About

Committed to fighting the greatest inequities

Our mission is to create a world where every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life.

Explore our story

For 25 years, the Gates Foundation has been committed to fighting the greatest inequities in the world.

Understand our role

We can't achieve our goals on our own. We work together with businesses, government, and nonprofits, and each partner plays a specific role in accelerating progress.

Foundation facts

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For the year ended December 31, 2023. Amount in U.S. dollars.

Funding summary

In 2023, the foundation provided charitable support in the following areas:
faq

FAQ

Frequent Asked Questions below

The Gates Foundation is proud of what our grantees do to improve the lives of people who have the most urgent needs and the fewest champions. We encourage people who want to advance these causes to give directly to our grantees.

You can learn more about the essential work of our grantees by:

We prefer that people give directly to our grantees, but from time to time, individuals generously offer to contribute money to the Gates Foundation. In response, we created Gates Philanthropy Partners, a 501(c)(3) public charity closely affiliated with the foundation. Gates Philanthropy Partners disburses donor contributions in alignment within the foundation’s programmatic objectives.

See our Grant Opportunities.

Many individuals enjoy tax benefits as a result of making charitable contributions. The amount of tax savings received depends on both the size of the charitable contributions and the person's annual income.

Bill and Melinda have been exceptionally generous in making contributions to the foundation, donating sums much larger than their annual incomes. As a result, the tax savings they receive from these contributions represent a very small percentage of the contributions.

From 1994 through 2018, Bill and Melinda gave the foundation more than $36.0 billion. Those donations resulted in a tax savings of approximately 11% of the contributions they made over that time.

No. More information about scam emails is available here.

To learn more about employment opportunities with the foundation and how to apply, visit our Careers section.

Leadership

Our leaders are guided by the foundation’s mission to create a world in which every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life.
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Bill Gates with polio survivors and their families.

Bill Gates talks with polio survivors

Why is polio eradication important? On his recent trip to Brussels, Bill Gates sat down with polio survivors and their families (hosted by Jacob Beautemps from Breaking Lab) to learn about their experiences with this preventable disease.
Anuja Bramhane, a postwoman, records the biometrics of a beneficiary at a camp set up by the India Post Payments Bank(IPPB) in Mumbai, Maharashtra on March 24, 2023.

The ripple effect of digital banking on local communities

Digital banking lets millions of people safely receive, send, and save money without the need for cash. One young woman in India explains how this is helping her community.
Ramesh Narayanan

Harnessing digital technology for public good: An Indian CTO’s story

Ramesh Narayanan, CTO of the digital ID system MOSIP, shares the inspiration behind his work and how MOSIP can improve billions of lives around the world.
Professor Valerie Mizrahi, Senior Scholar, Molecular Biology, University of Cape Town, Mark Suzman, CEO, Gates Foundation, Dr Akhona Vava, International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology and Kelly Chibale, Professor of organic Chemistry, University of Cape Town pose for a photograph after of a Roundtable conversation in Cape Town, South Africa, February 26, 2025.

Advancing health: A journey through science and innovation

This three-part conversation features three distinguished scientists—Professor Kelly Chibale, Dr Vava, and Professor Valerie Mizrahi—exploring how science and innovation drive global health progress.

Contact

Please use the contact information below to connect with a specific department that can best meet your needs.

More about the foundation

How we work

We are focused on results. Those that can be measured. And those measured in ways beyond numbers.

Policies and resources

To ensure transparency and access, the foundation provides information on various policies, statements, and definitions.

Committed grants

We’ve funded thousands of projects, large and small. Our database includes payments made and committed from 1994 onward.