BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

The Gates Foundation is founded on the belief that all lives have equal value and that every person, no matter where they are born, deserves the opportunity to live a healthy and productive life. Our goal is to reduce inequity by improving the lives of people living in the world's poorest countries, as well as those that are most disadvantaged in the U.S.

Our strategies are focused on reducing inequity around the world. Together with our partners, we work in more than 130 countries to help more children and young people survive and thrive, combat infectious diseases that particularly impact the poorest, and empower people - particularly women and girls - to transform their lives. We know our resources alone are not enough, so we also work to inspire others to take action.

Focusing on areas of greatest need

We work to address gaps in health, economic opportunity, and education where we believe we can have the greatest impact. To tackle these big challenges, we work with partners who have the expertise and experience to develop and implement sustainable long-term solutions at scale. We also collaborate with governments, the private sector, and other funders to ensure the best possible alignment to fill these critical gaps.



Taking risks others can't or won't

We also look for opportunities to serve as a catalyst – bringing together the public and private sectors and civil society to address challenges standing in the way of a better life for the world's poorest people. We have the ability to apply new thinking to big problems, which sometimes means taking calculated risks on promising ideas. We accept risks and failure as part of the process.



Making markets work for the poor

We know that philanthropy can be a powerful way to ensure all people can benefit from advances in health and economic development. Using innovative financing mechanisms and guarantees, we work with the private sector to ease bottlenecks in the development and delivery of low-cost vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics to reduce the burden of infectious diseases in poor countries or to reach women with the tools and technologies that enable them to thrive. We also invest in innovation to accelerate the development of proven technology solutions that improve teaching and learning.

The foundation is a learning organization and we are always evaluating our work and striving to do better. We have learned several valuable lessons about how to tackle inequity as a foundation, and our approach continues to evolve, based on new evidence and changing circumstances facing the world.