealth.
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This is evidence of influence, not proof that Carnegie alone caused Gates’s giving strategy or transformed philanthropy by himself. Gates says his parents taught him generosity, his father helped shape the foundation’s values, and Buffett introduced him to the idea of giving everything away. He also names Feeney as an influence on giving during one’s lifetime. Carnegie’s essay is one part of a broader set of ideas and relationships Gates has described.
Why libraries provide a concrete link between their giving
Carnegie’s philanthropy is strongly associated with public libraries: he funded buildings intended to expand access to books and learning. Carnegie Corporation of New York reports that his giving founded 2,509 libraries, including 1,679 in the United States, and that he spent more than $55 million on libraries. Libraries were one part of a much wider giving program that also supported institutions and trusts. Carnegie Corporation’s biography records those totals.
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Gates’s early library philanthropy focused on a different kind of access: computers and the internet. In a 2004 speech, William H. Gates Sr. recalled that the U.S. Library program’s goal was, “if you can get to a library, you can get to the Internet.” He reported that the program had installed more than 47,000 computers in almost 11,000 libraries and held more than 12,000 librarian training sessions. Those are figures for the program at the time of the speech, not current totals. William H. Gates Sr.’s February 2004 speech also invokes Carnegie as a historical example.
The parallel is meaningful without making the programs identical: Carnegie helped expand access to books and library buildings; Gates’s library effort sought to connect people to digital information through existing public institutions. Both treated libraries as practical routes to broader access.
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How Gates’s giving compares with Carnegie’s
| Question | Andrew Carnegie | Bill Gates |
|---|---|---|
| Stated idea | Wealthy people should act as trustees and use fortunes for public benefit, as argued in the 1889 essay. Carnegie Corporation | Gates says he wants to use his resources to save and improve lives, and has linked his thinking to Carnegie’s essay. Gates, May 8, 2025 |
| Main instruments highlighted here | Libraries, institutions, trusts and endowments. Carnegie Corporation | Grantmaking through the Gates Foundation and the public Giving Pledge, which he helped launch with Melinda French Gates and Buffett. Gates Foundation FAQ; Giving Pledge profile |
| Giving timeline | Carnegie committed to distributing wealth during his lifetime. Carnegie Corporation | In 2025, Gates said he would give virtually all his wealth through the foundation over 20 years; the foundation is scheduled to close permanently on December 31, 2045. Gates, May 8, 2025; Gates Foundation FAQ, accessed October 3, 2026 |
What is the Giving Pledge?
The Giving Pledge is a public commitment by wealthy individuals and families to give the majority of their wealth to charitable causes during their lifetimes or by will. Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett launched it in 2010. It is a separate collaborative initiative, not a Carnegie institution. Gates’s Giving Pledge profile includes his pledge letter and the pledge’s description.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What happens to Gates’s fortune and foundation next?
Gates’s May 2025 plan set a 20-year horizon for giving virtually all his wealth through the Gates Foundation. The foundation says it will close permanently on December 31, 2045. It reports more than US$100 billion in grants and charitable giving from 2000 through 2025 and says it plans to give about twice that amount from 2025 through 2045. The first figure describes giving already made; the second is the foundation’s plan, not a completed total. The foundation’s FAQ, accessed October 3, 2026, provides its timeline and figures.
Carnegie’s essay therefore offers a documented intellectual connection to Gates’s stated intentions, while the library comparison makes the historical resemblance tangible. The evidence supports saying Carnegie helped set a stage for Gates’s giving; it does not establish that Carnegie alone altered philanthropy or determined how Gates would use his fortune.
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