Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
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About Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation concentrates on large-scale global health and development interventions, funding vaccine delivery and development, infectious disease control (malaria, pneumonia, TB, HIV), and epidemic/pandemic preparedness alongside major agricultural development efforts for low- and middle-income countries. It channels multi-year, high-value grants to multilateral organizations, product-development partners, research institutes, and delivery-focused NGOs to scale proven solutions and accelerate discovery-to-deployment pipelines. The foundation routinely funds the same core global institutions and research centers repeatedly, favoring system-level impact and innovation over small local projects.
Focus Areas
Vaccine delivery and vaccine R&D for low- and middle-income countriesMalaria control and antimalarial product developmentPandemic and epidemic preparedness, including pneumonia and respiratory disease programsAgricultural development for food security in Africa (CGIAR, CIMMYT, AGRA)Delivery-focused global health partners and implementation organizations (PATH, Clinton Health Access Initiative, Partners In Health)
Who They Fund
low- and middle-income country populations / global poor
About Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s largest recent commitments cluster around global vaccine delivery and polio eradication. It gave $340 million to Gavi Alliance in both 2023 and 2024, and it backed polio work at scale through the World Health Organization, the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, and UNICEF. Those grants sit alongside major support for malaria control, pneumonia and pandemic preparedness, and agricultural development, showing a portfolio built around large, technical interventions that are meant to move through global delivery systems rather than local pilot projects. The foundation also funds discovery and translational research as part of that model. In 2024 and 2023, it directed large awards to the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute for work spanning enteric and diarrheal diseases, malaria, MNCH discovery and tools, pneumonia, tuberculosis, and related research functions. It also supported Medicines for Malaria Venture and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, indicating an interest in the path from scientific development to deployment. Across the recent grants list, the recurring pattern is high-value support to multilateral bodies, research institutes, and implementation partners that operate at population scale.
What Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Funds
Vaccine delivery is one of the clearest through lines in the recent grants. The foundation gave $340 million to Gavi Alliance in 2024 for vaccine delivery, and it also funded the World Health Organization and UNICEF for polio work. Malaria is another major area. It provided $41 million to Medicines for Malaria Venture in 2024 for malaria, after a $36 million grant to the same organization in 2023. In pneumonia and pandemic preparedness, the foundation supported Pfizer with $50 million in 2024 for pneumonia and pandemic preparedness, following a $50 million grant in 2023 for pneumonia. Agricultural development appears in the grant to Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa for agricultural development, linking the portfolio to food security and rural livelihoods.
How Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Gives
Typical grant size is substantial: the p25 is $223,677, the median is $513,677, and the p75 is $1,156,770. The recent grants list also shows repeated awards to the same institutions across consecutive years, including Gavi Alliance, the World Health Organization, the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute. That repetition points to multi-year institutional funding rather than isolated one-off gifts. The foundation is a regular funder, makes program-related investments, and funds individuals. It is also a national grantmaker, with a broad U.S. footprint alongside international awards.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$5.9B
Total Assets
$78.7B
Total Revenue
$8.1B
Total Expenses
$7.7B
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $224K and $1.2M, with a median of $514K.
25th Percentile
$224K
Median
$514K
75th Percentile
$1.2M
Geographic Reach
National156 states funded
About 10% of grants go to recipients in DC.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Where Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Funds
Top 10 recipient countries by grant volume for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
| Rank | Country | Grants | Total | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United StatesDomestic | 8,618 | $14.9B | 53.5% |
| 2 | United Kingdom |
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