比尔·盖茨宣布将捐出几乎全部财富

当地时间5月8日，比尔·盖茨（Bill Gates）在个人博客发布声明，宣布将在未来20年通过盖茨基金会捐出其几乎全部财富，以挽救和改善世界各地的生命。该承诺将成为现代历史上最大的一笔慈善捐赠。

Bill Gates plans to give away nearly all of his personal wealth and shutter the Gates Foundation within 20 years, the billionaire announced in a blog post on Thursday. "I will give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years to the cause of saving and improving lives around the world," Gates wrote in his blog.

“盖茨笔记”网站截图

据盖茨基金会介绍，截至目前，比尔·盖茨的个人净资产约为1080亿美元。根据最新承诺，未来20年间，盖茨基金会的捐赠总额将达到2000亿美元。此次承诺的捐赠总额已超过基金会当前的捐赠基金规模，差额部分将由比尔·盖茨的个人财富逐步补充。

盖茨在博客中写道：“当前有太多亟待解决的问题，我不应该把本可以用于帮助他人的资源据为己有。”他表示，等他去世后，人们也许会说很多关于他的话，但“他死时还很有钱”绝不会是其中之一。正因如此，他决定加快步伐，在未来20年内捐出几乎全部财富。

"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. There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people." "That is why I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned."

比尔·盖茨 图源：美国消费者新闻与商业频道

为配合这一历史性转变，盖茨基金会理事会已正式批准新的时间表，并修改章程。此前章程规定，基金会将在盖茨去世后20年关闭；如今，这一修改意味着基金会各项工作将全面提速，并将在2045年12月31日正式结束运营。

Now, Gates has set a specific timeline for disbursing his fortune: The Gates Foundation is set to close its doors on Dec 31, 2045.

未来20年，盖茨基金会的整体战略不变，同时将通过与伙伴们紧密合作，尽最大努力推动以下三个核心目标的实现：助力终结孕产妇和婴儿死于可预防的疾病；确保我们的下一代不再遭受致命传染病的威胁；以及帮助数亿人摆脱贫困，走上繁荣发展的道路。

Among his goals for the next two decades, he wrote: Further reducing the deaths of mothers and young children from preventable causes; Helping eradicate diseases like polio, malaria, measles and Guinea-worm disease; Funding advances in education and agriculture in African nations to help "hundreds of millions of people break free from poverty".

盖茨表示，他的慈善理念深受老朋友、同为亿万富翁的沃伦·巴菲特（Warren Buffett）的影响。巴菲特已向慈善机构捐出数百亿美元，并承诺在去世后捐出99%的剩余财富。盖茨称巴菲特是“慷慨的终极典范”，“他是第一个向我介绍放弃一切的人”。

Gates' stance on philanthropy was also influenced by longtime friend and fellow billionaire Warren Buffett, who has already donated tens of billions of dollars to charities and has tasked his children with giving away 99 percent of his remaining wealth after he dies. Buffett "remains the ultimate model of generosity," Gates wrote. "He was the first one who introduced me to the idea of giving everything away."

他指出，过去25年里，盖茨基金会已累计捐出超过1000亿美元，其中巴菲特的支持至关重要。未来20年，基金会的捐赠将翻倍，预计总额超过2000亿美元，包括盖茨未来的个人捐赠，具体数额将根据市场走势和通货膨胀情况而定。

During the first 25 years of the Gates Foundation — powered in part by the generosity of Warren Buffett — we gave away more than $100 billion. Over the next two decades, we will double our giving. The exact amount will depend on the markets and inflation, but I expect the foundation will spend more than $200 billion between now and 2045. This figure includes the balance of the endowment and my future contributions.

盖茨基金会调整关闭日期既考虑了任务的紧迫性，也为了把握当下机遇。2000年至2025年，全球在健康和发展领域取得非凡进展——儿童死亡人数减半，致命传染病造成的死亡人数大幅下降，数亿人摆脱贫困——基金会希望能够把握这一契机。

编辑：左卓

见习编辑：裴禧盈

来源：美国消费者新闻与商业频道 雅虎财经 界面新闻 澎湃新闻

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