What Will Happen to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Now?
Wealthy couples have a lot of shared assets to consider when they split, but only Bill and Melinda Gates have one of the world’s largest philanthropic entities to contend with. As news of their divorce hit, watercooler speculation in the nonprofit world reached fever pitch. Town & Country checked in with Benjamin Soskis, senior research associate at the Urban Institute's Center on Nonprofit and Philanthropy. (Note: the Institute’s work has been supported by the Gates Foundation.)
How do you expect the Gates Foundation to change as a result of the divorce?
It’s worth pointing out that already at the foundation there had been, for several years now, a differentiation of priority areas and focuses between Bill and Melinda. The foundation has been able to absorb a form of decoupling already, so it’s quite possible it could continue to be a place that can represent their overlapping interests and then they can pursue wholly individual interests through other entities.
What are those different priorities?
Bill’s focus on global health has been consistent for decades and, more recently, he’s invested a lot in combating climate change. Meanwhile Melinda has determined that gender equity and girls’ health are not only neglected areas but also ones that could have huge consequences in domestic and global spaces, so she has pushed women’s empowerment both inside the foundation and in her own LLC (Pivotal Ventures). She made it a priority inside the foundation.
But perhaps the most striking difference is in their approaches to philanthropy. Melinda has been candid about her needing to temper Bills’ rough edges socially—but also as a philanthropist and the ways in which his technocratic, data-centric approaches needed an additional human, humane, and community-rooted supplement. People who have watched the foundation for years have noted that there have been subtle shifts in this direction—maybe not enough for some of the critics; it hasn’t been a wholesale transformation. But many observers agree that her influence was positive for the foundation as well as being a very public example of the reconciliation of the two key approaches to philanthropy that are often viewed as opposites. This marriage of approaches is an important one that people will be paying attention to in the wake of this split, because of how symbolic it is.
Will the divorce affect the amount of money that flows into the Gates foundation?
It certainly complicates things. The amount of Gates money that’s not in the foundation is considerably larger than the amount which is in the foundation. They’ve signed and championed the Giving Pledge and have also stated an intention to spend down the foundation itself within 20 years of their deaths. But how much of their combined wealth will go into the Gates Foundation becomes more of a question going forward.
Will Melinda will start her own, separate foundation?
People are speculating about that, but the diversity and flexibility of contemporary philanthropy vehicles—from foundations to LLCs (which she already has) to donor-advised funds—allows for so many possibilities. We're not in realm where you either have your own foundation or you can’t achieve your goals. So there are many ways she could proceed from here.
Is there any precedent for a divorced couple continuing to run a sizable foundation together effectively?
The truth is, this whole model of giving while living is pretty new. The most consequential development in philanthropy in the last half century is people making money early in life and becoming philanthropic as they go. Philanthropy is no longer an end of life activity. Like golf—it’s key to a wealthy person’s identity. So life cycle events—marriage, births, divorces—are suddenly very influential. Think of how Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan pledged to give away 99 percent of their Facebook assets upon the birth of their daughter. Now, this divorce is poised to become the most powerful exemplification of big philanthropy intersecting with a very personal life moment.
Another thing is that this is now something spouses do together, or in tandem, and it’s difficult to think of them as individual philanthropists. Some of these high profile couples appear to have one philanthropic personality. But Melinda Gates has been comparatively outspoken about her dissatisfaction with roles she’s been given in the past and has already been very public about wanting to assert her own independence philanthropically.
Lots of people are bringing up the Mackenzie Scott/Jeff Bezos comparison.
Yes, and they will continue to. But Mackenzie Scott maintained a very discreet existence and emerged publicly as a philanthropist, with an independent approach, as a consequence of the divorce. Melinda as a public figure and a philanthropist preexisted this legal split up. The Gates situation is unprecedented.
One notable point about Bezos is that all the philanthropy Scott has done in the wake of their divorce has been seen by many as a kind of referendum on or rebuke of Bezos, on what he has or hasn’t done with his money. It’ll be interesting to see if people read similarly into Melinda’s future decisions.
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