Since 2000, the Gates Foundation has disbursed over $65 billion — more than any private foundation in history — saving millions of lives through vaccines, disease eradication and education reform.
$65 billion disbursed · Polio nearly eradicated · 350,000 schools transformed
241
Giving Pledge Signatories
29
Countries Represented
$600B+
Wealth Pledged
2010
Year Founded
Since its founding in 2000, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has disbursed over $65 billion — more than any private foundation in history. Its singular mission: to ensure that breakthroughs in health, learning, and economic opportunity reach those who need them most. From eradicating polio to funding breakthrough malaria vaccines, the Foundation's impact is literally measured in lives saved.
Bill Gates has pledged to give away virtually all of his wealth — an estimated $130 billion — before he dies, and has committed to shutting the Foundation down within 20 years of his passing to ensure all funds are deployed. In 2022 alone, the Foundation disbursed $8.3 billion, making it one of the largest single-year charitable distributions ever recorded.
Perhaps the Foundation's most enduring legacy is the Giving Pledge — co-founded with Warren Buffett — which has convinced over 241 of the world's wealthiest individuals to commit the majority of their fortunes to philanthropy, creating a cascade of giving worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
"We have an opportunity and a responsibility to put our resources to work — not just for ourselves or our children, but for everyone's children."
— Bill Gates
Teacher, Mother & Founder — BlinkNow Foundation
At 18, Maggie Doyne was a typical New Jersey teenager who had just finished high school and was taking a gap year before college. She spent that year travelling through Asia — and everything changed the moment she arrived in Nepal and met a young girl breaking rocks by the side of the road, too poor to attend school. Maggie handed over her entire babysitting savings — $5,000 — and bought land to build a home for children who had none.
What started as a single act of impulse became BlinkNow, a foundation that now runs the Kopila Valley Children's Home and School — housing 50 children and educating over 350 in one of Nepal's most underserved regions. Maggie did not wait for a grant, a government programme or a billionaire's backing. She was 19 years old with $5,000 and an unshakeable conviction that children deserved better.
Today Maggie is a UNICEF Ambassador and CNN Hero of the Year. But the most remarkable thing about her story is not the awards — it is what it tells us about the geography of courage. You don't need a billion dollars. You need a decision.
"I just saw a need and tried to fill it. I didn't think about whether I could. I just did."
— Maggie Doyne
Teachers, nurses, volunteers and community organisers making an outsized impact — without a billion dollars.
Maggie Doyne
A young American woman moved to Nepal and used her babysitting savings to build an orphanage and school for 350 children.
350 children educated and housed in Kopila Valley, Nepal
Felix Finkbeiner
At age 9, Felix proposed that children plant one million trees in every country. Plant-for-the-Planet has now planted over 14 billion trees globally.
14 billion trees planted across 193 countries
Dr. Terry McGinnis
A retired nurse opened a volunteer-run free clinic in Baltimore serving over 50,000 uninsured patients, funded entirely through community donations.
50,000+ uninsured patients served at zero cost
Hamdi Ulukaya
Chobani founder and former refugee Hamdi Ulukaya launched the Tent Partnership, helping 300+ companies hire 45,000+ refugees. He has pledged half his fortune.
45,000+ refugees employed through the Tent Partnership
Chuck Feeney
The co-founder of Duty Free Shoppers gave away $8 billion anonymously over 38 years and died with only $2 million left. His foundation has now spent down and closed.
$8 billion given away — Cornell, healthcare and peace in Northern Ireland
Mo Ibrahim
The Sudanese-British billionaire founded the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to improve governance across Africa — awarding a $5M prize to outstanding former African leaders.
$5M prize + $200K/yr lifetime stipend for Africa's best leaders
Click any cause to read the latest stories from that category.
Ordinary people making an extraordinary difference — nurses, teachers, volunteers and community leaders.
Read stories →📚Scholarships, school construction, teacher training and university endowments worldwide.
Read stories →🏥Disease eradication, cancer research, free clinics and global vaccine programmes.
Read stories →🌍Reforestation, clean energy, ocean conservation and climate research funding.
Read stories →🌾Emergency food, disaster relief, poverty alleviation and economic mobility.
Read stories →💎The world's wealthiest individuals pledging and deploying billions for global good.
Read stories →👩Empowerment, education, healthcare and economic opportunity for women globally.
Read stories →🤝Shelter, legal aid, resettlement support and community integration programmes.
Read stories →🎭Museum endowments, cultural access, creative education and heritage preservation.
Read stories →🐾Wildlife conservation, rescue organisations and anti-poaching initiatives.
Read stories →Twelve billionaires reshaping what it means to be wealthy in the 21st century.
The Oracle of Omaha pledged 99% of his fortune, delivering $50B+ to the Gates Foundation — the largest individual charitable donation in US history. He co-founded the Giving Pledge in 2010 to inspire fellow billionaires.
$50B+ donated to Gates Foundation · 99% of wealth committed
$16 billion given to 2,300+ organisations in four years — unrestricted grants with zero bureaucracy to frontline nonprofits most foundations ignore. She gives faster than any philanthropist in history.
$16B · 2,300+ organisations · All unrestricted grants
Wipro founder Azim Premji gave away $21 billion — the largest donation in Indian history — transforming 350,000 government schools through teacher training and curriculum reform across eight states.
$21B donated · 350,000 government schools transformed
Over $500 million donated to education and empowerment causes worldwide, anchored by her Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa — 3,000 graduates reshaping a generation of African women leaders.
$500M+ donated · 3,000 Academy graduates, South Africa
The richest man in Africa committed $1.25 billion to fight malnutrition, build hospitals and fund education across Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa — one of the largest philanthropic pledges on the continent.
$1.25B pledged · 1.5M families reached across Nigeria
Egypt's richest man offered to personally fund 2,000 homes on a Greek island to house Syrian refugees — one of the most audacious individual rescue proposals in modern philanthropic history.
2,000 refugee homes proposed · Island resettlement plan
The former New York mayor has given away over $14 billion to public health, climate and education. His global tobacco-control campaigns have saved an estimated 10 million lives in developing countries.
$14B+ donated · 10M lives saved through tobacco control
Hong Kong's most renowned billionaire donated over $4 billion to medical research and education through the Li Ka Shing Foundation — funding hospitals, universities and research centres across Asia and beyond.
$4B+ donated · Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, HKU
South Africa's first black billionaire signed the Giving Pledge in 2013 — the first African to do so — committing half his fortune to education, poverty alleviation and community upliftment across the continent.
50% of wealth pledged · Africa's first Giving Pledge signatory
The co-founder of Infosys Foundation personally managed over $1 billion in social investments — 16,000 school toilets, 75,000 libraries and healthcare access for 3 million people across rural India.
75,000 libraries · 16,000 school toilets · 3M healthcare beneficiaries
The Zimbabwean telecoms billionaire personally paid school fees for 250,000 African students through his Higherlife Foundation — more than any individual philanthropist on the African continent.
250,000 student fees paid across sub-Saharan Africa
Jack Ma stepped down as Alibaba chairman to focus on philanthropy full-time. His foundation trained 40,000+ rural Chinese teachers and funds 100 young African entrepreneurs annually through the Netpreneur Prize.
40,000+ rural teachers trained · 100 African entrepreneurs funded/yr
Launched in 2010 by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and Warren Buffett, the Giving Pledge invites the world's wealthiest individuals and families to commit the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. Today, 241 signatories in 29 countries have collectively pledged hundreds of billions of dollars.
Visit GivingPledge.org"If you're in the luckiest one per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent."
— Warren Buffett
You don't need to be worth $100 billion. These four individuals prove that meaningful philanthropy starts long before billionaire status.
Co-Founder, Duty Free Shoppers
Gave away $8 billion anonymously over 38 years. His mantra: "Giving while living." He died with just $2 million and zero regrets.
Musician & Restaurateur
Founded the JBJ Soul Foundation, operating pay-what-you-can community restaurants serving 250,000+ meals to food-insecure families.
Paediatrician & Philanthropist
Co-founder of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. A paediatrician first, she drives the $3 billion fund's mission to cure all diseases by end of century.
Founder, Mo Ibrahim Foundation
Created Africa's richest prize — $5M + $200K/year for life — to reward and incentivise exceptional governance across the African continent.
New philanthropic stories are added every day — from billion-dollar foundations to a single nurse changing a community. Check back daily.
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