Annual Report 2017

LETTER FROM THE CEO

I am pleased to share the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s 2017 Annual Report with our friends and partners.

Thanks to the remarkable dedication of our partners, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation helped millions of families around the world transform their lives in 2017.

This was the year we convened a new generation of leaders to accelerate progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for our inaugural Goalkeepers event. We collaborated with governments and other nonprofit organizations to bring us one step closer to outsmarting and outpacing epidemics by forming the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI). We joined public and private sector partners to help farmers in the developing world cope with the devastating effects of climate change. And, we continued to make important progress alongside our Global Polio Eradication Initiative partners towards global polio eradication.

While we are deeply proud of the progress that has been achieved thus far, we remain mindful of the great challenges that lie ahead. To meet those challenges, we know we must be responsible stewards of the financial resources with which we have been entrusted.

For that reason, I share with you here the foundation’s 2017 Annual Report. Our complete audited financial statements are available on gatesfoundation.org and intended to give you a clear and accurate picture of our ongoing efforts to carry out that stewardship.

The reason why this is so important to us is that we know where we want our investments to go:

• Ensuring more children and young people survive and thrive.
• Empowering the poorest, especially women and girls, to transform their lives.
• Combatting infectious diseases that particularly affect the poorest.
• Inspiring people to take action to change the world.

By taking good care of the money given to us, we can ensure that as much of it as possible goes toward these missions, and ultimately toward fulfilling our shared vision of a world in which everyone has the chance to lead a healthy, productive life.

It is an honor to join forces in this cause with our outstanding partners across the United States and around the world. To all of you, I extend my deepest thanks.

Sue

Sue Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH
Chief Executive Officer
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

2017 Funding Areas

For the Year ended December 31, 2017. Amounts in thousands of U.S. dollars.