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Gates Foundation

We work with businesses, governments, and nonprofits to identify issues, find answers, and drive change. We bring together resources, expertise, and vision from the best organizations around the globe.

View our latest Challenges

Make a real impact with Challenges from the Gates Foundation

For nearly 25 years, the Gates Foundation has been committed to fighting poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the foundation works to create a world in which every person has the opportunity to live a healthy, productive life. In low- and middle-income countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life.

How will you help to change the world? View the open Challenges below and get started today!

Our Approach – Partnership is Key

We work with businesses, governments, and nonprofits to identify issues, find answers, and drive change. We bring together resources, expertise, and vision from the best organizations around the globe to:

  • Spur innovations that improve the human condition by stepping in where governments and businesses leave gaps.
  • Strengthen global cooperation by bringing together governments, businesses, philanthropies, and communities to save and transform lives around the world.
  • Create market incentives for lifesaving products by supporting the development and delivery of vaccines, treatments, diagnostics, and other tools for those most in need.
  • Generate high-quality data and evidence that drive progress by showing what’s working and what isn’t.

What Challenge will you solve today?

Agricultural Development

The foundation’s goal in agricultural development is to support both farmers and governments in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia to achieve a sustainable, inclusive agricultural transformation. Smallholder farmers in these regions collectively supply most of the local population’s food and are incredibly resourceful in the face of challenges – but they need support, new options, and innovative developments to sustainably produce and sell their crop and livestock products, especially as climate change rapidly intensifies the stresses they face.

Our programs aim to provide the right kinds of support: enabling smallholder farmers across the world to create a better life for their families, improve their communities, and provide consumers with healthier, more affordable food.

Marietta Mwikali feeds corn harvested from hybrid drought-resistant maize seed to her chickens on her smallholder farm in Wote, Kenya on March 4, 2021. Climate change is having a significant impact upon smallholder, African farmers in the form of irregular rains and drought.

Areas of focus

The Agricultural Development work is organized around four major pillars:

  • Adaptive and equitable food systems
  • Agricultural delivery systems
  • Crop research and development
  • Livestock

The foundation also advocates for the funding and policies needed to provide smallholder farmers with the innovations and support they need to adapt to climate change.

Why Agriculture?

Our agricultural investments flow to smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia,  where most people support their families through farming. Smallholder farmers also supply most of the food sold in local markets. This dominant role means they can drive progress in a number of areas.

  • Fighting poverty: Increasing their incomes generates growth in the agriculture sector that produces much larger reductions in poverty than growth in any other sector.
  • Reducing malnutrition: Helping them sustainably boost production of a wide range of nutritious foods expands access to affordable, healthy diets.
  • Confronting the global climate crisis: Ensuring they can adapt to rapidly rising temperatures can prevent climate impacts to food production from destabilizing large parts of the world.
  • Increasing women’s economic power: For the many millions of women who work in agriculture, smallholder farming provides a proven pathway to financial independence.

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For 25 years, the Gates Foundation has been committed to fighting the greatest inequities in the world.

Industry

Nonprofit

Headquarters

Seattle, USA

Total Challenges Run

1

Key Numbers

  • 2,396 - Number of grants (2023)
  • $7.7bn - Total charitable support (2023)
  • 44 - Program strategies (2023)

Visit the Challenge Homepage to view all open Challenges

New to Innocentive? Learn more about Challenges and how to Become a Solver

How does the Challenge process work?

Follow these steps to participate in Innocentive challenges and potentially win awards.

1

Register as a Solver

To register for a Solver account and join Innocentive:

  • Go to the Innocentive Challenge Center registration page.
  • Enter an email address, which will be used to login to your account.
  • Complete the remaining required fields including: (1) Name, (2) Display Name and (3) Location.
  • Create a password. You will be guided to ensure you create a strong password to protect your account.
  • Click the Register button.
  • After you complete the registration form, you will receive an email notification confirming your registration and containing instructions to activate your account.
  • Click the link in the email. You will be asked to accept the Innocentive Terms of Use to complete the account activation process.
2

Review the Challenge Agreement

The Challenge Agreement (formerly Challenge Specific Agreement or CSA) is a legal document that outlines a Solver's rights and responsibilities if they elect to submit a solution in response to an Innocentive Challenge. The Challenge Agreement specifies if and how IP will be transferred between Solver and Seeker; it may also specify any special rules, such as exclusionary rules for categories of Solvers, that apply to the Challenge.

You must accept the Challenge Agreement to be able to submit a solution to the Challenge. Be sure to read and understand the Challenge Agreement for each Challenge because you will be subject to the applicable Challenge conditions.

Challenge Agreements provide Solvers with clear details around participation, legal IP transfer (if applicable), and details around Prize and Scouting Challenges.

3

Submit a Solution

To submit a Solution to an Innocentive Challenge as a member of the Solver community:

  1. Go to the Innocentive Challenge Center.
  2. Select a Challenge.
  3. Click Register Interest & Accept Agreement.
  4. Agree to the Challenge Agreement.
  5. Click Add Solution.
  6. Enter any required information.
  7. Attach your solution files.
  8. Click Publish.

You will receive an email confirmation of receipt of your solution to your registered email address.

4

Win

Receive cash awards or collaboration agreements if your solution or proposal is accepted by Seeker organizations.

Your solution will be evaluated following the due date for submissions. You will then be notified via email as to whether your solution has been successful. In some challenges, you will also receive feedback on your submission.

Award Potential

We've awarded more than $60 million to thousands of Solvers from around the world.

The average award amount is approximately $20,000, but some challenges come with awards of over $100,000 or collaboration agreements.