A Statement Regarding Our New Headquarters - Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

SEATTLE -- This week the foundation received a one-time gift of $350 million from Bill and Melinda Gates to be used toward construction costs for our new headquarters. Located next to Seattle Center, the new campus will serve as the foundation’s long-term home.

To date, Bill and Melinda Gates have committed more than $21 billion toward increasing access to life-saving advances in health, alleviating extreme poverty, expanding opportunity through education reform in the United States, and providing support to vulnerable youth and families in the Pacific Northwest.

Our new campus will bring our Seattle employees together into one location. Designed to foster collaboration among our program teams, the headquarters will also provide us the space to convene experts and advocates from around the world who are driving innovation in global health, development, and education to share knowledge and ideas. The campus includes a visitor center for the public that will showcase the work of our partners, provide a window into the work of the foundation, and inspire people to become involved in issues they care about.

We expect the campus to be completed by spring 2011.