What is the name of the philanthropic foundation co-founded by Bill Gates and his ex-wife?

The philanthropic foundation co-founded by Bill Gates and his ex-wife was the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates created the foundation through a series of mergers involving earlier Gates charitable organizations. The resulting Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation formally launched in 2000, with priorities including global health, poverty reduction, education, and access to information technology.

A current-name wrinkle can cause confusion: after Melinda French Gates left the organization in 2024, it adopted the shorter name Gates Foundation. “Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation” remains the historically correct and widely recognized name for the institution they co-founded together, so it is the canonical answer to this wording.

The foundation is not the same thing as The Giving Pledge. The Giving Pledge is a voluntary campaign encouraging wealthy people to commit at least half their wealth to charity; it is not a grant-making foundation. The foundation instead distributes grants and supports large-scale programs through partnerships with governments, researchers, and nonprofit organizations.