OUR JOB IS TO GET RESULTS. WE KNOW THAT OUR RESULTS DEPEND ON THE QUALITY OF OUR PARTNERSHIPS.

What We Do

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Global Health
Global Development
U.S. Program
Global Policy & Advocacy

We work with partner organizations worldwide to tackle critical problems in four program areas. Our Global Development Division works to help the world’s poorest people lift themselves out of hunger and poverty. Our Global Health Division aims to harness advances in science and technology to save lives in developing countries. Our United States Division works to improve U.S. high school and postsecondary education and support vulnerable children and families in Washington State. And our Global Policy & Advocacy Division seeks to build strategic relationships and promote policies that will help advance our work. Our approach to grantmaking in all four areas emphasizes collaboration, innovation, risk-taking, and, most importantly, results.

where we work

Rather than look at the challenges that people face by region we identify challenges that can be tackled on a global level. We work with partners that can help to affect change globally, and then scale solutions to a local level.

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North America

South America

Europe

Africa

Asia

Oceania

our global health division

Our Global Health Division aims to harness advances in science and technology to save lives in developing countries. We work with partners to deliver proven tools—including vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics—as well as discover pathbreaking new solutions that are affordable and reliable. Equally important is innovation in how we bring health interventions to those who need them most. We invest heavily in vaccines to prevent infectious diseases—including HIV, polio, and malaria—and support the development of integrated health solutions for family planning, nutrition, and maternal and child health.

Trevor Mundel

President,
Global Health

Global Health
  • Vaccine Delivery

    Vaccines save millions of lives a year and are among the most cost-effective health interventions ever developed.
    Read Our Vaccine Delivery Strategy Overview

  • HIV

    More than 33 million people around the world are currently living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and more than 30 million people have died from HIV-related complications since the earliest cases were detected in the 1980s.
    Read Our HIV Strategy Overview

  • Malaria

    Malaria occurs in nearly 100 countries worldwide, exacting a huge toll on human health and imposing a heavy social and economic burden in developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
    Read Our Malaria Strategy Overview

our global development division

Nearly 2.5 billion people worldwide live on less than US$2 a day, and more than 1 billion suffer from chronic hunger. For these people, the basics of food, water, shelter, and sanitation are in short supply, and healthcare and education can be unaffordable luxuries. Our Global Development Division aims to identify and fund high-impact solutions that can help hundreds of millions of people lift themselves out of poverty and build better lives. We work closely with our partners to support innovative approaches and expand existing ones so they reach the people who are most in need.

Christopher Elias

President,
Global Development

Global Development

our u.s. program

In the United States, our primary focus is on ensuring that all students graduate from high school prepared for college and have an opportunity to earn a postsecondary degree with labor-market value. Our approach is to play a catalytic role—to support the development of innovative solutions in education that are unlikely to be generated by institutions working alone and that can trigger change on a broader scale. We also work to address issues of social inequity and poverty in Washington State, where the Gates family has lived for generations and the foundation makes its permanent home.

Allan Golston

President,
US Program

U.S. Program
  • College-Ready Education

    Our work supports innovation that can improve U.S. K-12 public schools and ensure that students graduate from high school ready to succeed in college.
    Read Our College-Ready Education Overview

  • Postsecondary Success

    This strategy is to ensure that all low-income young adults have affordable access to a quality postsecondary education that is tailored to their individual needs and educational goals and leads to timely completion of a degree or certificate with labor-market value.
    Read Our Postsecondary Success Overview

  • Our Work in Washington State

    Our goal is to create opportunities for all children in Washington State to thrive in stable families, great schools, and strong communities.
    Read Our Washington State Program Overview

our global policy & advocacy division

Because our resources alone are not enough to advance the causes we care about, we engage in advocacy efforts to promote public policies that advance our work, build strategic alliances with governments and the public and private sectors, and foster greater public awareness of urgent global issues. Our Global Policy & Advocacy Division has teams dedicated to advocacy, policy analysis, and government relations, as well as strengthening the charitable sector in the United States and overseas. In addition to the policy and advocacy staff at our Seattle headquarters and in Washington D.C., we have a European office based in London, country offices in China and India, and representatives in Ethiopia and South Africa.

Geoffrey Lamb

President,
Global Policy & Advocacy

Global Policy & Advocacy
  • A Report by Bill Gates to G20 Leaders

    Support for Bill Gates’ Report to the G20 on Financing for Development
    Read the Report

  • Vaccine Summit

    His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, and Bill Gates are co-hosting a vaccine summit in Abu Dhabi to continue momentum in the Decade of Vaccines.
    Learn more about the Vaccine Summit

  • Regional Offices

    Our regional offices help maintain and further a global presence in our advocacy and strategy work. 
    Read about our Regional Offices

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