How Much Money Has Bill And Melinda Gates Foundation Donated

Corrections & clarifications: This story has been updated to reflect Melinda Gates also founded the "Giving Pledge" and to clarify the terms of the pledge.

The claim: Bill Gates has given over $50 billion to charity

Bill Gates is a consistent target of conspiracy theories, many becoming especially heightened amid the coronavirus pandemic. While the tech billionaire remains the target of scorn and suspicion online, others defend Gates, citing his history of charitable contributions.

One viral post imagines Gates' view of the current conspiracies, writing that the billionaire has spent "30 years" of his life and "$50 billion" of his net worth "supporting humanitarian causes."

The post, which has garnered 36,000 shares and 20,000 comments, criticizes conspiracy theorists in harsh terms for their claims, asserting that Gates has "arguably" done "more to better life on earth for humanity than any other human being to ever live."

Gates is a noted philanthropist and has pledged a significant amount of money to research and charitable causes during the coronavirus pandemic. He has given more than $50 billion to charity since 1994. However, his wealth has grown even faster than he has donated money.

As of June 2020, Gates' net worth was estimated at roughly than $110 billion, according to Forbes.

More:Bill Gates is not secretly plotting microchips in a coronavirus vaccine. Misinformation and conspiracy theories are dangerous for everyone.

Bill Gates, philanthropist

Bill Gates, who has been one of the wealthiest men in the world for decades, made his fortune as the co-founder of Microsoft. The company, which was a key player in the personal computer revolution in the 1990s, eventually became a corporate behemoth, and Gates became a household name as a tech titan and business magnate.

Gates stepped down as Microsoft CEO in January 2000, shifting his attention to philanthropy and other assorted projects. In March 2020, Gates stepped down from Microsoft's board, though he maintains about 1.3% of shares in the company.

In 2010, Bill and Melinda Gates, alongside billionaire investor Warren Buffett, founded the "Giving Pledge," a movement encouraging other billionaires to donate most of their wealth to charity either during their lifetimes or after their deaths. The voluntary group now includes more than 200 families and individuals from more than 20 countries.

More:Fact check: Bill Gates did not craft contact tracing bill

Bill and Melinda Gates have given $45.5 billion to charitable causes, including the eponymously named Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, since 1994, CNBC reported, citing the Chronicle of Philanthropy. In 2019, the couple donated $589 million to charity, making them the seventh most philanthropic people last year.

Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the Gates family has pledged billions of dollars in donations and funding for efforts to fight the virus. Some of these efforts have come under scrutiny, both from regulators and conspiracy theorists who assert that Gates has malicious intentions behind the giving.

Despite these significant contributions and pledges, Gates remains one of the wealthiest people in the world. From 2000 to 2007, Bill Gates was the richest man in the world, and rotated that title with Buffett and Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim from 2008 to 2013. In 2018, Gates lost the title to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Gates remains the second-richest man in the world, according to Forbes.

Valuing Gates' fortune

Like many high net-worth individuals, Gates manages his wealth through an investment and holding company known as Cascade Investment LLC. The company maintains a diverse portfolio of investments and assets that account for more than half of Gates' wealth.

Gates' remaining 1% stake in Microsoft as of June is worth more than $7 billion, while the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation maintains over $50 billion in assets that can be counted among the couple's net worth.

Gates has maintained this fortune both through wealth management as well as investments in the industry that first made him rich: technology. He is not unique among tech billionaires in this way.

"By the end of 2018, tech billionaires' assets totaled USD 1.3 trillion. Their net wealth has almost doubled over five years, growing by 91.4%," a 2019 report on global billionaire wealth from the investment bank UBS and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers found.

"Many of their businesses are phenomenal cash generators. Software, internet and electronic equipment billionaires still account for 62.2% of tech wealth," the report also said; software, internet and electronic equipment are the consumer products which Microsoft dominated under Gates' leadership and remains a leader in today.

Gates' wealth is also tied up in luxury assets, which he has purchased over the years. Gates' home, which he's dubbed "Xanadu 2.0" as a reference to the movie Citizen Kane, was estimated to be worth $127.48 million in 2017.

Xanadu 2.0 also holds the Gates family's large car collection and a $130 million art collection including a Leonardo da Vinci manuscript. The family also has a private jet worth almost $20 million and owns a private tropical island in Belize called Grand Bogue Caye, valued at about $25 million.

Our ruling: True

Bill Gates has been a consistent philanthropist for decades. He has remained extremely wealthy while giving away large amounts of his net worth through steady increases in his financial portfolio. We rate the claim that Gates has given $50 billion to charity as TRUE because it is supported by our research.

Our fact-check sources:

Forbes, Bill Gates Real-Time Net Worth
Encyclopedia Britannica, Microsoft Corporation
Microsoft, March 13, 2020 press release
The Giving Pledge
Chronicle of Philanthropy, Philanthropy 50 2019
CNBC, Jeff Bezos gave away more money than Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg combined in 2018
New York Times, F.D.A. Halts Coronavirus Testing Program Backed by Bill Gates
CNBC, Bill Gates leaves Microsoft board
Bloomberg, The Simple Strategy Fueling the Rise of Bill Gates's Fortune
USA TODAY, Fact check: Dr. Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates won't profit from drug remdesivir
The National Interest, The World's Top Ten Billionaires, 2000 to 2019
Forbes, A Decade of Billionaires
Investopedia, Where Does Bill Gates Keep All His Money?
Gates Foundation Financials Disclosure From FEC Audit
UBS, Billionaires insights 2019
The Street, Bill Gates' House: A Look at Xanadu 2.0
Business Insider, Bill Gates has a net worth of over $96 billion — here's how he makes and spends his money
Breaking Belize News, Bill Gates Owns Private Island in Belize

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Education coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gates Foundation does not provide editorial input.