Development Co-operation Profiles: Gates Foundation

The Gates Foundation is a US-based foundation established in 2000. Since 2006, the foundation has also benefited from Warren Buffett’s support. The Gates Foundation, the largest private foundation in the world, works with grantees and partner organisations across the globe to address health and development priorities – from infectious disease to agricultural development, education and financial services – to benefit the world’s poorest people.

The Gates Foundation is guided by the belief that every life has equal value. It aims to help all people lead healthy and productive lives. In developing countries, the foundation focuses on improving people’s health and giving them a chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. Its approach to grantmaking emphasises collaboration, innovation, risk-taking and results. The foundation has six divisions: gender equality, global development, global growth and opportunity, global health, global policy and advocacy, and the US Program. This profile only concerns activities administered by the global divisions.

This profile presents verified data on development assistance allocation. See the Development Co-operation Profiles.

Private development finance

Gates Foundation provided USD 5.5 billion for development in 2023 through its grantmaking activities. Compared to 2022, this amount represents an increase of 20.4% in real terms. Grants represented 100% of the Gates Foundation’s gross disbursements.

Bilateral and multilateral allocations

In 2023, the Gates Foundation channelled its bilateral development finance mainly through multilateral organisations (USD 1.6 billion) and universities, research institutes or think tanks (USD 1.5 billion).

Multilateral channels

In 2023, the Gates Foundation provided USD 1.6 billion to the multilateral system, representing 29.1% of its total development finance. All of this was earmarked for specific countries, regions, themes, or purposes. Over half (51.5 %) of these multilateral contributions were channelled through UN organisations, UN funds and programmes and the World Bank.

The UN system received USD 703.8 million from the Gates Foundation in 2023. The most significant UN recipients were the WHO - Core Voluntary Contributions Account (CVCA) (USD 416.4 million), UNICEF (USD 212.9 million) and FAO (USD 11.1 million).

See the section on Geographic and thematic focus of ODA for the breakdown of bilateral allocations, including ODA earmarked through the multilateral development system.

Civil society organisations

In 2023, civil society organisations (CSOs) received USD 1.3 billion of the Gates Foundation’s gross bilateral finance, of which 20.5% was directed to developing country-based CSOs. Overall, only a minor share (1.2 %) was allocated to CSOs as core support, while 21.7% was earmarked to specific projects or programmes. From 2022 to 2023, the combined core and earmarked contributions for CSOs decreased as a share of bilateral ODA, from 27.1% to 22.9%.

Learn more about the DAC Recommendation on Enabling Civil Society in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid.

Geographic and thematic focus

In 2023, the Gates Foundation’s development finance was primarily focused on Africa and Asia (excluding the Middle East). USD 1.7 billion was allocated to Africa and USD 735.7 million to Asia (excluding the Middle East), accounting for 34.4% and 15.2% of gross bilateral development finance, respectively. A sum of USD 2.4 billion (49.1%) was unspecified by region in 2023, mainly including multi-regional programmes, core support and research grants.

In 2023, 25.7% of gross development finance went to the top 10 recipients, most notably India and Nigeria.

Least developed countries (LDCs) and other low-income countries (LICs) received, respectively, USD 613 million (11.2%) and USD 4.1 million (0.1%) of the Gates Foundation’s gross disbursements in 2023. Gates Foundation allocated the highest share (16.2%) of its bilateral development finance to lower middle-income countries in 2023, followed by least developed countries (11.2%), noting that USD 3.2 billion (57.9%) was unallocated by income group.

Furthermore, the Gates Foundation allocated USD 417.3 million of its development finance to landlocked developing countries in 2023, and USD 5.4 million to small island developing states (SIDS) in 2023. The main SIDS recipients are Haiti and Samoa.

Support to Ukraine

In 2023, the Gates Foundation provided USD 200 000 of gross development finance to Ukraine to respond to the impacts of Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Responding to fragility

Support to contexts with high and extreme fragility reached USD 1.1 billion in 2023, representing 20.7% of the Gates Foundation’s bilateral development finance. Of this, contexts with extreme fragility received a sum of USD 137.4 million.

Learn more about the OECD States of Fragility platform.

Sectors

In 2023, the Gates Foundation’s largest allocations went to social infrastructure and services. Investments in this area accounted for 74.8% of bilateral commitments (USD 5 billion). Bilateral contributions allocated to other macro sectors amounted to USD 915 million, with a strong focus on actions relating to debt, such as debt-for-development swaps. Bilateral contributions to production sectors totalled USD 606 million. Humanitarian assistance amounted to USD 15.2 million.

Sustainable Development Goals

In 2023, the Gates Foundation committed the largest shares of its contributions to SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals), SDG 3 (good health and well-being) and SDG 5 (gender equality) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Support for SDG 5 amounted to USD 2.4 billion. Contributions to SDG 13 (climate action) totalled USD 340.9 million.

Other profiles

Access the full list of providers at this link: Development Co-operation Profiles.

Additional resources

Official website: https://www.gatesfoundation.org

The methodological notes provide further details on the definitions and statistical methodologies applied, including the grant-equivalent methodology, core and earmarked contributions to multilateral organisations, country programmable aid, channels of delivery, bilateral ODA unspecified/unallocated, bilateral allocable ODA, the gender equality policy marker, and the environment markers.

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