The boom years of global charity are over. What comes next? : David Wallace-Wells / NYTimes

 Article shared by Robert Cohen

"Will anyone ever give like this again? When Bill and Melinda French Gates established their world-shaping Gates Foundation in 2000, you could say it marked the peak of a certain era of starry-eyed optimism among the world’s private-jet elite."

 
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Summary
David Wallace-Wells reflects on the 25th anniversary of the Gates Foundation and Bill Gates's announcement that he will spend 99% of his fortune over the next 20 years, effectively winding down the foundation. The article places this in the context of a broader downturn in global philanthropy and aid, as confidence in technocratic solutions fades and global health gains face increasing threats from geopolitical shifts, rising inequality, debt crises, and donor fatigue. Wallace-Wells contrasts the ambitious legacy of the Gates era with the current erosion of international support, warning that the world's poorest may face worsening conditions as the golden age of elite philanthropy ends.

Quotes
- “It felt like a trip in a time machine to a throwback era not so distant in years but disorientingly foreign in mood.”
- “The Gates Foundation has a plausible claim to helping save more than 80 million lives.”
- “To bring all the world’s people out of poverty, the World Bank recently estimated, would take more than a century.”
- “In just a few months, the Trump administration’s attack on U.S. foreign aid has already been blamed, by some trackers, for the needless deaths of more than 200,000 people abroad.”
- “Forty percent of the planet lives in places that spend more money paying interest on their debts than on health or education.”
- “If we are genuinely entering a fallow period, the relative influence of the biggest donors will only grow.”