Is Gates Foundation a good company to work for?

Gates Foundation has an overall rating of 3.7 out of 5, based on over 699 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has decreased by 3% over the last 12 months. 62% of employees would recommend working at Gates Foundation to a friend and 70% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Gates Foundation have been left by employees working as Program Assistant , Senior Program Assistant and Associate Program Officer .

Does Gates Foundation pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Gates Foundation employees rate their compensation and benefits as 4.5 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Gates Foundation. This rating has improved by 5% over the last 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Gates Foundation?

62% of Gates Foundation employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews . Employees also rated Gates Foundation 3.3 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.4 for culture and values and 3.2 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Gates Foundation?

Program Officer (56) , Program Assistant (40) , Senior Program Officer (36) , Deputy Director (20) , Senior Program Assistant (16) , Associate Program Officer (12) , Program Coordinator (11) , Project Manager (9) , Director (7) , Program Manager (7) , Senior Officer (6) , Associate Strategy Officer (5) , Consultant (5) , Intern (5) , Senior Program Coordinator (5)

What are the pros of working at Gates Foundation according to real employee reviews?

"Benefits are great and very comprehensive" ((in 133 reviews)); "Great people all working towards the same mission" ((in 56 reviews)); "There are so many great colleagues and experiences to learn from." ((in 53 reviews)); "Great benefits and pay." ((in 24 reviews)); "Salaries are good for those coming from the non" ((in 13 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Gates Foundation according to real employee reviews?

"Culture is toxic and impractical" ((in 41 reviews)); "Instead, she seems more concerned with promoting her own profile than reforming bad management." ((in 23 reviews)); "You will be the luckiest if you end up in a team that has a great manager." ((in 20 reviews)); "Most of the senior leadership at this (global organization) is white and male" ((in 18 reviews)); "Terrible work/life balance." ((in 15 reviews))

What are employees saying about Gates Foundation layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Gates Foundation layoffs and their outlook for job security at Gates Foundation in 2026.

What are the top reviewed Gates Foundation locations?

Seattle , Washington , New York , Chicago , Ridgewood , North Chicago , Vienna , Phoenix , Omaha , Arlington , San Antonio , Virginia , Los Angeles , Mountain View , Palo Alto , United , Laurel , Jacksonville , Boston , Cambridge , Springfield , South Seattle

Gates Foundation reviews

3.7

62% would recommend to a friend

(561 total reviews)

Mark Suzman

81% approve of CEO

70% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.5

Compensation and benefits

3.5

Diversity & inclusion

3.4

Culture & values

3.3

Work/Life balance

3.2

Career opportunities

2.9

Senior management

Gates Foundation has an employee rating of 3.7 out of 5 stars, based on 561 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Gates Foundation employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Nonprofit & NGO industry (3.7 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

561 reviews

4.0

Oct 22, 2017

Strategy, Planning & Management Intern

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Fascinating people and exposure, great institutional resources, amazing work culture

Cons

Not enough focus on professional development and training

Gates Foundation Response

8y

Thanks so much for your feedback. It sounds like you enjoyed your summer at the foundation. If you'd like to share more about your experience, please reach out to the intern team to provide your valuable thoughts.

2.0

Oct 13, 2017

Strong mission, hard culture

Program officer

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Smart colleagues, mission, pay, benefits, physical space, impact on the world. Some marginal improvements in the culture. CEO ethical and has good ideas. Bill and Melinda are inspiring and the work is really important.

Cons

I’ve been at the foundation for 10 years and the lack of collaboration at exec level remains a challenge. Lot of good talk about culture but everyone knows that senior execs throw each other under the bus and go to Bill to get funding. Loss of top operations leaders (COO earlier, CFO leaving soon), who modeled the right collaborative behavior and culture attributes, has been disheartening. Commute to/from east side getting worse and worse.

Gates Foundation Response

8y

Thank you so much for your frank feedback. Based upon your tenure, I have to believe you are committed to the mission of the foundation. I thought you might begin seeing the improvements at both the ELT and director level so I'm a bit surprised by your review. Would you be willing to share your experiences with me or one of my colleagues directly? Thanks pam.yanchik@gatesfoundation.org

4.0

Oct 13, 2017

Program Assistant

Anonymous employee

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

BMGF has a great mission and vision and the majority.

Cons

A rare few of the Program Officers were unreasonable and difficult to please, using the program assistants as personal assistants even though this was warned about by senior staff.

Gates Foundation Response

8y

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide your review. I am sorry that you experienced a few Program Officers that were difficult to work with. As you likely know, we are working very hard to continue to evolve our culture as well as provide guidance to managers on their role with their teams. If you'd like to share more details, please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly. pam.yanchik@gatesfoundation.org

Viewing 331 - 333 of 561 Reviews

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