Melinda French Gates explains why she resigned from the Gates Foundation — and what she’ll do now

Melinda French Gates says that after the US Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision that let individual states decide abortion rights, the philanthropist felt compelled to offer Americans financial support for their reproductive freedoms — support that she says she had been giving exclusively overseas.

Melinda French Gates says that after the US Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision that let individual states decide abortion rights, the philanthropist felt compelled to offer Americans financial support for their reproductive freedoms — support that she says she had been giving exclusively overseas. “While I have long focused on improving contraceptive access overseas, in the post-Dobbs era, I now feel compelled to support reproductive rights here at home,” French Gates said in an op-ed Tuesday in the New York Times. “For too long, a lack of money has forced organizations fighting for women’s rights into a defensive posture while the enemies of progress play offense. I want to help even the match.” French Gates, one of the world’s wealthiest and most prominent philanthropists, resigned from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation earlier this month, announcing June 7 will be her last day at the organization she helped create more than two decades ago. As part of her divorce agreement, she received $12.5 billion from the Gates Foundation for her work upon her resignation, and she hinted she would focus her philanthropic efforts on women and girls — but she offered no specifics. Tuesday, she gave the first details of her new plan. French Gates said she will donate $1 billion through 2026 to advance women’s rights around the world through her organization, Pivotal Ventures. That will include $200 million in grants to organizations that are fighting for women’s reproductive rights. French Gates will also give $250 million in awards to organizations working to help improve women’s mental and physical health. In an innovative effort that echoes those by mega-philanthropist MacKenzie Scott, French Gates also said she will grant $240 million to a group of 12 advocates and influential leaders around the world ($20 million each) to allow them to give the money to groups they believe are performing urgent and meaningful work in women’s health. Scott has shaken up the charitable world by shelling out large sums of money at rapid speed to organizations she favors — with no demands or strings attached.