Melinda French Gates is stepping down as co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which she founded with her ex-husband Bill Gates more than 20 years ago.
As part of an agreement made when they divorced in 2021, Gates will provide the $12.5 billion as part of an agreement made when they divorced in 2021.
The AP reports that French Gates is already one of the biggest philanthropic supporters of gender equity in the United States and is now poised to put another $12.5 billion toward intractable problems like closing the gender pay gap and increasing women's political participation.
The additional funds come as French Gates announced Monday that she was stepping down as co-chair of the Gates Foundation, which she founded together with her ex-husband Bill Gates more than 20 years ago.
French Gates said she planned to commit the funds to her work on behalf of women and families, adding, "I'll be sharing more about what that will look like in the near future."
French Gates works through her organization, Pivotal Ventures, which is a limited liability company that also manages investments in for-profit ventures.
As a result, there is little public information about its grantmaking or the assets it manages.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which will change its name to the Gates Foundation,
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