Bill Gates - Global Health - Blog

The Insider Edition February 10, 2020

Why Melinda and I swing for the fences

By Bill Gates

When Warren Buffett donated the majority of his wealth to our foundation, he told Melinda and me to “swing for the fences.”

That’s a phrase many Americans will recognize from baseball. When you swing for the fences, you’re putting every ounce of strength into hitting the ball as far as possible. You know that your bat might miss the ball entirely—but that if you succeed in making contact, the rewards can be huge.

That’s how we think about our philanthropy, too. The goal isn’t just incremental progress. It’s to put the full force of our efforts and resources behind the big bets that, if successful, will save and improve lives.

Our annual letter this year is all about those big bets. We write about the work our foundation has done on health and education over the last twenty years and why we think the risks we’ve taken have set us up for future progress. We also write about two issues that have emerged as priorities for us—the climate crisis and gender equality—and how they will factor into our next 20 years.

Read our 2020 annual letter here.

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