Melinda French Gates plans to match $1M in GivingTuesday gifts to groups that support women

Melinda French Gates speaks at the Seminar: Digital Public Infrastructure: Stacking up the Benefits, during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headquarters in Washington, April 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

Melinda French Gates is offering to match up to $1 million in gifts to two nonprofit organizations to help spur donations on GivingTuesday, which has become a major annual fundraising day for nonprofits.

For more than a decade, on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, charitable organizations have asked for donations or other support from their networks.

“It’s a great time to remind people that we’re better off when we give something back and we all have something to give back,” said French Gates in an interview, speaking about her enthusiasm for GivingTuesday. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was an early supporter of GivingTuesday, which started as a hashtag and a project at the 92nd Street Y in New York and has since become its own organization.