No, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation doesn't provide 88% of WHO's funding | Fact check

Chris Mueller, USA TODAY
·3 min read
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The claim: Bill Gates is responsible for 88% of the World Health Organization's funding

A Dec. 19, 2023, Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows a crowd of people waving flags and holding protest signs.

"People’s Freedom Movement Protestors marching and chanted 'Arrest Bill Gates, Arrest Bill Gates,'" reads the video's caption. "Gates is responsible for 88% of Funding for the World Health Organization & largest Owner of US Farmland, we need MUCH more of this."

The video was liked more than 100,000 times in less than a month.

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Our rating: False

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has regularly contributed to the World Health Organization. The donations made by that and other philanthropic foundations, though, only account for a small percentage of the organization's overall funding, which primarily comes from contributions by member states.

Gates contributes to WHO, but isn't 88% of its funding

The most recent audited financial statements released by WHO show the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation contributed about $390 million to the organization in 2022, up from $375 million in 2021.

However, those contributions do not amount to 88% of WHO's total funding, as the Instagram post claims.

The organization's total revenue was nearly $4.4 billion in 2022, including about $3.7 billion in voluntary contributions from various sources. The majority of those voluntary contributions came directly from member states, and only about 12% came from philanthropic foundations, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

A flow chart that details all of WHO's funding sources from 2020-21 shows the likely source of the post's errant claim. It shows about 8% of its total funding came from philanthropic foundations – and of that smaller percentage, about 88% came from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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Daniel Epstein, a WHO spokesperson, confirmed to USA TODAY that Gates is not responsible for 88% of the organization's funding.

WHO is funded by assessed contributions from member states – membership dues, essentially – and voluntary contributions from member states, other United Nations organizations, intergovernmental organizations, philanthropic foundations, the private sector and other sources, Epstein said.

Manisha Jha, a spokesperson for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, also told USA TODAY that the claim is false.

It is correct that Gates is the largest private farmland owner with nearly 250,000 acres of "highly productive farm ground spread out over 17 states," according to The Land Report, which tracks the country's largest landowners.

USA TODAY reached out to the social media user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Lead Stories also debunked the claim.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: False claim Bill Gates responsible for 88% of WHO funding | Fact check