The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced that it will spend its entire capital of $62 billion dollars within 50 years of the deaths of Bill, Melinda and Warren Buffet. The announcement is related to the Foundation's commitment to generate progress during the 21st century.

"Because Bill and Melinda have decided to focus the foundation's work in the 21st century, we will be spending all of our resources within 50 years after Bill's, Melinda's, and Warren's deaths. The decision to focus all of our resources in this century underscores our optimism for making huge progress and for making sure that we do as much as possible, as soon as possible, on the comparatively narrow set of issues we've chosen to focus on," revealed a statement from the Foundation.

The current capital of the foundation, $62 billion dollars, will be spent at a rate of $3.5 billion per year around the world but also in the United States. "For the next couple of years, we'll continue on a steep climb to ramp up our grantmaking. Beginning in 2009, and continuing through the next decade, the payout target will be approximately $3.5 billion per year, tightly focused on our major areas of investment, including global health and global development, and improving access to a great education and to technology in public libraries here in the United States," added the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

On November 16, Bill Gates has received the 2006 James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award, celebrating his involvement with the Foundation and his worldwide philanthropic efforts. The statement from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation concludes on an optimistic note, with the belief that the 21st century is a "unique time in human history, where dramatic change is possible."