On May 8, Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates surprised and inspired the world when he announced that he was embarking on “the last chapter of my career.” The team at Grow Further took notice.
Some years back, Gates’ father, Bill Gates Sr., shared some important words of encouragement with our founder and CEO Peter Kelly. He told Peter that America needed more people like him; that Peter should return from China to establish Grow Further. Luckily, Peter took his advice.
We are now off and running as the world’s first and only agricultural research charity funded primarily by individual donors, and are excited for the future. At the same time the Gates Foundation—much larger and better established than Grow Further—is charting a new path that could alter the course of food security philanthropy for generations to come.
Last Thursday, Bill Gates announced that his Gates Foundation, the philanthropy he and his former wife Melinda founded in 2000, will close permanently on December 31, 2045. Before that happens, he’s directing the Foundation to spend at least $200 billion of his personal wealth over the next two decades toward making the world a better place.
Gates delivered this proclamation in a lengthy letter posted to the Foundation’s website and in news interviews. Word quickly spread. His open letter to the world starts with a quote from Andrew Carnegie: “The man who dies thus rich dies disgraced.”
“I have spent a lot of time thinking about that quote lately,” Gates wrote. “People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them.”
It’s an admirable choice, and we believe Gates is doing the right thing. He has laid out a clear vision for the Foundation, giving it and himself two more decades to make major gains in combating poverty, diseases, and food insecurity. He’s clearly spelled out what he intends to do with his charity and the rest of his fortune. He may inspire other mega-wealthy philanthropists to follow his example. Meanwhile, we at Grow Further now have a better sense of the role we will play in the philanthropic world moving forward.
Philanthropy at a crossroads
With government giving on the wane, the non-profit world is trying to step up but there is only so much that large, well-established philanthropic organizations can do.
For decades, the United States government was the world’s leading donor, funding overseas aid and development projects to the tune of billions of dollars each year. It’s no exaggeration to say the US invented the modern global foreign aid system, giving generously through the US Agency of International Development, the World Bank, multiple United Nations agencies, and major government-driven agricultural development groups like the CGIAR network, to name just a few. The US government is now pulling back from its historic role as the world’s largest aid donor. But this is a global trend.
“The United States, United Kingdom, France, and other countries around the world are cutting their aid budgets by tens of billions of dollars,” Gates pointed out in his open letter. “No philanthropic organization–even one the size of the Gates Foundation–can make up the gulf in funding that’s emerging right now.”
But there are ways for non-profits large and small to step up and make a difference. Gates is pledging to do his part. “I feel confident putting the remainder of my wealth into the Gates Foundation,” he told the world, “because I know how brilliant and dedicated the people responsible for using that money are–and I can’t wait to celebrate them.”
Gates laid out a few primary goals for the Foundation to pursue over the next 20 years.
The Gates Foundation will continue its important work in poverty alleviation and public health. Gates announced that he wants the Foundation to ensure that no mother or child in the world must ever die of preventable diseases or hunger. He wants to eliminate infectious diseases that kill millions of people every year, like malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. And he wants to see the Foundation use his fortune to create conditions whereby “hundreds of millions of people break free from poverty, putting more countries on a path to prosperity.”
Fighting poverty and helping smallholder farmers achieve their dreams go hand in hand. Gates understands this. “Smallholder farmers form the backbone of local economies and food supplies, and they play a key role in making that happen,” he said. Plus, he’s maintaining his famous optimism and extending an open invitation to governments everywhere to help continue this battle for a better world. “None of this progress is possible without partnerships from governments,” Gates said.
Grow Further was founded by Peter to meet a gap in global philanthropy: gathering funds for agricultural research concepts that put smallholder farmers at the center, ideas that are too often overlooked by large organizations and governments alike.
Now that Bill Gates has shared with the world the Gates Foundation’s ultimate destination, we have a better understanding of the challenges ahead for Grow Further as we ramp up our activity and find our place in the global aid architecture.
We understand the mission
Grow Further is young but striving for great things.
We are currently funding four projects in Africa that promise to dramatically improve smallholder farmers’ incomes while increasing the availability of nutritious foods for millions of people. We`re also eyeing a future expansion to other regions, beginning with South Asia.
In Ghana, we’re developing the world’s first commercial version of the nutrition-packed Bambara groundnut, a drought-resistant super food that’s been overlooked for grant support for too long. In Ethiopia, we’re helping the government expand wheat cultivation year-round, a project that could eliminate that country’s dependence on wheat imports. In Zimbabwe, Grow Further and its partners are propagating iron-enriched pearl millet in a bid to defeat the vagaries of drought and food insecurity. And in Tanzania, we’re going to save farmers millions of tons of crops in the fields by funding the development of a smartphone application that will help farmers tackle pests and disease threats before they become major problems.
Our members and friends should next keep an eye out for announcements of our expansion into India. Already, we are making valuable connections with Indian government officials, Indian food security experts, and philanthropists in the Indian diaspora interested in helping us achieve our goals there.
We’re excited for the potential and for what the future holds, just as we are excited for Bill Gates and his next move.
Bill Gates intends to spend the vast majority of his remaining fortune helping those most in need of help. Upon spending $200 billion in charitable giving over the next 20 years, his foundation will wrap up its work and Gates (who will be about 90 years old by then, if he makes it) can look back at 45 amazing years of giving for a brighter future for humanity.
Meanwhile, we are determined to still be around when that happens. The need for Grow Further’s work will be greater than ever by then—the world’s population could be well over 9 billion, which could mean millions more hungry people. We can’t predict what governments will do with their charitable giving over the next 20 years, but Gates has very clearly laid out where his efforts are going and when they will end. Perhaps this is a moment for Grow Further to also lay out a vision for the next 20 years?
Grow Further is young, but we’re getting stronger and our work is becoming more relevant with each passing year. We still have time to shine and expand the important work that we are doing thanks to the generosity of our donors and members. There is plenty of runway ahead of us.
We will be sad to see the Gates Foundation leave this space in 2045 but we are thrilled for Bill Gates and excited for the adventure he has set out on.
Peter remembers well Bill Gates Sr., the time they spent together speaking and sharing ideas, and the elder Gates’ words of wisdom and encouragement. It seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
This is an excellent time to be in philanthropy. Last week’s announcement by Bill Gates made us proud to be a part of Grow Further, proud to play a part in improving the lives of smallholder farmers, and proud to continue working hard to bring people and ideas together for a more food-secure future. — Grow Further
Photo credit: Bill Gates meeting with the prime minister of Barbados and other officials in September 2022. Prime Minister’s Office of Barbados/Flickr (public domain).