The Gates Foundation announced Wednesday that it will spend a record $9 billion in 2026, maximizing its spending in key areas such as global health. At the same time it will begin reducing the number of staff positions it has by as much as 500 over five years. This announcement comes in the wake of last year's surprise decision to shutter the foundation in 2045.
The planned layoffs mark another major shift for one of the largest and most influential foundations in the world at a time when many of its long-term priorities, such as addressing poverty and improving global health, have been undermined by cuts in U.S. government spending by the Trump administration.
Bill Gates said last year that the foundation would spend $200 billion over the next 20 years and then close as part of his plan to give away the bulk of his wealth. This week, he and other members of the foundation's board approved the largest budget in the foundation's history, topping last year's budget of $8.74 billion. With that new dollar amount, the foundation will increase budgets for several programs, including women's health, vaccine development, polio eradication, AI, and U.S. education.
The board also approved a proposal to cap operating costs — including staff, salaries, infrastructure required to run the organization, facilities, and travel expenses — at no more than $1.25 billion, or approximately 14% of the foundation's budget. To meet that goal, the grantmaker will cut up to 500 of its 2,375 staff positions by 2030, including some open roles that may remain unfilled. The effort to reduce the staff count along with other expenses will be done incrementally and reviewed annually rather than coming in ''a big wave,'' foundation CEO Mark Suzman told the Chronicle of Philanthropy in an interview.
''We will do this thoughtfully, carefully, and systematically,'' he said. ''We'll be recalibrating it every year. That 500-person target is a maximum target. I very much hope that we won't have to do it as large as that number.''
Spending money prudently
Suzman said he and other board members felt the operating costs cap was necessary. If left unchecked, the foundation's operating expenditures, currently around 13% of the budget, were projected to approach 18% by the end of the decade, Suzman said. The board wants to ensure that the foundation is spending money prudently and with a focus on maximizing the dollars spent and resources provided to the people the foundation serves, he said.
The Gates Foundation is also the world's largest foundation to decide to close, and many in philanthropy have wondered how its leaders will go about planning an exit strategy, said Elizabeth Dale, acting executive director and Frey Foundation Chair for Family Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University's philanthropy center. She works with a group of about 20 foundations that are spending down their endowments. Sunsetting a foundation with the massive wealth of the Gates Foundation is unprecedented and will likely require strong strategic planning, Dale said before the release of the new budget and staffing details.
