Arrive curious.
Leave inspired.

Imagine a world where all of us can live healthy and productive lives. Explore our exhibitions, learn about the work of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its partners, and be inspired to take action on causes you care about.

Plan your visit

Hours and location

Open Wednesday – Saturday | 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Public tours @ 2 p.m., Wednesday – Saturday

440 Fifth Ave. N.
Seattle, WA 98109

Always free

Upcoming events

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Giving Marketplace

Friday, December 1, 2023 – Saturday, December 2, 2023
Discovery Center

10 AM – 5 PM | Find unique gifts from dozens of vendors, with the proceeds supporting immigrants and refugees, women and girls, global health, education, the environment, and much more.

A visitor stops at Taswira's vendor table to purchase a gift from the vendor at the annual Giving Marketplace. — Visitors visit vendor’s tables and shop holiday gifts that give back during the annual Giving Marketplace at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center in Seattle, WA on December 2, 2022.

Designing Motherhood Closing Reception

Tuesday, December 12, 2023 | 4 – 7 pm PST
Discovery Center

Don’t miss this special reception to celebrate the closing of the Designing Motherhood exhibition. Drop by, meet partners, and join a tour. Enjoy live music by Naomi Wachira, food and drinks.

Featured exhibition

Designing Motherhood
Things That Make and Break Our Births

On view through Dec. 30, 2023

Learn more

Tours

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Tour & Staff Chat

Thursday, November 30, 2023 | 2 – 3 pm PST
Discovery Center

Tour the galleries for 30 minutes with a Discovery Center guide and then chat with a featured staff member at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and discuss themes within their focus area.

Visitors on a gallery tour with staff at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Discovery Center. — A tour group learns about the Gates Foundation’s mission and history in front of the Discovery Center’s timeline wall.

On view

Our work gallery

At the Discovery Center, you’ll see examples of how we work with partners around the world to fight disease, gender inequality, make agricultural innovations, and more.

On view

Get involved gallery

How would you change your community for the better? We share all sorts of ways you can make a difference.

Close up of the share your cause rack in the Discovery Center. Visitors can personalize a card and hang on the rack during their visit.

Upcoming

A Better Way to Go

Opening late February 2024 |
A Better Way to Go: Toilets and the Future of Sanitation will highlight new innovations, powerful stories, toilets of the future, art installations, and visions of resilient and sustainable sanitation systems that can move the needle on this critical issue and save lives.

A visitor examines the reinvented toilet on the ramp of the Discovery Center.

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Arrive curious. Leave inspired.