FUNDING TO UNIVERSITIES BY THE BILL & MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION
INTRODUCTION
In 2020, we undertook a review of Gates Foundation donations from 2014-18 based on the Foundation’s PF-990 tax filings. In August 2021 - and with the publication of new data provided by the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) about Gates Foundation giving - we have undertaken a ten-year review of its university funding. The world’s largest private foundation has disbursed over $11.6bn in funding to 471 universities and higher education institutions in 66 countries over the past 10 years.
According to the IATI data around 17% of Gates giving in the past decade ($67.8bn) has gone directly to universities and higher education institutions. It is a major funder of universities globally. Giving to universities is heavily weighted to North American and Western European institutions.
KEY FINDINGS
The Gates Foundation has awarded $11.6bn in funding to 471 universities and higher education institutions in 66 countries over the past 10 years.
The number of beneficiaries jumped 44% from 151 in 2010 to 218 in 2019.
In 2010, the Foundation awarded $494m to 151 universities in 22 countries.
By 2019, the Foundation awarded $1.6bn to 218 universities in 41 countries.
The top three research areas that universities successfully received funding for over the past decade are:
Maternity, motherhood and early years (17%)
Crop & agricultural research (12%)
HIV / AIDS (10%)
Gates university giving is heavily skewed to developed economies. 92% of its university funding goes to universities in high income countries. 8% goes to middle income countries. Just $20m was awarded to 13 universities in low income countries between 2010-19.
While there is a significant skew to US institutions, around a third of funding goes to non-US institutions. In 2010, 37% of Gates Foundation university funding went to institutions outside the US. By 2019, 30% of Gates Foundation university recipients were non-US institutions, reflecting a steady decline over the decade.
68% of its university giving has gone to US institutions. UK institutions are second place (12%: $1.4bn) while Canadian universities are the third biggest beneficiary (4%: $462m).
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