Bill Gates is at it again. The richest man in the world is giving back to the poorest among us.
On Tuesday, Gates donated 64 million Microsoft Corp. stock shares worth an estimated $4.6 billion, Bloomberg reported. The donation’s recipient was not specified in Bloomberg’s report, which was based off a Securities & Exchange Commission filing, but the expectation is that the donation will go to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Gates’s donation was the largest charitable donation of 2017, and the philanthropist’s largest since 2000, when he donated over $5 billion to his foundation. Overall, Bill and his wife Melinda Gates have donated more than $35 billion to charity since 1994, according to Bloomberg.
Take Action: Take Action to #StopTheCuts to the US Foreign Aid Budget
The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, which employs more than 1,400 people worldwide, has given more than $40 million in grants to developing countries and within the United States, according to the Foundation’s website.
The foundation has joined the fight against preventable diseases, donating more than $2 million to organizations that work to reduce malaria and $1.6 billion to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It supports women around the world through family planning and aims to distribute contraceptive information, services, and supplies to 120 million women by 2020.
Global Citizen campaigns to support the Global Fund's efforts as well as the She Decides campaign, which is helping to close the funding gap for women's health around the world after US President Trump pulled his funding with the Global Gag Rule.
Read More: After Big Budget Cuts, Bill Gates Meets With Donald Trump to Discuss Foreign Aid
Domestically, the foundation has been active in creating pathways for students to achieve a K-12 education.
Both Bill and Melinda have also been on the front lines of the fight against foreign aid budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration. In March, Gates spoke with Trump to advocate against foreign aid cuts, with a Gates Foundation spokesperson saying beforehand that the organization was “deeply troubled” with the proposed cuts.
For now, Gates, who still remains the richest person in the world, is holding up his end of the bargain as one of the world’s 170 Giving Pledge members, who promise to donate more than half of their money to charity.
Keep up the good work, Bill!
Disclosure: Bill Gates is the co-founder of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, a funding partner of Global Citizen.
Editor's note: This piece has been updated to include a disclosure that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is a funding partner of Global Citizen. We regret the oversight.