Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation focuses on reducing inequities. Major areas of emphasis include: Global Health and United States Public High School Education Reform. In addition the Foundation invests to help vulnerable children and families in the Pacific Northwest and to provide libraries around the world with free Internet access.

FSG has supported the Foundation in a number of areas:

• Global Health: Helping the Foundation to understand the powerful role that the downstream capabilities of branded and generic pharmaceutical providers can play in improving access to medicines for neglected diseases
• Evaluation Strategy: Refining the Foundation's evaluation approach for its education grantmaking, resulting in the development of new management-oriented evaluation tools including a performance tracking system and a portfolio review process 
• Education Evaluation: Conducting an in-depth evaluation of the Foundation's investments in public high school district reform in the United States. The project tested the Foundation's theory of action and implementation approach through a quantitative assessment of student achievement and attainment patterns across 50 districts as well as in-depth case studies of reforms in strategically important cities. Results informed refinements to the Foundation's overall strategy