MElinda French Gates says she will donate US$1 billion over the next two years to individuals and companies organizations working on behalf of women and families globally, including on reproductive rights in the United States.
French Gates announced earlier this month that he would step down Bill and Melinda Gates Foundationand promised to focus women and families.
French Gates, one of the nation’s biggest philanthropic advocates for gender equality, said Tuesday in a guest essay for The New York Times that she has been frustrated over the years by people who say it’s not the right time to talk about equality. of gender.
“Decades of research on economics, well-being and governance make it clear that investing in women and girls benefits everyone,” she wrote.
French Gates addressed the high maternal mortality rates in the U.S., noting that Black and Native American mothers are at the highest risk.
“Women in 14 states have lost the right to terminate their pregnancies in almost all circumstances. We remain the only advanced economy without any form of paid family leave nationally. And the number of teens experiencing suicidal thoughts and persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness is at a decade high,” she said.
French Gates said that in recent weeks he began directing new donations through his organization, Pivotal Ventures, to groups in the US working to protect women’s rights and increase their power and influence. The groups include the National Women’s Law Center, the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Teresa Younger, president and CEO of the Ms. Foundation for Women, who also received a grant, has long called on donors to provide unrestricted, multi-year funding to organizations. She praised French Gates’ new commitment as part of a broader trend of main female donors donating generously to non-profit organizations.
“If philanthropy took lessons from the way women move money, we would see more money in the field having a greater impact,” Younger said.
His organization learned of the grant, which was the first it received from Pivotal Ventures last week, and Younger said there was no application process. She declined to disclose the donation amount, but said it would help expand her work with organizations in the South and Midwest.
French Gates’ Pivotal Ventures is a limited liability company that also manages investments for profitable ventures, so there is little public information about its donations or the assets it manages. Pivotal Ventures has focused on a number of avenues to increase women’s economic and political participation and power, such as closing the pay gap, offsetting the care work often performed by women, and encouraging women to run for political office.
Looking ahead, French Gates plans to launch a $250 million initiative in the fall that will focus on improving the mental and physical health of women and girls around the world.
French Gates will leave the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundationnext week. She helped found the organization nearly 25 years ago.
The Associated Press receives financial support for news coverage in Africa from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and for news coverage of women in the workforce and state governments from Pivotal Ventures.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will change its name to the Gates Foundation. It is one of the largest philanthropic organizations in the world. In December 2023, its endowment was $75.2 billion, thanks to donations from Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Although it works on many issues, global health remains its largest area of work, and most of its funding goes to addressing issues internationally rather than in the US.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
