DEI Commitment Statement
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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was founded on a simple premise: that people everywhere, regardless of identity or circumstances, should have the chance to live healthy, productive lives. We are working toward a future that is more diverse, equitable, and inclusive for all. When the ability to enjoy good health, secure greater educational outcomes, and move and stay out of poverty is unimpeded by race, gender, or other human differences, we will be living in that future.
We’re not there yet. Racism, sexism, and other forms of bias show up in every corner and every aspect of our global society, including in the philanthropic sector. Only through greater diversity, equity, and inclusion — of voices, ideas, and approaches — will we be able to help all people improve their lives.
As the world’s largest private foundation, we understand our immense privilege and responsibility. We recognize the inherent power imbalances in our work. We must look critically at our own culture and practices, while building on our existing work in gender equality and listening to and learning from the many organizations that have undertaken their own DEI journeys. And because knowledge is necessary but insufficient, we pledge to turn our learnings into actions that lead to greater impact and measurable results.
Our three organizational priorities are to achieve Impact First, measured in our programmatic goals by lives saved and improved, which is underpinned by a High-Integrity Culture and thinking and acting as One Global Foundation. We cannot achieve any of these without embedding diversity, equity, and inclusion as fundamental principles and practices across all of our work.
We will:
- Achieve the impact we want to have in the world by actively listening to our partners and the communities they work within and serve, investing in and elevating their voices and ideas
- Create an inclusive workplace culture that recognizes and values all backgrounds, voices, roles, and contributions
- Foster practices to help us build a globally and culturally diverse workforce, empowered and supported to perform at their highest potential
- Hold our leaders accountable for developing diverse and inclusive teams, making decisions equitably and transparently, and modeling inclusive behaviors
As we work toward these outcomes, we will hold fast to our vision: that every person will have the chance to live a healthy, productive life and be treated with dignity, humanity and respect — in our organization and around the world.