Other · DOL Form 5500 · 2024

Gates Foundation Retirement Plan

Data updated 2026-08-06

$336M
Total assets
1,926
Participants
96th
Percentile by assets
$174,605
Avg per participant
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Official DOL plan name: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan · Sponsored by Gates Foundation · Washington · Other Services

$336M in assets, 1,926 participants

Gates Foundation's Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan reported $336M in total assets and 1,926 participants in its 2024 DOL Form 5500 filing, ranking in the 96th percentile by assets among filed plans. Figures are as reported by the plan sponsor to the Department of Labor, not audited or endorsed by PlainRetire.

  • 96th percentile by assets (of 116,472 plans)

Where Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan sits by assets

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan sits in the top 5% of all filed plans by assets, $336M for 1,926 participants (~$174,605/participant), up 21.1% in 2024.

$336M
total plan assets (2024 EOY)
1,926
covered participants
96th
percentile by assets (of 116,472 plans)
$174,605
avg assets per participant

What changed between DOL Form 5500 filings

plan year 2023 → plan year 2024

  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan end-of-year assets rose from $278M in the plan year 2023 filing to $336M in the plan year 2024 filing.
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan reported participants rose from 1,735 in the plan year 2023 filing to 1,926 in the plan year 2024 filing.
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan reported net income rose from $58M in the plan year 2023 filing to $59M in the plan year 2024 filing.

See the national 2023→2024 release diff →

State
Industry

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan vs the 2024 asset distribution

By assets, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan outranks 96% of the 116,472 plans that filed a Form 5500 for the 2024 plan year, and holds roughly 3.4x the national average plan size of $100M (730 average participants).

Scale-class filing particulars (2024)

Total Assets (Beginning of Year)$278M
Net Assets (End of Year)$336M
Net Income$59M
Employer EIN562618866
Plan Effective Date2010-01-01
Filing StatusFILING RECEIVED

Sponsor Plan History (Gates Foundation)

$0.6B$0.7B$0.8B$0.9B$1B$1.1B 202220232024 $0.69B $1.02B ▲ +47.8%
Total plan assets by year, all Gates Foundation plans on file
Year Plans Participants Total Assets
2022 2 3,193 $687M
2023 2 3,470 $857M
2024 2 3,852 $1.0B

Nearby Other Plans in Washington

Peer Other plans, same state, same plan type, ranked by total assets.

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan vs. nearby Other plans in Washington, assets vs. participants

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan vs. nearby Other plans in Washington, assets vs. participants Scatter plot of 6 data points. 05000100001500020000 00.511.52 Total assets ($B) Participants Bill & Melinda Gates…Fred Hutchinson Canc…Multicare Health Sys…Overlake Hospital Me…Gonzaga University 4…Seattle University E…
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan vs. nearby Other plans in Washington, assets vs. participants

Similar-Sized Other Plans Nationally

Other plans in other states closest to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan by total assets, not by location.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan assets move in 2024?
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan grew sharply - up 21.1% during 2024, from $278M to $336M. Reported net income was $59M.
How have Gates Foundation plan assets changed over time?
Across 3 plan years on file (2022-2024), Gates Foundation's sponsor-wide assets grew 47.9%, from $687M to $1.0B.
Where does Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan rank by assets among Form 5500 filers?
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan ranks in the 96th percentile by end-of-year assets among 116,472 plans that reported assets for plan year 2024 (in the top 5% of all filed plans by assets).
Which Other plans are similar in size to Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan?
Among Other plans in other states, the closest by assets is Western University of Health Sciences 403(b) Plan in CA ($336M, 1,480 participants).

Next read for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee…

Scale reading

Ways to act on Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan's numbers.

  • By total assets, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Employee Retirement Plan ranks in the top 5% of all filed plans by assets. See the largest plans
  • Compare it side-by-side against 3 similar Other plans in Washington. Compare plans
  • Gates Foundation's sponsor-wide assets have grown 47.9% since 2022 across 3 plan years on file. More Other Services plans

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA), Form 5500 public disclosure dataset. Plan year 2024.

Source: DOL EFAST2 filing system (efast.dol.gov) - original filing retrieval by EIN 562618866.

Data sourced from U.S. Department of Labor Form 5500 filings (EBSA). See our methodology for details.