From eradicating infectious diseases to ending global hunger, no development challenge seems too big for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. But what do some of the foundation’s latest and biggest grants say about its strategic direction and priorities?
With annual spending pegged at over $3 billion per year, the Gates Foundation is the largest and most well-known private foundation in the world. The charity plays an instrumental role in setting the global development agenda, and the sheer scale of its grants — which range from $100,000 to more than $150 million — can be game-changing and catalytic for any cause or organization.
Guided by a belief in the “transformative power of technology and science”, the Seattle-based philanthropy usually funds innovative initiatives aimed at tackling persistent global health and development problems. But what really sets the foundation apart is its data-centered grant-making: Development strategies and interventions are selected and designed based on a rigorous, results-driven approach.
To get a better sense of the latest priorities driving the Gateses’ global giving, Devex decided to dig into the numbers. Using the Gates Foundation’s online database, we took a closer look at the biggest global development grants — $5 million and above — disbursed in 2015. Below are three emerging funding trends that we’ve uncovered.
