Giving less to more: How the Gates Foundation $6bn of university giving is changing

Photography courtesy of Emily Karakis

Funding to universities by the Gates Foundation has declined from 32% of total giving in 2014 to 27% by 2018

Giving to African universities declines by 22%

20 March 2020, London ---- Giving to universities by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has declined over the past five years, with Africa experiencing the biggest drop in funding according to research published by UniversityPhilanthropy.com and the Cape Partnership, a London-based public affairs firm.

While funding to universities is steadily declining as a proportion of total giving, the number of Gates Foundation higher education beneficiaries has jumped 27% from 192 in 2014 to 243 in 2018, suggesting that the Foundation is distributing smaller sums today to a wider number of universities. While there is a significant skew to US institutions, there has been a dramatic acceleration in the past five years in giving to non-US universities. In 2014, 15% of Gates Foundation university funding went to institutions outside the US. By 2018 33% of Gates Foundation university recipients were non-US institutions.

71% of Gates Foundation university giving ($4.27bn) between 2014-18 has gone to US institutions. UK institutions are second place receiving 12% of Gates university giving ($744m) while Canadian universities are the third biggest beneficiary receiving 4% ($223m). The University of Washington in Seattle, where the Gates Foundation is also located, is the biggest recipient of its giving, receiving 17% of all giving to higher education institutions. Between 2014-18, it received over $1bn. 90% of Gates Foundation funding ($5.4bn) went to North American and European universities between 2014-18.

Announcing the findings, the Cape Partnership’s Andrew Wigley said:

“The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is probably the world’s largest single source of non-governmental funding for universities. It has disbursed a staggering $6bn in funding to 392 universities and higher education institutions in 51 countries over the past five years. Much of that funding appears to go towards human health scientific research and programmes to combat infectious disease.

“The Foundation’s giving strategy appears to be evolving. Giving to universities is declining as a percentage of total Foundation giving. The share that US universities are receiving is rising, conversely, from 68% in 2014 to 73% in 2018. Giving to non-US universities may be falling back, but a wider number of recipients are accessing Gates funding. In 2014, there were 82 non-US universities receiving Gates funding; by 2018 the number had risen to 137.

“While giving to Asia, Latin American and the Middle East & North Africa has grown significantly in the past 5 years, Gates giving to African universities dropped back markedly from 2014 although the number of African beneficiaries has increased in the five years from 17 to 27.”

For more information on the study, click here