Project Description
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Mission
The foundation’s aim is to bring about improvement on a global scale with special focus on Africa. The organisation works with several grantees and partners on a variety of projects that include poverty, homelessness and disease.
Headquarters
Seattle and Washington in the United States.
Operating region
Projects are run in Sub-Saharan Africa, North America, Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, South America, Europe, Central America, the Caribbean, Australia and Oceania.
Supported causes
The foundation works with a great variety of causes that include HIV/Aids, community projects, agricultural development, health, communication, global policies, scholarships and many more.
Grants/award programs
The foundation programs are:
• US Program
• Global Development
• Global Health
• Communications
• Global Policy, Advocacy and Country Programs
• Special Projects
Program officers identify ideas that are in line with the foundation’s strategic priorities. Concepts are explored and applicants are approached with guidelines and templates on how to develop a proposal. Results are measured and evaluated and, if everything is in order, the grants go ahead and the programs start.
Funded Organizations/Projects
Thousands of grants have been awarded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation throughout the years. Notable funding include:
• The largest funding sum recorded to date is US$1,525,380,950 which was awarded to the United Negro College Fund, Inc. in the US in 2009 and earlier. The funding went towards scholarships as part of the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program.
• US$750,000,000 was donated to the GAVI Campaign located in Geneva. The donation was made in aid of vaccine delivery during 2009 and earlier as part of the Global Development program.
• A further US$953,600,000 was given towards vaccine delivery to the GAVI Alliance in 2011.
• The largest donation with Africa as the issue to date is US$29,501,512, which went towards improving resources in the fight against HIV and tuberculosis. This was donated during 2009 and earlier to the RESULTS Educational Fund, Inc. as part of the Global Policy, Advocacy and Country Programs.
• Another substantial donation of US$23,559,457 was made as part of the same program in 2014. The grantee was New Venture Fund and the issue was water, sanitation and hygiene in Africa.
• Numerous grants have been made towards the cause of dealing more effectively with the HIV/Aids pandemic. Grants include an amount of US$3,020,584 which was made to Wits Health Consortium in 2015 and several large sum grants to universities for research purposes.
Foundation’s History
The foundation was initially formed by William H. Gates Sr. as the William H. Gates Foundation in 1997. In 2000 Bill and Melinda Gates affected a merger between the Gates Learning Foundation and the William H. Gates Foundation which formed The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Today the foundation is the largest of its kind in the world. As of December 2014 it had an endowment of US$44.3 billion.
