Melinda French Gates Announces Open Call for $250 Million Fund. Here’s Who Can Apply.

By temporary On Oct 10, 2024 14

In May, Melinda French Gates resigned as co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and announced that she was dedicating $1 billion over the next two years to women’s organizations.

On Wednesday, part of that vision unfolded — French Gates launched Action for Women’s Health, a $250 million fund for non-profits supporting women’s mental and physical health across the globe.

“Women’s health continues to be an afterthought, and it’s impacting the health of our families, our communities, our economies,” French Gates said in a promotional video for the fund. “Thankfully there are so many amazing organizations around the world working to change that.”

^{Melinda French Gates. Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic}

Action for Women’s Health will help fund grassroots organizations tackling women’s health issues, French Gates explained. Each awardee will receive between $1 million and $5 million and undergo multiple rounds of review before securing the funding. Winners will be announced by the end of next year.

Here’s what the fund is looking for and how to apply.

Who Should Apply

Applicants must focus on women’s mental or physical health and meet four criteria: Be impactful, scalable, equitable, and feasible.

Impact, for example, is measured by the non-profit’s demonstrated contributions. A score of 1 would be no contributions and an ineffective, impractical approach while a score of 5 would be earned through examples of contributions, and an approach with proven effectiveness.

An organizational readiness tool is available to help applicants assess if they meet the requirements. The form goes through criteria like who can apply — individuals, for-profits, LLCs, and B-Corps are not eligible.

It also asks if the non-profit’s central focus is women’s mental or physical health and if they have at least two years of audited financial records, in addition to other questions.

How to Apply

Action for Women’s Health is now accepting applications, due by January 10, 2025. Organizations have to register their intent to apply by December 3, 2024.