Gates Foundation executive Hari Menon frames philanthropy as money for bets nobody else takes
Hari Menon, President of Global Growth and Opportunity at the Gates Foundation, told a keynote audience at PBC 2026 that philanthropy exists to fund what governments and markets avoid. The foundation's 2025 annual report shows US$925 million allocated to his programme area, more than half for agricultural development. One bet, a toilet that works without sewers, has run for around 15 years with no guaranteed success.
For the Gates Foundation, the question is less how much money exists than where the surplus lands. Menon places it where philanthropy is never the natural owner but no other owner will move first: untested ideas, slow projects, and a failure rate Warren Buffett once put at 95% for anyone working on the right problems. The aim is to absorb uncertainty until governments and markets can take over.
Source: Alliance Magazine · October 22, 2026