Overview

In May 2005, we launched Strategic Opportunities, a group of learning initiatives to help us analyze potential new areas of giving. Strategic Opportunities explored a variety of areas and determined that three areas—agricultural productivity and development; financial services for the poor; and water, sanitation, and hygiene—were likely to have a significant impact and were a particularly good fit with our strengths and interests.

The principle underlying Strategic Opportunities in 2005 was learning by doing. We conducted research and gathered input from key leaders in these fields to identify potential points of intervention and to assess the impact we could have if we make commitments in these areas. We are grateful to all those who have generously shared their time and expertise with us. Through this work we developed preliminary strategies and grant portfolios that tested our early strategic thinking while we continued learning. We hope our grants will have a positive impact in the short term, even as they help us understand what our involvement could be in the long term.

In 2006, these learning initiatives became part of our new Global Development Program, which aims to help people around the world overcome the tremendous inequities of extreme poverty.

In 2005, in addition to launching these areas of learning, we made a limited number of grants that fell outside our main areas of giving. We made a few one-time grants for special projects to take advantage of unique opportunities to make a great impact and to reflect personal interests of the Gates family. For example, we made a grant to help start a university for Asian women from underprivileged backgrounds. We also donated $3 million to organizations working on the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina, and we helped support the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

Finally, we believe we have a responsibility to support the charitable sector as a whole—to help other foundations and nonprofits be as effective as possible. So, we make grants that support U.S. organizations that are serving and strengthening the charitable sector. In 2005, these grants totaled about $3.2 million and went to eight organizations.