Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Jeff Raikes. Jeff Raikes, chief executive officer, leads the foundation's efforts to promote equity for all people around the world. He sets strategic priorities, monitors results, and facilitates relationships with key partners for all three of our program groups. Before joining the foundation, Raikes was a member of Microsoft's senior leadership team, which sets overall strategy and direction for the company. Raikes… See full bio.

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Story: This is the story of Hidalgo Early College High School, one of the Gates Foundation’s education grantees: Hidalgo Early College High School is one of the schools that proves all students can succeed with the right support. Hidalgo is located in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, one of the poorest places in the United States. More than half the students at Hidalgo have a parent who never finished high school. And yet Hidalgo’s graduation rate is almost 90 percent, more than 10 percentage points higher than the Texas average. How does Hidalgo do it? Part of the answer is that it’s an early college high school, which means students complete high school while taking rigorous college courses. Many of them earn so many credits that they graduate not only with their high school diploma but also with an associate degree. The early college model works, especially for students who belong to groups that are under-represented at colleges, because it helps them get further, faster—and for less money, which is critically important for low-income students. Hidalgo is one of more than 200 early college high schools created since 2002 with support from the Gates Foundation and other partners. Bill and Melinda Gates visited Hidalgo in October 2008 to get a better understanding of the school’s success. In meetings with students and teachers, two themes came up over and over again. First, high expectations. All the students Bill and Melinda talked to expected to continue their education after graduation. Second, close relationships between teachers and students. Hidalgo extended the school day by a half hour so it could fit tutoring into the curriculum, and the students thrive on the one-on-one contact with their teachers. One student told Melinda that Hidalgo “is like a second home." (Source: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/annualreport/2008/Pages/united-states-program-highlights.aspx)

Evidence of Impact Summary:

Experts cite the scale and breadth of education programming of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a sign of impact. Their role in influencing the policy world is repeatedly cited as an indicator if impact as well.
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Organization Strengths Summary:

Almost all respondents considered the scope of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's grant making to support education initiatives as a major strength.
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Areas for Improvement Summary:

Areas for improvement were mixed across experts. Opportunities mentioned included program focus, collaboration, communications, and turnover.
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Jeff Raikes, chief executive officer, leads the foundation's efforts to promote equity for all people around the world. He sets strategic priorities, monitors results, and facilitates relationships with key partners for all three of our program groups. Before joining the foundation, Raikes was a member of Microsoft's senior leadership team, which sets overall strategy and direction for the company. Raikes was president of the Microsoft Business Division and oversaw the Information Worker, Server & Tools Business and Microsoft Business Solutions groups. He previously served as group vice president of the Worldwide Sales and Support Group, where he was responsible for providing strategic leadership for Microsoft's sales, marketing, and service initiatives. Before that, he served as senior vice president of Microsoft North America. Raikes joined Microsoft in 1981 as a product manager and was instrumental in driving Microsoft's applications marketing strategy. Promoted to director of applications marketing in 1984, Raikes was the chief strategist behind the company's success in graphical applications for the Apple Macintosh and the Microsoft Windows operating system and the creation of the Microsoft Office suite of productivity applications. Before joining Microsoft, he was a software development manager at Apple Computer Inc. Raikes, a Nebraska native, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University. He and his wife, Tricia, have three children. They are founders of the Raikes Foundation and are active members of the United Way of King County, where they served as co-chairs of the 2006-2007 fundraising campaign. Raikes also serves on the board of directors for Costco Wholesale Corp. and the Microsoft Alumni Foundation, where he is chair of the board. In June 2008, the Board of Regents at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln renamed the J.D. Edwards Honors Program in Computer Science and Management to the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management. Raikes, a longtime supporter of the highly selective and renowned school, was a part of the initial conceptualization and has served on the board since its inception in 2001.

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