On an NPR podcast in early February, Melinda French Gates was asked about the latest Epstein files released by the Justice Department that revealed some scandalous but unverified claims about her ex-husband and actions he was trying to hide from her. While French Gates suggested she divorced Bill Gates and severed ties with the Gates Foundation at least in part due to earlier Epstein revelations, she took that moment to focus not on herself but the pain inflicted on the victims, saying that no girl should ever be put in that situation. “It’s beyond heartbreaking… I am able to take my own sadness and look at those young girls,” she added.

It’s not lip service for French Gates; she has literally pivoted away from Bill, whom she left in 2021, and from the foundation they set up together a quarter of a century ago, to focus on philanthropy and investments that seek to help girls and women. In fact, she has been building up her own philanthropic initiatives for years. She founded an umbrella organization known as Pivotal in 2015, then launched its private foundation arm in 2022 and three smaller branches—Pivotal Momentum, Opportunities, and Pathways—in 2023. (Those smaller foundations were originally named after birds—Rosefinch, Greenfinch and Snowfinch—before being rebranded in 2024.) It’s not clear how these foundations’ missions differ, though they’re all part of Pivotal, which is “working to accelerate the pace of social progress for women and young people in the U.S. and around the world,” according to its website.

While Forbes still counts Bill and Melinda’s giving together—the couple has given away an estimated $52.6 billion, more than anyone besides Warren Buffett—Melinda now has her own money to influence charitable giving as she envisions, including $12.5 billion her ex-husband donated to Pivotal after she left the Gates Foundation in 2024. She has already donated at least $540 million to other nonprofits focused on social progress for women and girls, calling issues affecting them “unconscionably underfunded.” That includes $14 million last year to the National Partnership for Women & Families, $12 million to National Women’s Law Center Fund and at least $10 million to various nonprofits focused on women’s........

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