In the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s annual letter, CEO Mark Suzman called on billionaires to give more of their wealth—and faster—to combat global inequality.

The letter highlighted late philanthropist Chuck Feeney as a model whose giving inspired others, including Warren Buffett and the Gates Foundation’s co-founders, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Feeney, who died in October, was a Giving Pledge signatory and gave away $8 billion during his life. Suzman’s letter emphasized the need for more billionaires to make commitments like those of the Giving Pledge and to give money while they’re still alive.

Suzman also called attention to the role that governments must play in advancing solutions. Indeed, they play the most essential role in making sure solutions reach the people who need them, he wrote. “But governments face competing priorities and very real fiscal constraints.... Too often, financial support for emerging crises comes at the expense of funding for fundamental health and development challenges.”

For its part, the foundation aims to spend down its endowment after the deaths of Bill and Melinda French Gates as well as increase its spending now. It recently announced a 2024 budget of $8.6 billion, its largest budget to date, and Suzman added that the foundation board committed to increasing its annual payout to $9 billion by 2026.

“Today’s world has no shortage of complex problems to be tackled, or innovators ready to take them on,” Suzman wrote. “Around the world, they’re on the cusp of breakthroughs that can save and improve millions of lives. Some of these discoveries are already reaching people in need. Others will take some time but have the potential to change life as we know it. But without generous investment and persistent support, great ideas remain just that: ideas.” 

(Photo credit: Getty Images/donald_gruener)