History of education in England that reading comprehension acquired through Bible study could be transferred to secular studies. Raikes used his newspaper to publicize the schools and bore most of the cost in the early years. The movement began in July 1780 in the home of a Mrs. Meredith. Only boys attended, and she heard the lessons of the older boys who coached the younger. Later, girls also attended. Within two years, several schools opened in and around Gloucester. Raikes published an account on 3 November 1783 of Sunday School in his paper, and later word of the work spread through the "Gentleman's Magazine", and
Jeff Raikes was a designer of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management. He has been active in United Way for several years. In 2006-2007, he co-chaired the annual campaign of United Way of King County with his wife, setting a national record for funds raised. On 2008-05-12 it was announced that Raikes would replace Patty Stonesifer as the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; he stepped down in 2014. He is a major donor to the Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity (CCSRE) at Stanford University where he also established the