Gates Foundation's top 10 gender equality grant winners

From 1994 to early 2023, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation spent a total of $80.3 billion on over 33,000 grants. Gender equality is one of the foundation's top divisions. The main areas of focus within the division are breaking down structural barriers, empowering individual women, embedding a gender focus across the foundation, and recently, centering women in COVID-19 recovery. Overall, the foundation has spent a total of $10.2 billion on 2,000 gender equality grants over the last two decades, which went to organizations based in 62 different countries. These grants cover a multitude of different subtopics, including family planning; maternal, neonatal, and child health, or MNCH; and women and girls’ empowerment; and MNCH discovery and tools. How the grants were distributed The data acquired from the committed grants portal includes grants awarded as far as 1995. The year Gates spent the most on gender equality was 2017 when funding totaled $1.3 billion, with 164 grants awarded. This is followed by 2015, when 137 grants were awarded, amounting to $1.2 billion, and then 2022 with 327 grants, worth $987.7 million in total. Most awards went to organizations based in the United States, which received $7.4 billion of the total. This is followed by organizations based in Switzerland, with $629.6 million, and then organizations in the United Kingdom, with $505.8 million. Other grantee locations include Canada, with $292.1 million; Nigeria, with $214 million; and India, with $175 million. The most funded gender equality topic was family planning, with $1.7 billion, followed by maternal, neonatal, and child health with $1.5 billion, and then women and girls’ empowerment, with $823.2 million. Grants that cover multiple topics were not included in this analysis. Some top grants mentioned in this article are multidivision and multitopic grants. These may cross over with other divisions previously covered such as global health, emergency response, agriculture, and women’s empowerment. Top 10 grantees for gender equality 1) World Health Organization Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland Founded: 1948 Number of Awards: 95 Total Amount Awarded: $586.8 million The World Health Organization, or WHO, received 95 awards amounting to $586.8 million. The highest award it received is a cross-division award for gender equality and global health, worth $57.9 million, to ensure that quality health products are available for the treatment of priority diseases. 2) Gates Medical Research Institute Headquarters: Massachusetts, United States Founded: 2017 Number of Awards: one Total Amount Awarded: $475 million The Gates Medical Research Institute received one foundational award amounting to $475 million in 2017. The grant is a cross-division grant of global health and gender equality. The grant’s purpose is to develop transformative therapies and vaccines that will improve the lives of the world’s lowest-income populations. 3) International Bank for Reconstruction and Development Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States Founded: 1944 Number of Awards: 21 Total Amount Awarded: $463.9 million The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, or IBRD, a subsidiary of the World Bank, received 21 awards totaling $463.9 million. The grants received range from establishing trust funds for better health care to promoting gender equity in social protection programs. The highest award it received was in 2015, amounting to $380 million, to contribute to the Global Financing Facility, or GFF, in Support of Every Woman, Every Child trust fund. 4) Johns Hopkins University Headquarters: Maryland, United States Founded: 1876 Number of Awards: 47 Total Amount Awarded: $402.3 million Johns Hopkins University received 47 grants worth $402.3 million in total ranging from promoting accountability to improving metrics of maternal and neonatal health. The largest grant it received was in 2012, which amounted to $78.2 million to sustain resources for quality family planning programs. 5) The University of Washington Foundation Headquarters: Washington, United States Founded: 1861 Number of Awards: 31 Total Amount Awarded: $383.1 million The University of Washington Foundation received 31 grants totaling $383.1 million. Some of the grants range from understanding the burden of syphilis in women to developing study design materials for pragmatic assessments. The highest award it received was in 2016 amounting to $312 million to expand and update quantitative evidence base to improve population health. It also received $7.9 million in 2021 that focuses primarily on Gender Equality to improve the Global Burden of Disease estimates for anemia. 6) Emory University Headquarters: Georgia, United States Founded: 1836 Number of Awards: eight Total Amount Awarded: $290.2 million Emory University was awarded eight grants worth $290.2 million the grants span from addressing the role of structural racism and discrimination in maternal and infant health disparities to developing priorities for a maternal and fetal nutrition research and implementation agenda. The highest award it received was in 2015 which was worth $273 million to create a long-term network of quality sites for the collection of primary data to track the preventable cause of childhood death globally. 7) PATH Headquarters: Washington, United States Founded: 1977 Number of Awards: 49 Total Amount Awarded: $277 million PATH received 49 grants amounting to $277 million varying from increasing access to safe and effective contraception methods to strengthening government supply chains for family planning commodities. The highest grant it received amounted to $27.1 million, awarded in 2017. The purpose of the grant was to advocate for evidence-based policy change and implementation that will advance women’s and children’s health in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, and globally. 8) United States Fund for UNICEF Headquarters: New York, United States Founded: 1947 Number of Awards: 38 Total Amount Awarded: $269.2 million The United States Fund for UNICEF was awarded 38 grants worth $269.2 million in total varying from contribution to the reduction of preventable newborn deaths to promoting evidence-based decision-making in designing maternal, neonatal, and child health interventions. The highest award it received was in 2014 and amounted to $31.6 million for the improvement of facility-based quality of care for mothers and newborns and to increase optimal breastfeeding practices. 9) CARE Headquarters: Georgia, United States Founded: 1945 Number of Awards: 26 Total Amount Awarded: $231.1 million CARE obtained 26 awards totaling $231.1 million ranging from addressing main structural determinants constraining adolescent girls’ empowerment to reducing morbidity and mortality due to childhood malnutrition. The biggest award they received was during 2017, worth $62.3 million to support the government in accelerating progress toward achieving maternal, newborn, and child mortality reduction goals in India. 10) New Venture Fund Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States Founded: 2006 Number of Awards: seven Total Amount Awarded: $215.5 million The New Venture Fund acquired seven grants worth $215.5 million ranging from increasing women’s representation to advancing the work of the global development community via providing targeting funding. The largest award they received was in 2019 worth $71.9 million to advance the work of the global health and development community by providing targeted funding. Try out Devex Pro Funding today with a free five-day trial, and explore funding opportunities from over 850 sources in addition to our analysis and news content.