Bill Gates donates unprecedented $20 billion to help 'significant suffering'
"I have an obligation to return my resources."

Wealth doesn't have to divide us.
One of the more frustrating and unsettling aspects of our time is the stark contrast between those who are impoverished and those who are wealthy. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, billionaires have seen their fortunes astronomically surge as millions of ordinary people lost their homes, jobs and livelihoods. It’s enough to make one think we’re living out that famous passage from Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities.” It's a spring of hope for a lucky few—a winter of despair for the rest.
However, steps to narrow that troubling gap are being taken. Bill Gates just announced he would donate $20 billion to his foundation, increasing its annual spending potential.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is donating $20 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation https://t.co/5EwsWkm8LF pic.twitter.com/s1eRMe4eAc
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 14, 2022
According to a statement on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation website, the donation builds on his and Melinda French Gates’ $15 billion commitment made in summer of 2021 along with a previous $3.1 billion gift from Warren Buffet. The total endowment has now reached approximately $70 billion, marking a 50% increase over pre-pandemic levels.
In his personal Gates Notes blog, the Microsoft co-founder described the “significant suffering” brought on by the pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine, noting how progress had been severely halted in health, education, climate mitigation, financial improvement and gender equality. And yet, the “incredible heroism and sacrifice” seen from people all over the world keeps him “optimistic” and believing that “progress is possible.”“I hope by giving more, we can mitigate some of the suffering people are facing right now and help fulfill the foundation’s vision to give every person the chance to live a healthy and productive life,” his statement read.
French Gates added, “Philanthropy has a unique role to play in helping people around the world recover from the pandemic and rebuild the underlying systems that left so many so vulnerable to begin with.” The additional spending would help provide a more “fair and inclusive recovery.”The graph shows the Gates Foundation's historical and projected spending up to 2026.
The donation will aid to innovate:
- Pandemic prevention, eradicating diseases and reducing childhood deaths with improved vaccines
- Food security and climate adaptation through incorporating a new generation of seeds and providing farmers with cell phones
- Gender equality by providing women better access to contraceptives and financial empowerment
- Educational outcomes by equipping students with computers
- Climate change mitigation by inventing new ways of making products that eliminate emissions at low costs
Gates is currently the world’s fourth wealthiest individual. But helping others is far more important to him than holding onto that coveted title. "I will move down and eventually off of the list of the world's richest people," Gates wrote. "I have an obligation to return my resources to society in ways that have the greatest impact for improving lives. I hope others in positions of great wealth and privilege will step up in this moment too."
Whether the world could use less billionaires or not can be a heated debate, but the importance of generosity is a fairly universal virtue. Wealth can unite, rather than divide.
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There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."
This article originally appeared in May.