Melinda French Gates is walking away from a 2,000-employee philanthropy with assets totaling more than $75 billion. But some say her departure from the Gates Foundation, announced Monday, could unlock something for the 59-year-old who is passionate about supporting women, families and minorities.
“She’s going to be a bigger deal now that she’s untethered from this big institution,” said David Callahan, founder and editor of Inside Philanthropy. “She’ll be one of the biggest philanthropists in the world.”
French Gates will leave the organization with $12.5 billion for her own initiatives as part of her divorce agreement with Bill Gates.
And while she’ll have less cash at her disposal outside the Gates Foundation, it will be hers to deploy as she chooses.
When news broke in 2021 about French Gates’ divorce, observers said she had “transformational potential” to tackle equity challenges for women and minorities, and that while she’d been speaking quietly about initiatives that mattered to her, now she could “get loud.”
But so far, at least, she hasn’t cranked the volume up.
French Gates has historically focused her philanthropic energy on issues related to women and families both at the foundation and through a separately managed company called Pivotal Ventures, which she launched in 2015.
“She’s going to be a bigger deal now that she’s untethered from this big institution.”
– David Callahan, founder and editor of Inside Philanthropy
At the foundation, she pushed for contraception access and through Pivotal became a champion for getting more women into public office. She has written fervently about the need for income equity for women and provided funding for female and diverse investment firms.
But Pivotal has shared little information about the size of the checks it has been writing, and its impacts are unclear.
Perhaps that will change.
“What you’ll frequently find, particularly in heteronormative marriages and breakups, is that men invest and women donate,” said Leslie Feinzaig, founder of the Female Founders Alliance, an organization supporting women and non-binary entrepreneurs. “I’m thrilled to see such a prominent woman do both, and excited to see what new initiatives she prioritizes.”
Callahan wondered if French Gates might now pursue more politically progressive causes — something the cautious, intentionally non-partisan Gates Foundation would not allow.
A spokesperson for Pivotal declined to comment on the changes, while French Gates said in her departure announcement that she’ll have more to share “in the near future.”
Another unknown is the extent of French Gates’ wealth. In addition to the $12.5 billion that is coming to her following the resignation, she also received at least $6.3 billion worth of stock in various companies following her 2021 divorce, according to Forbes, though other sources suggest her holdings are much greater. Bill Gates’ current worth is pegged at $130.3 billion.
Announcements released Monday offered some clues about next steps.
Mark Suzman, the Gates Foundation CEO, said in a message to employees “that after a difficult few years watching women’s rights rolled back in the U.S. and around the world, [French Gates] wants to use this next chapter to focus specifically on altering that trajectory.”
French Gates could engage in efforts to protect and recover access to abortions — a right that has been dramatically eroded in America since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling undoing Roe v. Wade. It is a more divisive issue than others she has backed.
And she could move quickly. French Gates has decades of experience in philanthropy. Though Pivotal is a much smaller organization than the 2,000-employee foundation, it has the infrastructure to pursue initiatives that include charitable grant making; investments in women-run venture capital firms and startups; and policy work. Given the approaching presidential election, there could be an element of urgency for French Gates.
