Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
Credit: International New York Times.
After decades of sitting on the sidelines of politics, Bill Gates, one of the richest people in the world, has said privately that he recently donated about $50 million to a nonprofit organization supporting Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential run, according to three people briefed on the matter.
The donation was meant to stay under wraps. Gates, one of the founders of Microsoft, has not publicly endorsed Harris, and his donation would represent a significant change in the strategy that has previously kept him away from gifts like this.
In private calls this year to friends and others, Gates has expressed concern about what a second Donald Trump presidency would look like, according to a person briefed on Gates' thinking, although he has stressed that he could work with either candidate. Gates does not have a deep relationship with Harris, but he has celebrated the Biden-Harris administration's work on climate change. Gates' philanthropic organization, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, is significantly concerned about potential cuts in family planning and global health programs if Trump is elected, according to two people close to the foundation.
Gates has said he made his donation to Future Forward, the main outside fundraising group supporting Harris, according to the people briefed on the matter. Gates has talked about his pro-Harris donation with his peers, including Mike Bloomberg, a former New York City mayor and a major supporter of Future Forward who has considered a similarly sized gift, two of the people briefed said. Gates' donation went specifically to Future Forward's nonprofit arm, Future Forward USA Action, which as a 501(c)(4) "dark money" organization does not disclose its donors, according to the people briefed. So any contribution by Gates will never appear on any public filing.
In a statement in response to this reporting, Gates did not explicitly address the donation or offer an endorsement of Harris in the race. He stressed his bipartisanship -- but also said that "this election is different."
"I support candidates who demonstrate a clear commitment to improving health care, reducing poverty and fighting climate change in the U.S. and around the world," he told The New York Times. "I have a long history of working with leaders across the political spectrum, but this election is different, with unprecedented significance for Americans and the most vulnerable people around the world."
A spokesperson for Bloomberg declined to comment. Future Forward declined to comment.
Bloomberg and Gates are longtime friends who have bonded over philanthropy and the issues of public health and climate change. Gates, with an estimated net worth of $162 billion, has long been encouraged by Democratic friends and donors to get involved in beating Trump, but he has always resisted, according to two people with knowledge of Gates' activities.
Like his former wife, Melinda French Gates, Gates has long sought to hold himself above politics so that he could have credibility with both Democratic and Republican audiences and administrations, particularly those who do work in the developing world.
"I choose not to participate in large political donations," Gates said in late 2019. "There are times it might feel tempting to do so, and there are other people who choose to do so, but I just don't want to grab that gigantic megaphone."
Gates' involvement is surprising to longtime executives at the Gates Foundation. The billionaire told an interviewer after Harris' entry into the presidential race this summer that "you might be able to predict" whom he would support in the election but that he was not "a political influencer."
"I don't tell other people how to vote because I'm so associated with the foundation that works with any administration," he said. "I think it's great to have somebody who's younger and can think about things like AI and how to shape that the right way."
Two of Gates' children, Rory and Phoebe Gates, have become involved as Democratic donors and played a key role in encouraging their parents to take giving to politics more seriously, three people with knowledge of the matter say. Both of the children are in their early to mid-20s, and the millions of dollars they together contribute come in large part from their parents.
French Gates has also thrown herself into political giving this cycle, cutting a check to Future Forward's nonprofit as well.
Future Forward has been the tip of the spear of the advertising barrage against Trump this fall. Gates' donation could, even late in the election, help finance anti-Trump ads. The nonprofit arm faces some restrictions on the amount of money it can spend on explicitly anti-Trump messaging, but it has donated over $170 million to the Future Forward super PAC, which faces no such restrictions.
Donating to a "dark money" group offers some protection: Some wealthy donors who support Harris are nervous about being publicly identified with her campaign for fear that Trump would seek revenge after November. Trump has threatened to go after Harris' supporters, including her biggest donors.
Gates is one of the most closely watched people in the world of philanthropy, with a network of wealthy givers who respect him greatly. Many of those people are part of the Giving Pledge community, a group of billionaires organized by Gates and French Gates who promise to donate at least half of their assets to charitable causes. Gates is scheduled to meet with some members of the Giving Pledge group and other health-focused philanthropists in Palm Springs, California, according to two people briefed on the schedule, in early December, right after the election.