Melinda Gates says she will NOT give the bulk of her promised $15B endowment to the Gates Foundation

 Nearly four decades ago, when I was a high school senior in Dallas, Texas, I had the chance to speak at my class’s graduation ceremony. It was a tremendous honor, and I carefully considered what I wanted to say. The words I shared that day are ones that have guided me ever since:

‘If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped.’

At the time, I was on the cusp of an exciting new chapter: a move to North Carolina to pursue a degree in computer science. I knew how lucky I was to have the chance to go away to school and how hard my parents had worked to save up the tuition money that was making their four children’s dreams possible.

Looking back, I also feel lucky that my parents made sure I grew up in a family and community with a strong moral core. The high school I attended took seriously its motto ‘Serviam,’ Latin for ‘I will serve.’ At home, at school, and at our Catholic church, I learned about the importance of social justice and the responsibility we all have to make life better for others. My volunteer work at the local courthouse and a nearby school showed me that opportunities are not evenly distributed and made me more deeply conscious of my own privileges.

Those were the values I carried with me as I finished my education, started my career, and saw my life take a turn that I never could have imagined. While I’d always aspired to give back to my community, I never anticipated that I would be able to give away billions of dollars. In 2000, I helped create the Gates Foundation, which is dedicated to a world where every person has the chance to lead a healthy and productive life. In 2015, I launched Pivotal Ventures, which focuses on advancing social progress in the United States.

Along the way, I co-founded the Giving Pledge in 2010 and committed to giving away the majority of my resources in my lifetime. Today, I’m reaffirming that commitment. I recognize the absurdity of so much wealth being concentrated in the hands of one person, and I believe the only responsible thing to do with a fortune this size is give it away—as thoughtfully and impactfully as possible. The ultimate goal of any philanthropist should be to render the need for philanthropy obsolete.

It’s important to acknowledge that giving away money your family will never need is not an especially noble act. There’s no question in my mind that the real standard for generosity is set by the people who give even when it means going without. That’s why, as part of this pledge, I commit to doing more than writing checks. I also commit my time, energy, and efforts to the work of fighting poverty and advancing equality—for women and girls and other marginalized groups—in the United States and around the world. My giving will continue to focus on the people for whom the barriers to equality are highest.

In the last two decades, I’ve seen that, at its best, philanthropy plays a unique role in driving progress by taking investment risks that others can’t or won’t to explore new ways of solving old problems. At the same time, I’ve also learned how important it is to ensure that the people closest to those problems have a role in designing solutions. It’s much easier to imagine that you have all the answers when you’re sitting in a conference room in Seattle than when you’re face-to-face with a business owner in Nairobi or an indigenous activist in New Mexico who is telling you in her own words about her hopes for the future and the challenges she sees to realizing them. That’s why I think philanthropy is most effective when it prioritizes flexibility over ideology—and why in my work at the foundation and Pivotal Ventures I’ll continue to seek out new partners, ideas, and perspectives.

My approach to philanthropy has always been data-driven, and I think it’s important for philanthropists to set ambitious goals and measure our progress against those goals. I’ve learned, however, that it’s equally important to place trust in the people and organizations we partner with and let them define success on their own terms. Philanthropists are generally more helpful to the world when we’re standing behind a movement rather than trying to lead our own.

Engaging in philanthropy has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my time on this planet. And 20 years into this work, I feel that my debt to life—and my debt to humanity—has only grown. I am grateful for the parents who invested in me, the teachers who nurtured me, my three children who have challenged my assumptions and expanded my horizons, and the farmers, teachers, health workers, entrepreneurs, experts, advocates, and women of all backgrounds, all around the world, who have shared their insights and perspectives with me. The ultimate measure of my success will be whether their ability to unlock progress continues long after I’m gone.

 -Melinda French Gates