The Gates Foundation on Wednesday unveiled a record $9 billion operating budget for 2026 — which includes a plan to reduce its workforce by up to 500 positions over the next five years, or about a fifth of its current headcount.
The foundation’s board approved a cap on operating expenses of no more than $1.25 billion annually — roughly 14% of its total budget — prompting the cuts and other cost controls to align internal spending with that new limit.
The Seattle-based foundation said headcount targets and timelines will be adjusted year by year, and that it will continue to hire selectively for roles deemed critical to advancing its mission.
The decision comes after the foundation announced last year that it would shut down by 2045.
Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder who helped launch the Gates Foundation in 2000, announced plans in May to give away $200 billion — including nearly all of his wealth — over the next two decades through the foundation.
The philanthropy is the world’s largest and has already disbursed $100 billion since its founding, helping save millions of lives with its focus on global health and other social initiatives.
“The foundation’s 2045 closure deadline gives us a once-in-a-generation opportunity to make transformative progress, but doing so requires us to focus relentlessly on the people we serve and the outcomes we want to deliver,” Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation, said in a statement. “Ensuring as much of every dollar as possible flows toward impact is critical to achieving our ambitious goals to save and improve millions more lives over the next 20 years.”
The foundation had already begun ramping up its grant making, issuing $8.75 billion in 2025, and previously committed to distribute $9 billion this year. It has a $77 billion endowment.
This year the foundation will increase spending in priority areas, including maternal health, polio eradication, U.S. education, and vaccine development.
The increase in funding commitments comes amid Trump administration cuts to global foreign assistance, its shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and broader reductions in funding for health and scientific research.
In his annual letter released last week, Gates wrote that “the thing I am most upset about” is that the number of deaths of children under 5 years old increased in 2024 for the first time this century, which he traced to cuts in aid from rich countries.
“The next five years will be difficult as we try to get back on track and work to scale up new lifesaving tools,” he wrote. “Yet I remain optimistic about the long-term future. As hard as last year was, I don’t believe we will slide back into the Dark Ages. I believe that, within the next decade, we will not only get the world back on track but enter a new era of unprecedented progress.”
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