Melinda French Gates and McKenzie Scott donate $40 million to empower women

30 July 2021

2 minutes to read

Melinda French Gates and McKenzie Scott have teamed up in an effort to fund the advancement of women by allocating $40 million to the cause over the next ten years.

Billionaires who signed on give a pledge Promising to give away most of their fortune for the rest of their lives, they are giving money to the winners of the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge, organized by French company Pivotal Ventures Gates. They receive financial support from Scott and her husband Dan Jewett along with the Charles and Lynne Shusterman Family Charitable Foundation.

“Awardees are powerful teams working on the front lines and within communities to help women build strength in their lives and careers,” Scott said.

The four winners were chosen from among 550 applicants who came up with creative ways to empower American women and non-binary people. The winners’ ideas focused on creating a public infrastructure to provide care, as well as training women interested in software development careers. One seeks to help women in college and early in their careers, while the other wants to develop “influential businesses owned by indigenous women.”

“We can break the patterns of history and advance gender equality, but we must commit to building organizations, like those receiving awards today, that are ready to advance women and girls,” French Gates said in a statement.

Both women are philanthropists, activists who donate regularly to causes that matter to them.