Melinda French Gates’s next chapter is centered on Pivotal, the group of organizations she founded, rather than a new role at the Gates Foundation. Her public priorities include women’s power and rights, workplace opportunity, women’s health and young people. She has not announced a fixed calendar of projects beyond the commitments already described publicly.
Why she left the Gates Foundation
French Gates’s last day at the Gates Foundation was June 7, 2024. The foundation’s CEO, Mark Suzman, said she made the decision after considerable reflection about how to spend the next chapter of her philanthropy. He also said she wanted to focus on reversing the rollback of women’s rights in the United States and around the world.
Her departure marked a change in philanthropic focus, not the end of her public work. Pivotal is now the principal platform through which she describes that work.
What Pivotal does—and what it focuses on
Pivotal describes itself as a group of organizations working to accelerate social progress for women and young people in the United States and around the world. Its methods include philanthropy, investments, advocacy and partnerships. That combination means its work is broader than making grants alone, though public statements about commitments should not be read as proof that every dollar has already been distributed.
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In May 2024, French Gates announced an additional $1 billion through 2026 to advance women’s power and influence globally. Pivotal described these planned allocations:
| Announced area | Amount | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Workplace barriers | $150 million | Efforts addressing barriers women face at work. |
| U.S. organizations advancing women’s power and rights | $235 million | Flexible support for organizations working in the United States. |
| Global partnerships | $240 million | Partnerships with 12 global leaders. |
| Women’s health | $250 million | Support for work on women’s health. |
| Collaborative funds | $125 million | Funding through collaborative funds. |
The allocations total the announced $1 billion commitment. Pivotal’s current founder page separately describes $2 billion in total commitments through Pivotal since 2019; that broader figure is not the same as the additional 2024 commitment.
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Women’s health is a visible part of her current agenda
Alongside the 2024 funding announcement, Pivotal described Action for Women’s Health, a global open call offering $250 million to organizations working to improve women’s mental and physical health. The announcement said grantees would be named by the end of 2025. That deadline alone does not establish which organizations ultimately received awards, so it is more accurate to describe the program as an announced funding initiative than to name unverified recipients.
In a reported 2026 podcast appearance, French Gates also discussed perimenopause and menopause care and called for more funding for research on menopause and women’s hormones. She framed progress as requiring philanthropy, public policy and private-sector involvement. Those comments show a public advocacy emphasis; they do not, by themselves, establish a new Pivotal grant or a separate program.
Pivotal’s 2024 announcement quoted French Gates saying that reducing the time women spend in poor health could add “as much as $1 trillion to the global economy by 2040.” This is an estimate she cited in the announcement, not an independently verified forecast here.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How this differs from the Gates Foundation
The Gates Foundation and Pivotal are separate organizations, with different leadership and stated scopes. Pivotal foregrounds women and young people and combines giving with investment, advocacy and partnerships. The Gates Foundation has its own mission and governance; its plan to close permanently on December 31, 2045 is the foundation’s timetable, not French Gates’s plan for Pivotal.
What to expect next
The clearest answer is an ongoing focus on women’s influence, rights, opportunity and health through Pivotal—not a publicly announced sequence of new projects. The $1 billion commitment was framed as activity through 2026, and Pivotal’s public materials describe a wider portfolio. Beyond those stated directions, a fixed post-2026 schedule has not been established publicly.
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