COVID-19 Relief: Sustaining Vital Community Support Amid the Pandemic

When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted lives worldwide, especially in under-resourced communities, the need for swift and decisive action became clear. We responded by directing $80 million to help our partners meet critical, immediate needs in health care, education, and economic stability.

Additionally, we committed $20 million to the COVID-19 Therapeutics Accelerator, a global initiative with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Wellcome, and Mastercard, aimed at accelerating the development of affordable virus treatments.

Our COVID response centered on five key areas:

• Fast-tracking virus treatments with equitable, affordable access.
• Boosting resources for healthcare workers and strengthening medical capacity.
• Keeping nonprofits and social enterprises operational.
• Helping schools and students adapt to new ways of learning.
• Stabilizing small businesses, entrepreneurs, and gig workers essential to communities and the economy.

We worked to reduce the pandemic’s impact. Here are a few key outcomes from those efforts:

• Securing 100,000 units of PPE for U.S. hospitals.
• Supporting personalized learning solutions, reaching over five million users and enabling two million messages between teachers, students, and parents.
• Funding teletherapy for 42,000 college students, helping them stay on course.
• Assisting the University of Pretoria in South Africa in delivering virtual support to 8,400 students, boosting retention through counseling and academic advising.

These actions provided meaningful support when it was needed most.