Bill and Melinda Gates were just named the most generous philanthropists in America — here are their biggest projects

Bill and Melinda Gates have been named the most generous philanthropists in the US.
The philanthropists have donated more than $36 billion to charitable causes, including $4.8 billion last year.
Through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the couple has focused on global health, education, and poverty.

Bill and Melinda Gates were recently named the most generous philanthropists in the United States, based on an annual list by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Annual rankings by The Chronicle of Philanthropy take into account US philanthropists' total donations in the previous year.

Bill and Melinda Gates are also working to end Ebola and polio; they donated more than $50 million in 2014 to help fight the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, and they pledged $38 million to a Japanese pharmaceutical company that is working on creating a low-cost polio vaccine.

One of the foundation's most significant partnerships is with the GAVI Alliance, a group of scientists, government leaders, businesses, and philanthropists working to improve access to vaccines in the poorest countries in the world. The Gates Foundation has committed at least $2.5 billion to the GAVI Alliance since 1999.

Melinda Gates, who helmed the foundation virtually on her own for the first six years of operation, has worked to raise awareness of "time poverty," the idea that hours of unpaid work like household chores rob women of their potential. Gates wrote in the foundation's 2016 annual letter that women around the world spend an average of twice as many hours doing unpaid work each day, and girls in many countries fall behind in their education as a result.

Gates has led several other efforts to advance opportunities for women around the world, including the expansion of contraception availability around the world. In a Time magazine op-ed, Melinda Gates wrote that she and her husband are also investing in Mama Cash — the oldest international women's fund in the world — as well as networks like Prospera, which supports grassroots women's groups and funds in more than 170 countries.

Education is at the forefront of the Gates Foundation's giving as well. The Gates Millennium Scholars Program was established in 1999 to provide financial support to students of color pursuing undergraduate degrees. Roughly $1.6 billion has gone toward the program, and about 1,000 new scholars are selected each year.

The Gates Foundation also partnered with the Nigeria-based Dangote Foundation in 2016 to spend $100 million on eliminating malnutrition in Nigeria, which is Africa's biggest economy.

In the foundation's 2018 annual letter, Bill and Melinda Gates wrote that they believe the world is getting better despite the presence of violence, natural disasters, and political division.

Bill and Melinda Gates were just named the most generous philanthropists in America — here are their biggest projects

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