Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie Scott donate US$40 million to promote groups committed to gender equality

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Mackenzie Scott (left) and Melinda Frankie Gates. (Photo from the Bystander Revolution and the Gates Foundation)

Melinda French Gates and MacKenzie Scott are sharing some of their huge fortunes with organizations that want to empower other women. They announced on Thursday that they will award $40 million as a Equality can’t wait to challenge.

The charity program was launched in June last year and received more than 550 proposals aimed at improving gender equality by providing grants to thoughtful organizations to expand women’s power and influence in the United States by 2030.

Before: How Melinda French Gates has “potential for change” to promote equality in venture capital, technology and other fields

The French Gates investment company Pivotal Ventures will host the challenge with the support of Scott and husband Dan Jewett, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies.

“The overwhelming response to the challenge proves that there is no shortage of transformative ideas on how to accelerate the progress of women and girls,” French Gates said at the press conference“The next step is to ensure that these game-changing ideas are fully realized and the support needed to improve people’s lives.”

The four winners are: Building women’s equality by strengthening nursing infrastructure (10 million USD); Ada Developer Academy Changing the face of technology (10 million USD); Girls’ company Project acceleration: Increase the power and influence of young women (10 million USD); and The future is indigenous women (10 million USD).

According to Seattle-based Ada Developers Academy, the funding will enable the organization to expand nationwide, adding locations in five new regions. The tuition-free software development training camp for women and underrepresented sexual, gender and ethnic minorities was established in 2013 with a mission to diversify the technology industry.

An additional $8 million in supplementary funds was allocated to two other finalists dedicated to building women’s economic and political power: FreeFrom’s Call to action: Hold society accountable for violence by intimate partners; and IGNITE’s Train the next generation of women to demonstrate their political power.

Scott, ranked 17th Bloomberg Billionaire Index, Has a net worth of US$64.1 billion. The ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos recently donated $2.74 billion to 286 organizations dedicated to promoting equity, reducing poverty, and promoting education and the arts. Her total charitable expenditure exceeds 8 billion U.S. dollars.

“The winners are strong teams working on the front lines and in the community, helping women build strength in their lives and careers,” Scott said in a statement“Most importantly, they are not alone. This challenge has received many bold ideas to activate new levers, remove old barriers, and promote gender equality. It is exciting to see all the ways people make changes. “

France Gates has a net worth of US$3.3 billion Forbes. Gender equality and women’s issues have always been the focus of her work and donations at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Pivotal Ventures.