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How we work

Whether the challenge is low-yield crops in Africa or gender-based barriers in India, we listen and learn so we can identify pressing problems that get too little attention. Then we consider whether we can make a meaningful difference with our influence and our investments.

Once an investment is established through a grant or contract, our program teams and grantees collaborate for its lifecycle. See the process in detail below.


We primarily invest in two ways:

Grants

We provide funding to organizations to achieve measurable impact in the fight against poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. This is our largest funding vehicle, accounting for over 90% of our charitable giving.

View our committed grants

Strategic Investments

We fund entrepreneurs, companies, and other organizations to create incentives that harness the power of private enterprise to create change for those who need it most.

Learn more about our investments

Funding summary

In 2023, the foundation provided charitable support in the following areas:
Total charitable support$7.75B
* Financial figures are rounded to the nearest million and include grant payments, direct charitable contracts, and operational expenditures, but not program related investments (PRIs), for year ended December 31, 2023. Amounts in U.S. dollars.

More about our process

All of our strategies—more than three dozen across the foundation—have emerged through this process of identifying what we want to accomplish for people and where we can have the greatest impact.

The issues we engage in are wildly disparate, but they share the characteristics of being deeply rooted, dynamic, and complex. None will be solved easily and quickly, and none will be solved through our efforts alone.

Once we commit to an area of need, we define our major goals and identify a clear path to achieving them.

More for our grantees

Our grantees and partners are at the core of our mission and work. We aim to provide clear and consistent communications so we may work together to achieve positive impact. These resources provide helpful information to understand our processes and how we collaborate.


Policies and resources

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

Strategic investments

We partner with entrepreneurs, companies, and other organizations to create incentives that harness the power of private enterprise to create change for those who need it most.

Ethics reporting

Employees and partners such as grantees, vendors, or other third parties, may visit EthicsPoint, an anonymous reporting service, to confidentially report issues that raise ethical concerns.