Melinda French Gates will give $250M to women's health groups globally through a new open call

Melinda French Gates will grant $250 million to support women's health around the world through an open call for nonprofits to apply for funding.

The pledge announced Wednesday signals a new chapter in her individual philanthropic giving since departing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation earlier this year and is part of a two-year, $1 billion commitment that French Gates made in May to support women and families around the world.

Haven Ley, chief strategy officer at French Gates' organization Pivotal Ventures, said the grant competition was a “curtain raiser” to a likely new focus on funding women’s health globally. Previously, Pivotal had primarily funded organizations working to advance women's power in the U.S.

“By focusing on women’s health, she’s expanded her definition of women’s power to include a precondition that women must have their health to be powerful," Ley said, speaking of French Gates, who also has 20 years of experience funding global health through the Gates Foundation.