We are a nonprofit fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world

Grant opportunities. The foundation awards the majority of its grants to U.S. 501(c)(3) organizations and other tax-exempt organizations identified by our staff.

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.

From poverty to health, to education, our areas of focus offer the opportunity to dramatically improve the quality of life for billions of people. So we build partnerships that bring together resources, expertise, and vision—working with the best organizations around the …

In each of our divisions, we develop goals and strategies before allocating resources and making investments.We continually collect and share data on our progress, reflect on lessons learned, and make course corrections as needed. Essential to this process is ongoing dialogue with our grantees and partners—which is embedded throughout our strategy lifecycle.

Foundation Fact Sheet. Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives.

A mother is interviewed on her experiences at a community health-planning clinic near her home in Ghana. ©Gates Archive/Nana Kofi Acquah Ways to give. We believe in the power of people coming together to tackle the world’s toughest challenges.

In 1996 and 1997, the largest meningitis epidemic in recorded history swept across the middle of the African continent. Meningitis is a terrifying and painful disease; of 250,000 people who fell ill, 25,000 died, and another 50,000 were left with permanent, debilitating injuries.

Vaccines are among the most effective and cost-effective health tools, saving between 3.5 million and 5 million lives each year. The world has made impressive strides against vaccine-preventable diseases, including eradicating smallpox and dramatically reducing the number of people afflicted by polio, pneumonia, and measles.

And today, we can also report that people in every part of the world have been stepping up to protect the development progress we’ve made over decades—when it comes to the SDGs, at least, the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could have been far worse.