Gates Foundation
Funds Gates Foundation, a global philanthropy addressing infectious disease, sanitation, health, and financial inclusion.
The Gates Foundation is a U.S. private foundation and, by its own budget figures, the world's largest private philanthropic organization. Founded in 2000 by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, it was renamed Gates Foundation in January 2025 after Melinda French Gates's resignation. Its mission is to help every person live a healthy, productive life, and its 2025 budget reached $8.74 billion.
The foundation funds global health, global development, and U.S. education, but it does so mostly through proactive invitation rather than an open grant docket. Staff identify organizations and approach them directly, while the public Grand Challenges platform carries the open competition work through themed calls. Current and historical routes include Grand Challenges, Grand Challenges Explorations, and Direct Discovery Grants, with the flagship Grand Challenges awards reaching up to $1.5 million.
That model suits researchers and implementers who can answer a tightly framed problem with strong evidence, a clear delivery path, and local partners. The platform also uses regional partnerships in Africa, India, Brazil, and South Africa, which makes the foundation especially relevant where a locally led research agenda or public-health deployment plan can be advanced through a specific challenge call rather than a general application.
Funds global teams developing diagnostic devices and screening tools that cost approximately $1 per test or near-zero incremental cost per person screened for deployment in low-income countries.