The Gates Foundation has spent $53.8 billion over its first 20 years.

The claim is that the Gates Foundation's cumulative spending (grant payments plus any other spending the foundation counts) over roughly 2000 to 2019 totalled $53.8 billion. True: the foundation's published figures (fact sheet, annual reports or the 2020 annual letter's data) show cumulative spending or grant payments of about $53.8 billion through 2019, within ±2%. Mostly true: the figures differ by 2% to 5%, or count a slightly different measure or period. Mostly false: the figures differ by 5% to 15%, or the $53.8 billion refers to a substantially different measure (for example grants committed rather than spent). False: the figures differ by more than 15%.

Set before the research began.

1. E1 The surprising strategy behind the Gates Foundation’s success Vox (Future Perfect) · 11 February 2020

   “Over the first 20 years of its existence, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation spent $53.8 billion on its various programs, the Gateses announced in their annual letter for 2020.”

2. E2 Bill and Melinda Gates have given away $53.8 billion (so far): Here's what they've learned Fast Company · 10 February 2020

   “Over the last two decades, since its founding at the turn of the millennium, the Gates Foundation has given away $53.8 billion.”

3. E3 Bill and Melinda Gates to divorce after 27 years of marriage ABC News (Good Morning America) · 4 May 2021

   “The philanthropy had issued nearly $55 billion in total grant payments since inception through 2019, according to a fact sheet on its website.”

4. E4 Cover Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (audited consolidated financial statements, KPMG audit report dated May 1, 2020) · 1 May 2020 Own record

   “Payments(4,686,654) (4,622,783) Grant amendments and contingencies(107,046) (166,719) Grants payable balance, end of year$7,927,536 8,351,689”

E1 and E2 repeat the $53.8 billion figure; E1 attributes it to the Gateses' own 2020 annual letter, so it does not check the figure independently [E1][E2]. E3 cites the foundation's fact sheet as showing "nearly $55 billion in total grant payments since inception through 2019." That figure is about 2% higher than $53.8 billion, and "since inception" may cover a slightly different period than "the last 20 years." The claimed $53.8 billion is close to the "nearly $55 billion" in total grant payments through 2019 that E3 reports from the foundation's fact sheet. Because that figure is imprecise and counts grant payments, a slightly different measure from total spending, the evidence fits mostly true [E3]. E4 gives annual payments of about $4.7 billion, not a cumulative total, so it does not settle the figure.