Mackenzie Scott and Melinda French Gates have more in common than being authors and ex-wives of super-rich tech husbands with a strong sense of self. It is philanthropy that binds these two accomplished women by a common thread. As John C. Maxwell said, “A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” As a leader in philanthropy, Scott has shown a new way of giving, and Melinda is following suit. Through her Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, she has committed $250 million to fund organizations working to improve women’s mental and physical health. She has also extended an open call for nonprofits to apply for funding, adding a new chapter to her philanthropic endeavors since departing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation earlier this year.
“By focusing on women’s health, she’s expanded her definition of women’s power to include the precondition that women must have their health to be powerful,” said Haven Ley, chief strategy officer at French Gates’ organization, Pivotal Ventures. Applications for funding opened on October 9th, with the fund inviting eligible organizations serving women. Each awardee is eligible for between $1 million and $5 million in funding. This is just the beginning of the mammoth $1 billion that Melinda French Gates committed to advancing women’s power globally.
“For too long, a lack of money has forced organisations 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 said in a statement in May this year. It didnt take the 60-year-old American philanthropist to put her words into action for the bigger benefit.
