Melinda French Gates recently declared a $250 million investment focusing on improving health care for women around the globe. This funding will support over 80 nonprofit organizations that focus on providing essential medical services, including innovative telemedicine and mobile clinics. The initiative is part of a broader commitment of $1 billion over two years to advance women’s rights and promote gender equity in various sectors.
Lever for Change, a nonprofit led by the dynamic Cecilia Conrad, managed the application process for this funding. The competition drew the biggest and most varied group of nonprofit applicants ever, with teams from five continents competing. It provided competitive grants between $1 million and $5 million. This effort marks Lever for Change’s second largest funding challenge. It comes on the heels of MacKenzie Scott’s record-setting $640 million donations to community-based nonprofits within the United States in March 2024.
On top of those organizational grants, Gates has allocated $20 million for up to 12 individuals. This funding gives them the power to pass that money through to the nonprofits of their choosing. This unique approach aims to foster grassroots involvement and encourage philanthropic engagement among wealthy families, particularly in countries such as Brazil.
Gates’ funding is particularly significant as it targets the historical exclusion of women from medical research and addresses critical issues affecting women’s health. Rahel Nardos, director of Global Women’s Health at the University of Minnesota, highlighted the importance of focusing on often-overlooked topics such as menopause, which significantly impacts women’s overall health.
Also among the organizations expected to receive funding is SAS Brasil. Under the leadership of Sabine Bolonhini and Adriana Mallet, this cohort focuses on bringing high-quality specialty care to women across Brazil. And the Likhaan Center for Women’s Health in the Philippines recently won a huge $5 million grant. This funding will apparently keep them going for a whole decade, equalizing their annual budget with this single payment.
Melinda French Gates said this made her optimistic about the transformative impact of this funding. She noted that almost all the recipients had never received funding previously. This was all made possible through support from her organization, Pivotal, and the Gates Foundation. This approach is intended to spread resources more equitably to organizations with less access. It further validates the quality, cost-effectiveness and long-term sustainability of community-based models. This is something that Junice Melgar, executive director of Likhaan Center for Women’s Health, discusses in her testimony.
“I could not contain the joy of people in the room.” – Junice Melgar
This investment is intended to motivate other wealthy families to make long-term charitable commitments, too. It’s especially aimed at states where local community health efforts are most needed. As for the added accountability that must accompany such funding, here’s what Bolonhini had to say,
“For us, it’s also using (the funding) responsibly and being a good role model for how this money can find solutions that no one else has found yet.”
Funds in the ZIP code Cecilia Conrad noted that this initiative strikes a chord with many stakeholders engaged in advocating for women’s health and equity, stating,
“This seems to be a topic that resonates.”
This funding initiative recognizes the crucial need for more research, education, and resources directed specifically at women’s health issues. In his remarks, Gates emphasized the crucial role of this financial backing in demonstrating what is possible when organizations are properly funded.
“It will be instructive for the world to see what it looks like when organizations like this aren’t so chronically underfunded.” – Melinda French Gates
Mujeres Aliadas executive director Lisel Lifshitz urged creativity and resilience in how healthcare is provided. She emphasized that getting to the bottom of rural healthcare’s complexities is vital. She even praised the trust-based, unrestricted nature of the funding itself, saying that,
“Having this kind of trust-based and unrestricted funding means the world to us.”
The announcement of this significant funding comes at a crucial time when gender equity remains a pressing issue in workplaces and communities globally. Included within this announcement, Melinda French Gates has committed an additional $150 million to initiatives that will increase gender equity across industries.
