Melinda French Gates

Spear's Review

In May 2024, Melinda French Gates sent shockwaves through the world of ultra-high-net-worth philanthropy when she announced she was leaving the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which she established with her then-husband, Bill Gates, in 2000. 

Despite separating in 2021, the couple had continued to work together and serve as co-chairs of the organisation – now known as the Gates Foundation – which is the largest private body of its kind and a powerful force in the fights against disease, poverty and climate change. The group has given away nearly $80 billion since its inception and held an endowment of more than $75 billion as of December 2023. 

As part of an exit agreement, French Gates was given an additional $12.5 billion to commit to her work on behalf of children and families. Microsoft founder Gates, one of the world’s richest men, thanked his ex-wife for her ‘critical’ contributions to the foundation and said he was ‘sorry to see her leave’.

The first step in the next chapter of French Gates’ philanthropic work was announced via Pivotal Ventures, a nonprofit organisation she founded in 2015 which is focused on removing barriers to opportunity for women and minority groups. 

French Gates committed an additional $1 billion through 2026 to ‘advance women’s power globally’, including $200 million in grants aimed at supercharging the work of organisations that are fighting in the US to protect women’s rights, including reproductive freedom. 

The announcement marked the first time French Gates had entered the political fray in such a public way. It also coincided with her first-ever endorsement of a presidential candidate: first Joe Biden and, after he decided not to run, Kamala Harris. 

‘I knew I had to speak out in favour of women’s rights, and if there was a candidate who is against women’s rights and says terrible things about women, there is no way I could vote for that person,’ she said in an interview at the time. 

Amid a period of personal and philanthropic transformation, French Gates is clearly ready to forge her own path.