Founded by Melinda French Gates, Pivotal Ventures accelerates social progress by removing barriers that hold people back.

©$year Pivotal Ventures

Our Founder
Our Founder
Our Story
Our Story
Our Leadership
Our Leadership
Media Center
Media Center
Caregiving
Caregiving
Centering Women and Girls of Color
Centering Women and Girls of Color
Mental Health for Young People
Mental Health for Young People
Paid Family and Medical Leave
Paid Family and Medical Leave
Women's Political Power
Women's Political Power
Women and Tech Innovation
Women and Tech Innovation
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Investments
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Philanthropy
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Partnerships
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Advocacy
Approach

Philanthropy

We are harnessing the power of philanthropy.

We believe that philanthropy has a unique and important role to play in supporting and scaling innovative new solutions to entrenched problems.

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Key Principles
& Tactics

Supporting Partners

We make grants that help organizations maximize their impact. We seek out partners who are closest to the issues and support them as they scale proven ideas and catalyze new ones.

Seeding Innovation

We believe that transformational ideas can come from anywhere—and that philanthropy can help advance social progress by encouraging innovation and experimentation.

Advancing the Field

We use our resources to bring together people and organizations working toward shared goals and support ways for them to effectively collaborate, so that they can drive change further and faster.

Driving Sustainable Impact

We take a multi-phased approach to help us develop and refine our strategies.

Students gather around a laptop computer.

Our multi-phased approach allows us to explore multiple interventions, identify opportunities for impact, and build sustainably for long-term solutions.

We start by building a deeper understanding of the issues we work on. Then, with help from our partners, people with lived experience, and other experts, we develop hypotheses about how to accelerate progress.

As our partners test these theories, we learn together what works and what doesn’t.

Then, we work closely with our partners to build effective, long-term strategies and practices that will continue to unlock progress long after our partnership ends.

"We’re chipping away at the assumption that most disruptive innovation comes from the private sector. Philanthropy, too, is a proven source of transformative ideas."

Portrait of Dr. Renee Wittemyer
Dr. Renee Wittemyer
Vice President, Program Strategy
  • Caregiving

    EPIC engages business leaders to invest in child care—and a better future

    Executives Partnering to Invest in Children (EPIC) helps the business community understand the value of early care and education and partners with employers to build solutions that benefit families, businesses, and the economy.

    Learn More
    A father helping his daughter color in a book on the floor

    David Sacks/Getty Images

  • Mental Health for Young People

    The AAKOMA Project advocates for more equitable mental health care.

    Youth of color face a number of challenges finding mental health care that reflects their needs and experiences. The AAKOMA Project is working toward a world in which they, and all young people, can get the mental health support that they need.

    Learn More
    Dr. Alfiee M. Breland-Noble, founder of the AAKOMA Project, sits on a stage with a microphone in hand at a conference.

    Wulfenbear for Pivotal Ventures

  • Women and Girls of Color

    The Black Feminist Fund wants more and better funding for Black feminist movements.

    While Black feminist movements are at the forefront of many struggles for social progress globally, they remain chronically underfunded. The Black Feminist Fund connects grassroots Black feminist organizations to the resources they need, ensuring that Black women can create and sustain their own movements.

    Learn More
    A large group of Black women gather around smiling and posing for the camera.

    Courtesy of Black Feminist Fund

  • Women’s Political Power

    Vote Run Lead helps women step into their power at all levels of government

    Vote Run Lead has supported tens of thousands of women—from all walks of life and at all levels of government—to unleash their power to create and sustain an equitable democracy, by training them to run for office, building community, and providing ongoing support.

    Learn More
    A informative video explaining who Vote Run Lead are and what Vote Run Lead does

    Second Peninsula for Pivotal Ventures

Portraits of young people representing a diverse variety of races and gender identities.

Insights From the Team

Building the Mental Health System That Young People Need and Deserve

Our partners are designing solutions to improve young people’s mental health and wellbeing.

Founded by Melinda French Gates, Pivotal Ventures accelerates social progress by removing barriers that hold people back.

Pivotal is a group of organizations founded by Melinda French Gates in 2015. We work to accelerate the pace of social progress using high-impact investments, philanthropy, partnerships, and advocacy to get more power in the hands of more people—especially women—in the U.S. and around the world. Pivotal includes Pivotal Ventures, LLC and Pivotal Philanthropies Foundation, a private foundation.

©$year Pivotal Ventures
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