July 9, 2025
Impermanence Is The Future: Four Unsolicited Ideas For Sunsetting the Gates Foundation
What if philanthropy’s greatest legacy isn’t what it preserves—but what it sets in motion before it’s gone?
By Santhosh Ramdoss, President & CEO
Philanthropy rests on two sacred pillars that rarely face scrutiny. First, we exist as creatures of tax policy that channels vast wealth into tax-exempt vehicles.
Second, we operate under an unquestioned assumption of permanence—that foundations should exist forever.
These twin beliefs have birthed a sector controlling nearly $1 trillion in assets, collectively rivaling the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds. Yet for all this concentrated power, philanthropy finds itself in an existential crisis, struggling for relevance amid mounting global challenges.
As climate catastrophe looms and communities suffer, a new generation of wealth holders and philanthropic leaders are confronting an uncomfortable truth: What purpose does perpetuity serve if the very problems we exist to solve are rapidly outpacing our willingness to deploy resources?
The time has come to question whether permanent institutions are the right structures for an increasingly changing world.
I have the privilege of leading a philanthropic and social change institution where impermanence is written into our DNA. Our founders set a bold vision for us to sunset in 2035, leaving behind a more prosperous community and transformed systems that better serve children and families in our home state of Colorado.
We’re part of a small but growing cohort of philanthropies embracing time-limited approaches, challenging the sector’s default assumption of forever. For years, this community has operated as a tiny minority in philanthropy—our approach viewed as an interesting experiment rather than a viable model for the mainstream.
That all changed a couple of weeks ago.
The Gates Foundation — the largest philanthropic institution in the world — announced it would sunset its operations by 2045. This watershed moment represents more than just another foundation choosing impermanence; it signals a fundamental reconsideration of philanthropy’s purpose in our rapidly changing world.
While discussions about limited lifespans in philanthropy aren’t new (ImpactAlpha’s own David Bank wrote about foundation spend-downs in the Wall Street Journal back in 2002), the Gates announcement elevates these conversations from niche experiments to mainstream consideration.
The decision by an institution of this magnitude sends a powerful message that even the titans of philanthropy are questioning whether perpetuity serves their mission in a world facing urgent, existential challenges.
Even with the Gates Foundation’s significant announcement, the details shared so far are limited—understandably, as they likely have much to work through in the coming months and years. While there are a few notable exceptions of foundations that have navigated this path thoughtfully, research and proven strategies for institutional impermanence remain sparse.
Drawing from the collective wisdom of those who have embarked on similar journeys, here are four considerations for the Gates Foundation team as they chart this transformative course—one that could fundamentally reshape philanthropy’s future both in the United States and globally.
- Reject the “spend down” mindset. The language we use shapes how we think and act. When foundations describe their sunset as a “spend down,” they diminish what should be a transformative act of creation into a mere depletion of resources. This terminology isn’t just uninspiring—it fundamentally misrepresents what’s possible.
A thoughtful sunset isn’t about watching assets dwindle; it’s about catalyzing something more powerful than your institution could ever be in perpetuity. When we frame institutional endings as merely “spending down,” we rob ourselves and our communities of imagining the profound transformation possible.
The Gates Foundation has an unprecedented opportunity to redefine this narrative—to show that sunsetting isn’t about what disappears, but what emerges in its place. By embracing language that captures the visionary act of institutional transformation, they can help shift the entire sector away from the poverty of imagination inherent in the “spend down” mindset. - Transform wealth into community prosperity. Foundations excel at building and growing wealth—a skill that shouldn’t disappear when they sunset. The Gates Foundation will likely end with substantially more assets than anticipated, even with increased giving.
Rather than viewing this as merely a spending challenge, consider how to transfer not just resources but the wealth-building machinery itself to communities. What if the foundation’s expertise in wealth generation became a community inheritance? In an era where AI and economic shifts make capital income increasingly crucial, transferring wealth-building capabilities to communities creates impact far beyond grantmaking.
The true legacy wouldn’t be what the foundation spent, but how it fundamentally shifted ownership and wealth-building capacity to the communities it served. This means using the balance sheet not just as a source of grants, but as a transformative tool that leaves behind new economic infrastructures owned by and benefiting those previously excluded from wealth creation. - Unleash the full power of the balance sheet. With perpetuity no longer the driving force, the Gates Foundation can now deploy its investment capital with unprecedented creativity and impact. Traditional foundations often separate their mission from their investments, focusing primarily on growing the endowment to sustain operations forever. Freed from this constraint, Gates can pioneer a new model where its massive investment portfolio becomes a catalyst for systemic change.
This means moving beyond conventional impact investing toward transformative capital deployment that reshapes markets and industries aligned with their mission. They could establish new investment vehicles, take greater risks on emerging solutions to global challenges, and demonstrate how institutional capital can simultaneously generate returns and drive meaningful change.
By intentionally blurring the line between grantmaking and investing, the foundation could create entirely new ecosystems of mission-driven capital that outlive the institution itself. This approach wouldn’t just amplify their direct impact—it would fundamentally alter how institutional investors worldwide think about deploying capital for social good. - Turn the Giving Pledge into an impermanence pledge. The Giving Pledge has been revolutionary in encouraging billionaires to commit their wealth to philanthropy. Now, it’s time to evolve this commitment to embrace the power of time-bound giving. By reframing philanthropy through the lens of impermanence, we acknowledge that solving today’s urgent challenges requires not just resources but urgency and focused deployment.
This approach isn’t about diminishment—it’s about amplification. When wealth holders commit not just their assets but also a timeline, they unlock a profound sense of purpose and clarity that perpetual models simply cannot match. The beauty of impermanence lies in its ability to concentrate energy, focus attention, and create momentum for transformative change within our lifetimes.
As the Gates Foundation embarks on this journey, they have an unprecedented opportunity to call others into this movement—inviting wealth holders worldwide to donate not just their financial resources, but their commitment to meaningful, time-bound impact that can reshape our collective future.
This moment is not just an opportunity to foster a shift in philanthropy, but it is also a moment to foster change in the way wealth can be a source of greater good and collective prosperity in the world. The boldness and courage demonstrated by Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation represents a generational opportunity for our community to leverage, pushing forward the idea of impermanence related to wealth.
Seizing that opportunity can lead to monumental change in not just how the dollars are invested, but how we think about collective wealth in the age of significant technological change. Let’s not spend this opportunity down.
PRESIDENT & CEO
SANTHOSH RAMDOSS
Santhosh Ramdoss is president & CEO of Gary Community Ventures. He also serves as the organization’s Chief Investment Officer. Previously, he served as Gary’s VP of Impact Investing, overseeing the organization’s endowment and helping deploy a larger pool of financial assets in service of its mission. Santhosh helped Gary establish partnerships with leading impact fund managers and companies while incubating capital vehicles like The Dearfield Fund, a concessionary private equity fund by Gary Ventures, Inc. providing downpayment assistance to homebuyers facing systemic barriers to home ownership in Metro Denver.
This article originally appeared on ImpactAlpha.