Melinda French Gates Reveals Where She’s Donating After Foundation Split

Melinda French Gates says she is doubling down on advancing women’s rights as she opens “a new chapter” in philanthropy following her split from the Gates Foundation. After parting ways with the organization she and her ex-husband, Bill Gates, founded more than 20 years ago, French Gates is now striking out on her own with a pledge to provide $1 billion over the next two years “to people and organizations working on behalf of women and families around the world, including on reproductive rights in the United States,” she wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times. She said the National Women’s Law Center, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, and the Center for Reproductive Rights would be among the organizations to receive new grants as part of the initiative. “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,” she wrote. French Gates also unveiled a $250 million initiative in the fall aimed at helping grassroots organizations and “focused on improving the mental and physical health of women and girls globally.”