Field Note: Melinda French Gates speaks about participation

March 2025
June 2024
March 2025
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  • Yes, we read that op-ed. Melinda French Gates wrote about her vision to “play offense” on womens’ and reproductive rights, weeks after announcing her departure from the Gates Foundation.
  • In one notable excerpt, she hinted at being open to participatory grantmaking: “I’m also experimenting with novel tactics to bring a wider range of perspectives into philanthropy. Recently, I offered 12 people whose work I admire their own $20 million grant-making fund to distribute as he or she sees fit.”
  • That group – which includes former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern and several well-known activists – is a bit more grasstops than grassroots. But it’s a welcome step and a far cry from the Gates Foundation’s current stance on its own power.

- BW

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Proximate is an independent media platform covering movements for participatory problem-solving. We look at the news through the lens of money: how it’s given away, how it’s invested, and how it’s distributed by government.
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