独家
盖茨的离婚让人们看到了这对前夫妇在慈善事业上的分歧
在离婚前的几年里，夫妻双方都投身于基金会工作范围之外的项目。
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BSNL视人力资源转型为转折点
在2022年至2032年的10年期间，平均每年将有近2000名员工退休，这使该公司成为一个更专注于与私营行业企业——Reliance Jio、Bharti Airtel和Vodafone Idea——竞争的组织。
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作者:苏菲·亚历山大，本·斯蒂弗曼
这是梅琳达·弗伦奇·盖茨宣布离婚后首次公开亮相，她的慈善机构和投资公司的领导们随行前往白宫。她就带薪探亲假和儿童保育这两个她优先考虑的核心问题向拜登官员施压。
本月的同一天，比尔盖茨他在罗马向联合国粮农组织发表了虚拟讲话。穿着他熟悉的毛衣，有领衬衫，戴着眼镜微软公司的联合创始人用了近11分钟的时间谈论气候变化世界粮食供应。
这些话题暴露了这对亿万富翁夫妇在全球最大慈善基金会之一背后的不同利益。今年5月，他们宣布结束27年的婚姻，这让人们对他们巨额财富的去向和慈善事业的重点产生了疑问。这也凸显了他们在过去五年里一直在悄悄建立的私人投资部门。
两人都表示，他们将继续参与500亿美元的法案梅林达•盖茨基金会，他们承诺通过“捐赠誓言”花费大部分财富。但在离婚前的几年里，夫妻双方都投身于基金会工作范围之外的项目，这一趋势预计在离婚后会加速。
“一对夫妇现在是两个独立的家庭，”西雅图大学(Seattle University)非营利组织领导力副教授伊丽莎白·戴尔(Elizabeth Dale)说。她说，这对夫妇的慈善努力产生了巨大的影响，而且可能会“通过目前的基金会，也可能以其他方式继续下去”。
对于56岁的弗伦奇·盖茨来说，离婚可能意味着更多的资源将集中在Pivotal Ventures上，她的孵化和投资公司有90名员工，主要关注性别平等。根据彭博亿万富翁指数，她已经从盖茨的Cascade投资公司获得了价值超过30亿美元的股票，这只是离婚时他们合计1450亿美元财富的一小部分。
65岁的比尔·盖茨将大部分工作集中在突破能源(Breakthrough Energy)上，该组织成立于2015年，目前有大约100名员工专门从事气候变化的各个方面，同时资助非营利组织和初创公司，雇用了数百人。
突破公司和盖茨的私人办公室盖茨风险投资公司的发言人拒绝置评。Pivotal的一位发言人表示，弗伦奇·盖茨“无论是作为基金会联合主席还是Pivotal Ventures的创始人，都致力于提高全球女性的权力和影响力，这一承诺没有改变。”
对于56岁的弗伦奇·盖茨来说，离婚可能意味着更多的资源将集中在Pivotal Ventures上，她的孵化和投资公司有90名员工，主要关注性别平等。
更少的规则
Breakthrough和Pivotal都是通过有限责任公司运营的，这意味着它们可以作为营利性实体运营。这是一种越来越流行的给予方式，被马克•扎克伯格他和妻子普莉希拉·陈发起了“陈-扎克伯格倡议”，史蒂夫·乔布斯的遗孀劳伦·鲍威尔·乔布斯发起了“艾默生集团”。
有限责任公司并不总是提供与传统基金会相同的税收减免，但它的规则更少。资金可以用于政治游说或竞选捐款，这是不能免税的。而且，与基金会不同，有限责任公司的活动、资金和员工不需要在年度纳税申报文件中公开。
这取决于你问谁，他们要么是世界上最好的慈善家工具箱中的创新工具，要么是透明度方面的重大倒退。
“他们不像基金会那样面临制衡，”埃塞克斯大学(University of Essex)社会学教授林西·麦戈伊(Linsey McGoey)说，她写过一本名为《没有免费的礼物:盖茨基金会和慈善事业的代价》(No Such Thing as Free Gift: the Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy)的书。
Pivotal公司发言人表示，该公司成立于2015年，迄今已向150多家机构投资了数亿美元。它利用赠款和风险资本专注于增强女性权能，包括让更多女性进入技术岗位并当选公职，支持有色人种妇女和女孩，倡导带薪探亲假。
本月在华盛顿，法兰奇·盖茨会见了包括总统在内的官员乔•拜登(Joe Biden)白宫幕僚长罗恩•克莱恩(Ron Klain)和国内政策顾问苏珊•赖斯(Susan Rice)，以及Pivotal和盖茨基金会(Gates Foundation)的董事。Pivotal方面，据一位不愿透露姓名的知情人士透露，他们讨论了与拜登的美国家庭计划有关的带薪休假和护理工作。
该人士说，今年4月，Pivotal聘请了华盛顿的游说公司Finsbury Glover Hering，专注于护理和带薪休假问题，这表明该公司可能正在加大在华盛顿的努力。
早期
白宫与盖茨基金会(Gates Foundation)的地下室相去甚远。据Pivotal的一位董事总经理回忆，多年前曾在那里工作。2010年代初，盖茨基金会一直在开展与女性平等相关的项目，比如资助影响避孕和计划生育的项目，但弗伦奇·盖茨希望加快对性别平等的关注，并将其作为所有工作的核心问题。
“进展是稳定的，但对我来说太慢了，”弗伦奇·盖茨在她2019年的书《提升的时刻》中写道。“在基金会，人们仍在轻声谈论性别问题，有时是窃窃私语，不太愿意站出来。”
比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)越来越关注科技突破和气候变化，这也是他今年出版的《如何避免气候灾难》(How to Avoid a climate Disaster)一书的主题。他在2月份表示，他已经为气候问题投入了20亿美元，并计划再投入20亿美元。
据《华尔街日报》报道，那一年，弗伦奇·盖茨开始与一组律师一起处理离婚事宜，其中一名律师涉及她丈夫与已故性犯罪者杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的商业往来。这位熟悉该公司的人士说，Pivotal大约在那个时候开始扩大规模，因为最初几年专注于规划和研究，而不是因为离婚。
她在2015年成立了Pivotal，当时它是一个独立的组织，只有大约10人，其中一些人是从盖茨基金会挖来的，包括开玩笑说自己在地下室工作的性别专家黑文·雷(Haven Ley)，以及Pivotal现任首席执行官约翰·塞奇(John Sage)。
戴尔说，弗伦奇·盖茨“从21世纪10年代初开始真正成为一名慈善家和领导者，这对她来说是一个渐进的演变。”“Pivotal代表她扮演了更大的主人翁和领导角色。”
直到最近，Pivotal的目的才成为人们关注的焦点。据三位知情人士透露，该公司最初几年一直在谈论和研究它可能会变成什么样。直到2018年12月，Pivotal的网站还只是一个登陆页面，上面写着“梅琳达·盖茨执行办公室”，并链接到弗伦奇·盖茨的社交媒体页面。直到2019年她的书出版后，情况才开始好转。
气候的焦点
比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)越来越关注科技突破和气候变化，这也是他今年出版的《如何避免气候灾难》(How to Avoid a climate Disaster)一书的主题。他在2月份表示，他已经为气候问题投入了20亿美元，并计划再投入20亿美元。
盖茨曾表示，他对这一领域的兴趣始于2006年由两位前微软员工安排的与两位气候科学家的会面。在接下来的15年里，他稳步深入研究这个话题——成立公司、投资基金、科学项目和游说活动，旨在应对气候变化。
2015年，也就是弗伦奇·盖茨创办Pivotal的同一年，盖茨招募了一些亿万富翁，向一个名为Breakthrough的10亿美元新基金投入了一些资金能源企业该基金将于次年启动，投资于减少温室气体排放的企业和技术，比传统风投公司更注重长期发展。杰夫·贝佐斯、马云、理查德·布兰森和彭博新闻社母公司彭博有限公司创始人迈克尔·布隆伯格都签署了该基金的第一轮融资。乐动扑克
斯坦福大学Steyer-Taylor能源政策与金融中心董事总经理Alicia Seiger说:“突破公司所做的是带来了更多的资本，以及之前没有参与对话的扩音器和信使。”
今年1月，Breakthrough的风投部门又完成了一轮10亿美元的融资，招募了几位新的亿万富翁投资人，包括富达投资(Fidelity Investments)首席执行官阿比盖尔·约翰逊(Abigail Johnson)和沃尔玛(Walmart Inc.)创始人山姆·沃尔顿(Sam Walton)的孙子本·沃尔顿(Ben Walton)，目标是投资50家初创公司。该公司还在建立一个1亿欧元的试点基金，该基金是去年通过与欧盟委员会(European Commission)合作创建的。
盖茨也一直将突破的非投资工作重点放在创新上，主要由他自己资助其慈善、政策、倡导和研究工作。该公司的Catalyst项目试图加速绿色氢等清洁技术的应用，该项目正与欧盟委员会(European Commission)启动一项10亿美元的计划。突破能源科学公司做的是原创研究，比如今年发布的美国能源网络的详细模型。
2008年，盖茨创立了自己的私人办公室——盖茨风险投资公司。它集中在他的各种兴趣上，比如投资技术，资助教育和健康项目——包括阿尔茨海默氏症研究计划——这些都不在盖茨基金会的范围之内。
枢纽站变得更加活跃。弗伦奇·盖茨在2019年《时代》杂志的一篇专栏文章中表示，她将在未来10年向女性赋权投入10亿美元。
自2016年以来，她的公司已经向全国妇女与家庭伙伴关系和全民带薪休假等组织投资了6500多万美元。去年，她承诺为一项旨在未来五年在三个城市增加女性在科技行业的代表性和领导力的倡议提供5000万美元。
弗伦奇·盖茨还与麦肯齐·斯科特一起资助了一项活动，后者在与贝佐斯离婚后一直在加快自己的慈善捐赠。平等不能等待挑战呼吁组织申请如何花费1000万美元来加速女性赋权。获奖者将于今年夏天公布。
这是梅琳达·弗伦奇·盖茨宣布离婚后首次公开亮相，她的慈善机构和投资公司的领导们随行前往白宫。她就带薪探亲假和儿童保育这两个她优先考虑的核心问题向拜登官员施压。
本月的同一天，比尔盖茨他在罗马向联合国粮农组织发表了虚拟讲话。穿着他熟悉的毛衣，有领衬衫，戴着眼镜微软公司的联合创始人用了近11分钟的时间谈论气候变化世界粮食供应。
这些话题暴露了这对亿万富翁夫妇在全球最大慈善基金会之一背后的不同利益。今年5月，他们宣布结束27年的婚姻，这让人们对他们巨额财富的去向和慈善事业的重点产生了疑问。这也凸显了他们在过去五年里一直在悄悄建立的私人投资部门。
“一对夫妇现在是两个独立的家庭，”西雅图大学(Seattle University)非营利组织领导力副教授伊丽莎白·戴尔(Elizabeth Dale)说。她说，这对夫妇的慈善努力产生了巨大的影响，而且可能会“通过目前的基金会，也可能以其他方式继续下去”。
对于56岁的弗伦奇·盖茨来说，离婚可能意味着更多的资源将集中在Pivotal Ventures上，她的孵化和投资公司有90名员工，主要关注性别平等。根据彭博亿万富翁指数，她已经从盖茨的Cascade投资公司获得了价值超过30亿美元的股票，这只是离婚时他们合计1450亿美元财富的一小部分。
65岁的比尔·盖茨将大部分工作集中在突破能源(Breakthrough Energy)上，该组织成立于2015年，目前有大约100名员工专门从事气候变化的各个方面，同时资助非营利组织和初创公司，雇用了数百人。
更少的规则
Breakthrough和Pivotal都是通过有限责任公司运营的，这意味着它们可以作为营利性实体运营。这是一种越来越流行的给予方式，被马克•扎克伯格他和妻子普莉希拉·陈发起了“陈-扎克伯格倡议”，史蒂夫·乔布斯的遗孀劳伦·鲍威尔·乔布斯发起了“艾默生集团”。
有限责任公司并不总是提供与传统基金会相同的税收减免，但它的规则更少。资金可以用于政治游说或竞选捐款，这是不能免税的。而且，与基金会不同，有限责任公司的活动、资金和员工不需要在年度纳税申报文件中公开。
这取决于你问谁，他们要么是世界上最好的慈善家工具箱中的创新工具，要么是透明度方面的重大倒退。
“他们不像基金会那样面临制衡，”埃塞克斯大学(University of Essex)社会学教授林西·麦戈伊(Linsey McGoey)说，她写过一本名为《没有免费的礼物:盖茨基金会和慈善事业的代价》(No Such Thing as Free Gift: the Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy)的书。
Pivotal公司发言人表示，该公司成立于2015年，迄今已向150多家机构投资了数亿美元。它利用赠款和风险资本专注于增强女性权能，包括让更多女性进入技术岗位并当选公职，支持有色人种妇女和女孩，倡导带薪探亲假。
本月在华盛顿，法兰奇·盖茨会见了包括总统在内的官员乔•拜登(Joe Biden)白宫幕僚长罗恩•克莱恩(Ron Klain)和国内政策顾问苏珊•赖斯(Susan Rice)，以及Pivotal和盖茨基金会(Gates Foundation)的董事。Pivotal方面，据一位不愿透露姓名的知情人士透露，他们讨论了与拜登的美国家庭计划有关的带薪休假和护理工作。
该人士说，今年4月，Pivotal聘请了华盛顿的游说公司Finsbury Glover Hering，专注于护理和带薪休假问题，这表明该公司可能正在加大在华盛顿的努力。
早期
白宫与盖茨基金会(Gates Foundation)的地下室相去甚远。据Pivotal的一位董事总经理回忆，多年前曾在那里工作。2010年代初，盖茨基金会一直在开展与女性平等相关的项目，比如资助影响避孕和计划生育的项目，但弗伦奇·盖茨希望加快对性别平等的关注，并将其作为所有工作的核心问题。
“进展是稳定的，但对我来说太慢了，”弗伦奇·盖茨在她2019年的书《提升的时刻》中写道。“在基金会，人们仍在轻声谈论性别问题，有时是窃窃私语，不太愿意站出来。”
据《华尔街日报》报道，那一年，弗伦奇·盖茨开始与一组律师一起处理离婚事宜，其中一名律师涉及她丈夫与已故性犯罪者杰弗里·爱泼斯坦的商业往来。这位熟悉该公司的人士说，Pivotal大约在那个时候开始扩大规模，因为最初几年专注于规划和研究，而不是因为离婚。
她在2015年成立了Pivotal，当时它是一个独立的组织，只有大约10人，其中一些人是从盖茨基金会挖来的，包括开玩笑说自己在地下室工作的性别专家黑文·雷(Haven Ley)，以及Pivotal现任首席执行官约翰·塞奇(John Sage)。
戴尔说，弗伦奇·盖茨“从21世纪10年代初开始真正成为一名慈善家和领导者，这对她来说是一个渐进的演变。”“Pivotal代表她扮演了更大的主人翁和领导角色。”
直到最近，Pivotal的目的才成为人们关注的焦点。据三位知情人士透露，该公司最初几年一直在谈论和研究它可能会变成什么样。直到2018年12月，Pivotal的网站还只是一个登陆页面，上面写着“梅琳达·盖茨执行办公室”，并链接到弗伦奇·盖茨的社交媒体页面。直到2019年她的书出版后，情况才开始好转。
气候的焦点
比尔·盖茨(Bill Gates)越来越关注科技突破和气候变化，这也是他今年出版的《如何避免气候灾难》(How to Avoid a climate Disaster)一书的主题。他在2月份表示，他已经为气候问题投入了20亿美元，并计划再投入20亿美元。
盖茨曾表示，他对这一领域的兴趣始于2006年由两位前微软员工安排的与两位气候科学家的会面。在接下来的15年里，他稳步深入研究这个话题——成立公司、投资基金、科学项目和游说活动，旨在应对气候变化。
2015年，也就是弗伦奇·盖茨创办Pivotal的同一年，盖茨招募了一些亿万富翁，向一个名为Breakthrough的10亿美元新基金投入了一些资金能源企业该基金将于次年启动，投资于减少温室气体排放的企业和技术，比传统风投公司更注重长期发展。杰夫·贝佐斯、马云、理查德·布兰森和彭博新闻社母公司彭博有限公司创始人迈克尔·布隆伯格都签署了该基金的第一轮融资。乐动扑克
斯坦福大学Steyer-Taylor能源政策与金融中心董事总经理Alicia Seiger说:“突破公司所做的是带来了更多的资本，以及之前没有参与对话的扩音器和信使。”
今年1月，Breakthrough的风投部门又完成了一轮10亿美元的融资，招募了几位新的亿万富翁投资人，包括富达投资(Fidelity Investments)首席执行官阿比盖尔·约翰逊(Abigail Johnson)和沃尔玛(Walmart Inc.)创始人山姆·沃尔顿(Sam Walton)的孙子本·沃尔顿(Ben Walton)，目标是投资50家初创公司。该公司还在建立一个1亿欧元的试点基金，该基金是去年通过与欧盟委员会(European Commission)合作创建的。
盖茨也一直将突破的非投资工作重点放在创新上，主要由他自己资助其慈善、政策、倡导和研究工作。该公司的Catalyst项目试图加速绿色氢等清洁技术的应用，该项目正与欧盟委员会(European Commission)启动一项10亿美元的计划。突破能源科学公司做的是原创研究，比如今年发布的美国能源网络的详细模型。
2008年，盖茨创立了自己的私人办公室——盖茨风险投资公司。它集中在他的各种兴趣上，比如投资技术，资助教育和健康项目——包括阿尔茨海默氏症研究计划——这些都不在盖茨基金会的范围之内。
枢纽站变得更加活跃。弗伦奇·盖茨在2019年《时代》杂志的一篇专栏文章中表示，她将在未来10年向女性赋权投入10亿美元。
自2016年以来，她的公司已经向全国妇女与家庭伙伴关系和全民带薪休假等组织投资了6500多万美元。去年，她承诺为一项旨在未来五年在三个城市增加女性在科技行业的代表性和领导力的倡议提供5000万美元。
弗伦奇·盖茨还与麦肯齐·斯科特一起资助了一项活动，后者在与贝佐斯离婚后一直在加快自己的慈善捐赠。平等不能等待挑战呼吁组织申请如何花费1000万美元来加速女性赋权。获奖者将于今年夏天公布。
By Sophie Alexander and Ben Steverman
<\/strong>
In her first public appearance since her divorce announcement, Melinda French Gates travelled to the White House, leaders from her charity and investment firm in tow. She pressed Biden officials on two issues central to her priorities: paid family leave and child care.
The same day this month, Bill Gates<\/a> appeared in a virtual address to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome. Wearing his familiar sweater, collared shirt and glasses, the Microsoft<\/a> Corp. co-founder spoke for nearly 11 minutes about the impact of climate change<\/a> on the world\u2019s food supply.
The topics laid bare the diverging interests of the billionaire ex-couple behind one of the world\u2019s largest philanthropic foundations. Their split after 27 years of marriage, announced in May, now throws into question the destination of their vast fortune and the focus of their charitable endeavors. It also highlights their individual private-investment arms, which they have been quietly building over the past five years.
<\/strong>
In her first public appearance since her divorce announcement, Melinda French Gates travelled to the White House, leaders from her charity and investment firm in tow. She pressed Biden officials on two issues central to her priorities: paid family leave and child care.
The same day this month, Bill Gates<\/a> appeared in a virtual address to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation in Rome. Wearing his familiar sweater, collared shirt and glasses, the Microsoft<\/a> Corp. co-founder spoke for nearly 11 minutes about the impact of climate change<\/a> on the world\u2019s food supply.
The topics laid bare the diverging interests of the billionaire ex-couple behind one of the world\u2019s largest philanthropic foundations. Their split after 27 years of marriage, announced in May, now throws into question the destination of their vast fortune and the focus of their charitable endeavors. It also highlights their individual private-investment arms, which they have been quietly building over the past five years.
<\/div><\/div>Both have said they\u2019ll remain involved in the $50 billion Bill & Melinda Gates<\/a> Foundation, where they\u2019ve promised to spend the majority of their wealth through their Giving Pledge. But in the years leading up to their breakup, each spouse has dived into projects outside the scope of the foundation\u2019s work, a trend that\u2019s expected to accelerate post-divorce.
\u201cOne couple is now two individual households,\u201d said Elizabeth Dale, associate professor of nonprofit leadership at Seattle University. The couple\u2019s philanthropic efforts have been enormously influential, she said, and that likely will \u201ccontinue, both through the current foundation and maybe in other ways as well.\u201d
For French Gates, 56, the divorce could mean that more resources will be focused on Pivotal Ventures, her 90-person incubation and investment firm largely focused on gender equality. She\u2019s already received stock worth more than $3 billion from the Gates\u2019s Cascade Investment, just a tiny fraction of their combined $145 billion fortune at the time of the divorce, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire\u2019s Index.
Bill Gates, 65, has centered much of his work on Breakthrough Energy, an organization launched in 2015 that now employs about 100 people specializing in various aspects of climate change, while funding nonprofits and startups employing hundreds more.
\u201cOne couple is now two individual households,\u201d said Elizabeth Dale, associate professor of nonprofit leadership at Seattle University. The couple\u2019s philanthropic efforts have been enormously influential, she said, and that likely will \u201ccontinue, both through the current foundation and maybe in other ways as well.\u201d
For French Gates, 56, the divorce could mean that more resources will be focused on Pivotal Ventures, her 90-person incubation and investment firm largely focused on gender equality. She\u2019s already received stock worth more than $3 billion from the Gates\u2019s Cascade Investment, just a tiny fraction of their combined $145 billion fortune at the time of the divorce, according to the Bloomberg Billionaire\u2019s Index.
Bill Gates, 65, has centered much of his work on Breakthrough Energy, an organization launched in 2015 that now employs about 100 people specializing in various aspects of climate change, while funding nonprofits and startups employing hundreds more.
<\/div><\/div>Spokespeople for Breakthrough and Gates\u2019s private office, Gates Ventures, declined to comment. A spokesman for Pivotal said that French Gates\u2019s \u201ccommitment to advancing women\u2019s power and influence around the world, whether as co-chair of the foundation or founder of Pivotal Ventures, remains unchanged.\u201d
![\"](\"https:\/\/st.etb2bimg.com\/Themes\/Release\/images\/responsive\/ettelecom-default.jpg\")
For French Gates, 56, the divorce could mean that more resources will be focused on Pivotal Ventures, her 90-person incubation and investment firm largely focused on gender equality.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>
Fewer Rules
<\/strong>Both Breakthrough and Pivotal operate through LLCs, which means they can operate as for-profit entities. It\u2019s an increasingly popular form of giving, used by Mark Zuckerberg<\/a> and his wife Priscilla Chan with their Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and by Steve Jobs\u2019s widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, with her Emerson Collective.
An LLC doesn\u2019t always provide the same tax deductions that traditional foundations do, but it comes with fewer rules. Money can go to political lobbying or campaign donations, which aren\u2019t tax-deductible. And, unlike foundations, an LLC\u2019s activities, funding and staff don\u2019t need to be disclosed in annual tax filings that are made public.
Depending whom you ask, they are either an innovative tool in the toolbox of the world\u2019s best philanthropists, or a major step backward in terms of transparency.
\u201cThey don\u2019t face the same checks and balances as foundations,\u201d said Linsey McGoey, a professor of sociology at the University of Essex, who wrote a book called \u201cNo Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy.\u201d
Pivotal, launched in 2015, has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in more than 150 organizations to-date, according to a spokesperson. It uses grants as well as venture capital to focus on empowering women, including getting more females into technology jobs and elected to public office, supporting women and girls of color and advocating paid family leave.
In Washington this month, French Gates met with officials including President Joe Biden<\/a>\u2019s chief of staff, Ron Klain, and domestic policy adviser Susan Rice, along with directors from Pivotal and the Gates Foundation. From Pivotal\u2019s side, they discussed paid leave and care giving as it related to Biden\u2019s American Families Plan, according to a person close to the firm, who asked not to be named speaking about a private meeting.
In April, Pivotal hired lobbying firm Finsbury Glover Hering in Washington to focus on caregiving and paid leave issues, said the person, a sign it may be stepping up its efforts in Washington.
Early Days
<\/strong>The White House is a far cry from the basement of the Gates Foundation, where one of Pivotal\u2019s managing directors recalls working years ago. In the early 2010s, the foundation was taking on projects tied to women\u2019s equality -- funding initiatives affecting contraception and family planning, for example -- but French Gates wanted to speed up their focus on gender equality and make it a central issue to everything they did.
\u201cProgress was steady, but it was too slow for me,\u201d French Gates wrote in her 2019 book, \u201cThe Moment of Lift.\u201d \u201cPeople were still speaking softly about gender at the foundation, sometimes in whispers, not quite wanting to come forward.\u201d
Bill Gates has grown increasingly focused on Breakthrough and climate change, the subject of his book 'How to Avoid a Climate Disaster' that came out this year. He said in February that he\u2019s devoted $2 billion to climate, and plans to spend another $2 billion.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>
That year, French Gates started working with a team of lawyers on the divorce, with one concern her husbands\u2019s business dealings with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Wall Street Journal reported. Pivotal began ramping up around that time because the first few years were focused on planning and research, not because of the divorce, the person close to the firm said.
She had founded Pivotal in 2015 as a separate organization of around 10 people, a handful of whom were plucked from the Gates Foundation, including Haven Ley, the gender expert who joked about working in the basement, and John Sage, Pivotal\u2019s current chief executive officer.
French Gates \u201creally started to come into her own as a philanthropist and as a leader in the early 2010s, and that was sort of a gradual evolution for her,\u201d Dale said. \u201cPivotal represented her taking kind of a greater ownership and leadership role.\u201d
It\u2019s only relatively recently that Pivotal\u2019s purpose has come into focus. Its initial years were spent talking about and researching what it might become, according to three people familiar with its early days. Until December 2018, Pivotal\u2019s website was no more than a landing page that read \u201cExecutive Office of Melinda Gates\u201d with links to French Gates\u2019s social media pages. Things only started picking up around when her book was published in 2019.
Climate Focus
<\/strong>Bill Gates has grown increasingly focused on Breakthrough and climate change, the subject of his book 'How to Avoid a Climate Disaster' that came out this year. He said in February that he\u2019s devoted $2 billion to climate, and plans to spend another $2 billion.
Gates has said his interest in the area began with a meeting with a couple of climate scientists, arranged by two former Microsoft employees, in 2006. For the next 15 years, he\u2019s steadily dug deeper into the topic -- launching companies, investment funds, scientific projects and lobbying efforts aimed at fighting climate change.
In 2015, the same year French Gates started Pivotal, Gates recruited some of his fellow billionaires to pitch some money into a new $1 billion fund, called Breakthrough Energy Ventures<\/a>, that, when launched the following year, would invest in businesses and technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with a longer-term focus than traditional venture firms. Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, Richard Branson and Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, all signed on to the fund\u2019s first round.
\u201cWhat Breakthrough did is bring a whole lot more capital, and the megaphone and the messengers that weren\u2019t part of the conversation before,\u201d said Alicia Seiger, who is managing director of Stanford University\u2019s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance.
Breakthrough\u2019s venture arm closed another $1 billion round in January of this year, recruiting a few new billionaire funders -- including Fidelity Investments CEO Abigail Johnson and Ben Walton, the grandson of Walmart Inc. founder Sam Walton -- with the goal of investing in as many as 50 startups. It\u2019s also building a 100 million-euro pilot fund created last year through a partnership with the European Commission.
Gates has kept the focus of Breakthrough\u2019s non-investment work on innovation as well, largely funding its philanthropic, policy, advocacy and research work himself. Its Catalyst program, which tries to accelerate the deployment of clean technologies like green hydrogen, is launching a $1 billion initiative with the European Commission. Breakthrough Energy Sciences does original research, like a detailed model of the U.S. energy grid released this year.
Gates started his private office, Gates Ventures, in 2008. It focuses on a variety of his interests, such as investing in technology and funding education and health projects - including an Alzheimer\u2019s research initiative - outside the purview of the Gates Foundation.
Pivotal stands to become much more active. French Gates said in a 2019 Time magazine column that she is committing $1 billion over the next 10 years toward women\u2019s empowerment.
Since 2016, her firm has invested more than $65 million in organizations like National Partnership for Women & Families and Paid Leave for All. Last year, she committed $50 million for an initiative that aims to increase representation and leadership of women in tech in three cities over the next five years.
French Gates also is funding an effort alongside MacKenzie Scott - who has been accelerating her own charitable giving following her divorce from Bezos. The Equality Can\u2019t Wait Challenge calls for organizations to apply with how they\u2019d spend $10 million to speed up women\u2019s empowerment. The winners will be announced this summer.
<\/div><\/div>
Fewer Rules
<\/strong>Both Breakthrough and Pivotal operate through LLCs, which means they can operate as for-profit entities. It\u2019s an increasingly popular form of giving, used by Mark Zuckerberg<\/a> and his wife Priscilla Chan with their Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and by Steve Jobs\u2019s widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, with her Emerson Collective.
An LLC doesn\u2019t always provide the same tax deductions that traditional foundations do, but it comes with fewer rules. Money can go to political lobbying or campaign donations, which aren\u2019t tax-deductible. And, unlike foundations, an LLC\u2019s activities, funding and staff don\u2019t need to be disclosed in annual tax filings that are made public.
Depending whom you ask, they are either an innovative tool in the toolbox of the world\u2019s best philanthropists, or a major step backward in terms of transparency.
\u201cThey don\u2019t face the same checks and balances as foundations,\u201d said Linsey McGoey, a professor of sociology at the University of Essex, who wrote a book called \u201cNo Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy.\u201d
Pivotal, launched in 2015, has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in more than 150 organizations to-date, according to a spokesperson. It uses grants as well as venture capital to focus on empowering women, including getting more females into technology jobs and elected to public office, supporting women and girls of color and advocating paid family leave.
In Washington this month, French Gates met with officials including President Joe Biden<\/a>\u2019s chief of staff, Ron Klain, and domestic policy adviser Susan Rice, along with directors from Pivotal and the Gates Foundation. From Pivotal\u2019s side, they discussed paid leave and care giving as it related to Biden\u2019s American Families Plan, according to a person close to the firm, who asked not to be named speaking about a private meeting.
In April, Pivotal hired lobbying firm Finsbury Glover Hering in Washington to focus on caregiving and paid leave issues, said the person, a sign it may be stepping up its efforts in Washington.
Early Days
<\/strong>The White House is a far cry from the basement of the Gates Foundation, where one of Pivotal\u2019s managing directors recalls working years ago. In the early 2010s, the foundation was taking on projects tied to women\u2019s equality -- funding initiatives affecting contraception and family planning, for example -- but French Gates wanted to speed up their focus on gender equality and make it a central issue to everything they did.
\u201cProgress was steady, but it was too slow for me,\u201d French Gates wrote in her 2019 book, \u201cThe Moment of Lift.\u201d \u201cPeople were still speaking softly about gender at the foundation, sometimes in whispers, not quite wanting to come forward.\u201d
That year, French Gates started working with a team of lawyers on the divorce, with one concern her husbands\u2019s business dealings with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Wall Street Journal reported. Pivotal began ramping up around that time because the first few years were focused on planning and research, not because of the divorce, the person close to the firm said.
She had founded Pivotal in 2015 as a separate organization of around 10 people, a handful of whom were plucked from the Gates Foundation, including Haven Ley, the gender expert who joked about working in the basement, and John Sage, Pivotal\u2019s current chief executive officer.
French Gates \u201creally started to come into her own as a philanthropist and as a leader in the early 2010s, and that was sort of a gradual evolution for her,\u201d Dale said. \u201cPivotal represented her taking kind of a greater ownership and leadership role.\u201d
It\u2019s only relatively recently that Pivotal\u2019s purpose has come into focus. Its initial years were spent talking about and researching what it might become, according to three people familiar with its early days. Until December 2018, Pivotal\u2019s website was no more than a landing page that read \u201cExecutive Office of Melinda Gates\u201d with links to French Gates\u2019s social media pages. Things only started picking up around when her book was published in 2019.
Climate Focus
<\/strong>Bill Gates has grown increasingly focused on Breakthrough and climate change, the subject of his book 'How to Avoid a Climate Disaster' that came out this year. He said in February that he\u2019s devoted $2 billion to climate, and plans to spend another $2 billion.
Gates has said his interest in the area began with a meeting with a couple of climate scientists, arranged by two former Microsoft employees, in 2006. For the next 15 years, he\u2019s steadily dug deeper into the topic -- launching companies, investment funds, scientific projects and lobbying efforts aimed at fighting climate change.
In 2015, the same year French Gates started Pivotal, Gates recruited some of his fellow billionaires to pitch some money into a new $1 billion fund, called Breakthrough Energy Ventures<\/a>, that, when launched the following year, would invest in businesses and technologies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with a longer-term focus than traditional venture firms. Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, Richard Branson and Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, all signed on to the fund\u2019s first round.
\u201cWhat Breakthrough did is bring a whole lot more capital, and the megaphone and the messengers that weren\u2019t part of the conversation before,\u201d said Alicia Seiger, who is managing director of Stanford University\u2019s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance.
Breakthrough\u2019s venture arm closed another $1 billion round in January of this year, recruiting a few new billionaire funders -- including Fidelity Investments CEO Abigail Johnson and Ben Walton, the grandson of Walmart Inc. founder Sam Walton -- with the goal of investing in as many as 50 startups. It\u2019s also building a 100 million-euro pilot fund created last year through a partnership with the European Commission.
Gates has kept the focus of Breakthrough\u2019s non-investment work on innovation as well, largely funding its philanthropic, policy, advocacy and research work himself. Its Catalyst program, which tries to accelerate the deployment of clean technologies like green hydrogen, is launching a $1 billion initiative with the European Commission. Breakthrough Energy Sciences does original research, like a detailed model of the U.S. energy grid released this year.
Gates started his private office, Gates Ventures, in 2008. It focuses on a variety of his interests, such as investing in technology and funding education and health projects - including an Alzheimer\u2019s research initiative - outside the purview of the Gates Foundation.
Pivotal stands to become much more active. French Gates said in a 2019 Time magazine column that she is committing $1 billion over the next 10 years toward women\u2019s empowerment.
Since 2016, her firm has invested more than $65 million in organizations like National Partnership for Women & Families and Paid Leave for All. Last year, she committed $50 million for an initiative that aims to increase representation and leadership of women in tech in three cities over the next five years.
French Gates also is funding an effort alongside MacKenzie Scott - who has been accelerating her own charitable giving following her divorce from Bezos. The Equality Can\u2019t Wait Challenge calls for organizations to apply with how they\u2019d spend $10 million to speed up women\u2019s empowerment. The winners will be announced this summer.
<\/div><\/div>
Follow and connect with us on Twitter<\/a>, Facebook<\/a>, Linkedin<\/a>, Youtube<\/a><\/div>","NumberOfSentences":{"minfo":"64.0","minfoseo":"64-0"},"AutomatedReadabilityIndex":{"minfo":"14.0","minfoseo":"14-0"},"LastPublishMilliTime":{"minfo":"1624973095402","minfoseo":"1624973095402"},"ReadabilityGradeLevel":{"minfo":"College","minfoseo":"college"},"GadgetsMarkedReviewed":{"minfo":"0","minfoseo":"0"},"HashCode":{"minfo":"1145865242","minfoseo":"1145865242"},"latestnewsflag":{"minfo":"1.0","minfoseo":"1-0"},"NumberOfCharacters":{"minfo":"10197.0","minfoseo":"10197-0"},"Alttitle":{"minfo":"Bill Gates | Melinda French Gates: Gates divorce throws light on the diverging philanthropic interests of the ex-couple","minfoseo":"bill-gates-melinda-french-gates-gates-divorce-throws-light-on-the-diverging-philanthropic-interests-of-the-ex-couple"},"NumberOfWords":{"minfo":"1610.0","minfoseo":"1610-0"},"key":{"0":{"keyid":"11238856","value":"gates 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