Melinda French Gates Awards $250 Million to Women’s Health Organizations Worldwide
In a significant philanthropic effort aimed at addressing the global disparity in women’s healthcare, Melinda French Gates has announced the recipients of her $250 million open call initiative supporting organizations dedicated to women’s physical and mental health. The Action for Women’s Health grants will fund 83 organizations across 22 countries, with individual grants ranging from $1 million to $5 million. Many of the chosen organizations have historically been overlooked by major funding opportunities, making this initiative particularly impactful for groups working at grassroots levels. French Gates emphasized that this funding represents her commitment to addressing the unique barriers women face in healthcare systems worldwide, regardless of geography or economic status.
The funding decision comes from French Gates’ deeply personal observations throughout her 25-year career working on women’s health issues. “No matter where you are in the world, if you live in a woman’s body, you are likely to face a unique set of barriers to receiving the care you need to live a full and healthy life,” she wrote in her blog announcement. Her examples highlighted the stark realities many women face: from a woman in Louisiana being turned away twice from emergency rooms while suffering a miscarriage due to restrictive abortion laws, to pregnant women in Malawi who must travel hours to reach facilities capable of providing proper delivery services. These examples underscore the systemic barriers that exist across both developed and developing nations, demonstrating that gender-based healthcare inequities transcend economic boundaries.
The Action for Women’s Health initiative strategically targets five key areas where women’s health needs remain critically underserved: maternal and infant care; community health and healthcare access; reproductive health and rights; public health systems; and mental health services. The distribution of funding reflects the urgent priorities in women’s health, with approximately one-third of recipient organizations focusing on maternal and perinatal health—addressing the persistent global crisis of maternal mortality and morbidity. Another quarter of the grantees are working to improve community health systems, recognizing that accessible, local healthcare infrastructure is essential for women who often face geographic, economic, and social barriers to receiving care.
Among the grant recipients are notable Pacific Northwest-based organizations including Open Arms Perinatal Services, which provides doula support, lactation assistance, and comprehensive family services to new mothers, and the Seattle Indian Health Board, a community health center specifically serving Native populations. These local organizations exemplify the initiative’s commitment to supporting culturally-responsive care models that address the unique needs of diverse communities. By including organizations that serve specific populations and communities, the initiative acknowledges that effective women’s health solutions must be tailored to the cultural, social, and economic contexts in which women live, rather than applying one-size-fits-all approaches that have historically fallen short.
This $250 million commitment represents just one component of French Gates’ broader $1 billion initiative focused on women’s and family issues announced in May 2024. The comprehensive initiative emerged shortly after her departure from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, from which she received $12.5 billion as part of her divorce settlement with Bill Gates to pursue her own philanthropic priorities. The substantial funding allocation demonstrates French Gates’ determination to establish her independent philanthropic identity focused specifically on gender equity issues. Her approach appears to be more targeted and direct than the broader global development focus of the Gates Foundation, allowing her to address issues specific to women that might otherwise receive less attention in larger philanthropic organizations.
French Gates is implementing this ambitious initiative through her independent company, Pivotal Ventures, with Lever for Change managing the open call process. Beyond the women’s health grants, Pivotal has already announced additional components of the $1 billion commitment, including $200 million allocated to U.S. organizations working on women’s rights issues and $20 million in grants to 12 global individuals whose work French Gates particularly admires. This multi-faceted approach illustrates French Gates’ strategic vision to address women’s issues comprehensively, supporting both established organizations and individual change-makers who are developing innovative solutions to persistent gender equity challenges. By structuring her giving across multiple channels and focus areas, French Gates appears to be building a philanthropic portfolio that can address immediate healthcare needs while also working toward longer-term systemic changes in how societies value and invest in women’s wellbeing.
