Pivotal Ventures
OVERVIEW: Founded by Melinda French Gates, Pivotal Ventures invests in a broad range of women’s causes, support for caregivers and mental health. Pivotal’s engagement consists of grants, investments and strategic support.
IP TAKE: Grantmaking is just a small part of Pivotal Ventures’ work. Melinda French Gates’s company makes invests in and provides strategic support and advocacy to social enterprises and nonprofits in its areas of interest. Pivotal tackles some of the most “stubborn problems our country faces” by supporting “promising, untested approaches” and “accelerating proven ideas.” It is perhaps best known for its support for women’s equality and rights, but it has also invested significantly in initiatives for caregivers and youth mental health.
This funder does not accept unsolicited proposals, but its Equality Can’t Wait Challenge accepted applications for grants of $10 million. Keep up with Pivotal via its newsletter for information about new opportunities.
PROFILE: Founded in 2015, Melinda French Gates’s Pivotal Ventures is a not a charitable foundation per se; the company “leverages philanthropic grant-making, private investments, partnerships, and advocacy to drive social progress.” Its overarching goal is “to accelerate the pace of social progress in the United States.” Pivotal’s stated focus areas are Women in Technology, Women and Girls of Color, Women’s Political Power, Caregiving, Paid Family and Medical Leave and Mental Health for Young People. This company is not registered as a nonprofit, which somewhat limits information about its work and engagement. However, Pivotal names three strategies as integral to its work.
The company uses “a range of levers to get things done” including grants, investments, advocacy and other strategic forms of support.
Pivotal is “bold about what’s possible.” While its work is “[g]uided by data,” it also aims to “drive experimentation in promising, untested approaches.”
Pivotal places trust in its partners and works from the premise that “more power in the hands of more people drives social progress further and faster for everyone.”
Grants for Women and Girls
Women’s and girls’ causes represent Pivotal’s largest area of interest. According to its website, the company has so far committed $1 billion to “expanding women’s power and influence in the United States.” Pivotal’s engagement in women’s causes pursues specific strategies for gender equality, with investments supporting women’s education and careers, racial equity, political engagement and power. .
Grants for STEM, Work and Opportunity
Pivotal’s Women in Technology focus area works to increase “the number of women who are graduating, investing, and leading in technology.” A main partner in this area is the Center for Inclusive Computing at Northeastern University, which “provides funding and support to not-for-profit universities to address the gender gap in computing.” Another partner, Break Through Tech, received support for a collaboration “with Cornell Tech, UCLA, and MIT—three universities with top-ranked AI programs—to host an 18-month program for women, with a special emphasis on women of color, from surrounding colleges and universities.”
Grants for Racial Justice and Indigenous Rights
Through its Women and Girls of Color focus area, Pivotal works toward “[a]ccelerating investment in women and girls of color to magnify the transformative impact of their talents and contributions.” In this effort, Pivotal collaborated “with major tech companies to form the Reboot Representation Tech Coalition.” This organization is currently working to “to double the number of Black, Latina, and Native American (BLNA) women earning computing degrees by 2025” and to promote career success after graduation. Another partner, Chingoa Capital, is a venture capital fund that focuses on “[s]tartups founded by “Latinas and Black women.” Pivotal has also supported IllumiNative, an organization that strives to increase research on Native American peoples and culture, and to transform “how they’re represented in entertainment and pop culture.”
Grants for Civic Engagement and Democracy
The Women's Political Power program focuses on “[i]ncreasing the number of women running for and holding public office.” It also supports women’s civic engagement and voting initiatives. Among the company’s many engagements in this area is the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge, which Pivotal launched with support from Mackenzie Scott and the Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies. Launched in 2020, the challenge distributed “$40 million to help expand women’s power and influence in the United States. Nonprofits, tribal governments, tribal enterprises and public colleges and universities were eligible to apply for a first round of funding by submitting materials relating to their efforts in the areas of “dismantling barriers” to gender equality, advancing women’s careers in “critical sectors,” and “calling society to action.” The program’s recipients included the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Girls Inc., New Mexico Community Capital & Native Women Lead. It is unclear if this program will run a second grantmaking cycle. Check back for updates at the program’s timeline or news pages.
Other Pivotal partners working toward women’s political power include Represent Women, States United, the Pipeline Fund and Vote Run Lead, “which offers resources and trainings that equip women with the skills they need to run for office.”
Grants for Public Health, Human Services Early Childhood
Three of Pivotal’s focus areas focus on the related areas of Caregiving, Paid Family and Medical Leave and Mental Health for Young People.
The Caregiving area supports “the creation of a modern caregiving system for families so they are better able to make a living while caring for themselves or their loved ones.” A partner in this work include Techstars, a company working toward “creative solutions to address the unmet needs of older adults and their caregivers.”
The Paid Family and Medical Leave supports related policy development for a national policy for paid leave for caregivers, as well as policy and innovation for a more just “care system” that acknowledges the millions of hours of unpaid work that that women, teens and others provide for family members. Partners in this work include Magnify Ventures, Kinside, “which helps parents find and afford quality pre-screened childcare.”
Finally, Pivotal’s Mental Health for Young People focus area works to expand access to critical mental health services, prioritizing “LGBTQ+ youth and young people of color—who are currently being failed by outdated systems designed for adults.” Partners in this work include YR Media, Harvard’s Center for Digital Thriving and the Peer Health Exchange, among others.
Other recipients in the area of health include San Francisco’s TIA, a holistic women’s health clinic, and the School-Based Health Alliance, which Pivotal, in collaboration with Mackenzie Scott, invested $23 million.
Important Grant Details
Pivotal’s grants and investments appear to be large—often in the millions—although it is difficult to know the scope of the company’s giving.
Women’s causes are Pivotal’s largest interest areas and have seen the largest investments.
In addition to women’s economic development and political power, Pivotal supports policy and innovation in related areas of caregiving, paid family and medical leave and mental health for young poeple.
While this organization does not appear to accept proposals, its Equality Can’t Wait Challenge accepted applications for a first round of funding in 2021. Pivotal may run future challenges in the coming years.
To keep up with new opportunities at Pivotal, sign up for email updates at the bottom margin of the organization’s website.
To explore Pivotal’s partnerships and read about organizations it has supported, see its news page.
Pivotal does not provide a direct avenue for getting in touch. Use its LinkedIn page to connect with staff.
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