Melinda French Gates and her daughters join a $100 million mission to help women get the care they need
Jennifer and Phoebe are backing a global fund supporting 22 organizations working on maternal health, reproductive care and protection from violence
M elinda French Gates has spent years pushing for better health care and greater opportunity for women. Now, her daughters Jennifer Gates Nassar and Phoebe Gates are joining her in that work as founding supporters of the Women’s Health Co-Lab, a collaborative fund aiming to raise $100 million for women and girls around the world. The three are part of a larger group that includes 14 other donors.
The fund launched with more than $70 million committed, according to ICONIQ Impact, which created the initiative with Co-Impact. Its 22 grantee organizations will receive flexible, multiyear funding over three years. That means the groups can direct the money toward their most pressing needs as they work to improve care and the systems around it.
A family commitment with a global reach
The organizations focus on three connected areas: maternal health, sexual and reproductive health, and gender-based violence. Their work includes strengthening pregnancy and childbirth care, expanding access to family planning and reproductive health information, and supporting survivors of violence. Among the grantees are Every Mother Counts, Girl Effect, GIRE in Mexico, Serenas and Ujamaa Africa.
The mission is personal for all three women. Jennifer is a pediatric resident, and she and her mother used the final days of Jennifer’s maternity leave to visit Louisiana and hear from patients, health care providers, lawmakers and mothers who had lost babies. Phoebe, co-founder of fashion platform Phia, has also spoken publicly about reproductive rights and traveled to Louisiana and Mississippi to learn how abortion restrictions affect women.
Phoebe said the 22 organizations offer “reason to believe change is possible,” pointing to their work to protect reproductive freedom, confront violence and improve care for mothers. The fund’s structure also reflects the organizers’ emphasis on trusting local leaders to shape solutions in their own communities.
The Co-Lab is one part of Melinda French Gates’ wider commitment to women’s health. In June 2026, she announced a separate $215 million in funding through Pivotal, bringing her total support for women’s health to more than $600 million over two years. That commitment is separate from the Co-Lab’s $100 million goal.
For the Gates women, the fund brings a shared family concern into a much larger effort . Its success will depend on reaching the full $100 million goal and on whether the organizations receiving support can turn that money into better care, greater safety and more choices for women and girls.
