In Annual Letter, Gates Predicts More ‘Giving Pledge’ Members

Bill Gates, America’s most famous full-time philanthropist, says he expects more billionaires to promise big chunks of their fortunes to charity soon.

In his annual rumination on philanthropy, Mr. Gates says he’s heard from several people so far this year who said they plan “very soon” to join the Giving Pledge, a commitment that rich people give away at least half their wealth. He doesn’t hint at how many new members he expects to join the 69 billionaires who have already signed on.

The last announcement of philanthropists joining the pledge, an effort led also by Mr. Gates’s wife, Melinda, and the investor Warren Buffett, was in April.

In his letter, Mr. Gates says that some Giving Pledge members are considering working together on philanthropic projects.

He also focuses in the letter on the importance of improving farming so that the world can feed itself as demand and global temperatures rise.

On education, Mr. Gates trumpets peer evaluation—teachers assessing the classroom performance of other teachers. He says that approach has been highly successful in a school district in Tampa, Fla. “After seeing how valuable peer evaluation is, I think it should be part of every public-school personnel system.”