Fistula Foundation Transforms $15M Gift Into 13,000+ Life-Changing Surgeries in Under Two Years
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA—Monday, December 29—When Fistula Foundation received $15 million from MacKenzie Scott in 2023, the Bay Area-based global health nonprofit made an unconventional choice: deploy 100% of the funding immediately, rather than building reserves.
The aggressive strategy paid off. By March 2025, that capital funded more than 13,000 surgeries for women living with obstetric fistula—a devastating and isolating childbirth injury that leaves a woman incontinent and often an outcast in her community. And the rapid deployment didn’t deplete the organization’s runway—it extended it. 2025 became Fistula Foundation’s largest fundraising year ever, validating the approach that demonstrating measurable impact at scale would attract more support.
“At least one million women in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia are living with obstetric fistula,” said CEO Pam Lowney. “It’s entirely treatable, and almost entirely ignored. The scale of unmet need made our decision crystal clear: move fast to heal the most vulnerable among us.”
Silicon Valley Speed Conquers a Global Health Challenge
The Foundation’s rapid scale-up reads like a tech success story:
- 73% surgical growth (10,702 surgeries in 2022 → projected 18,500+ in 2025)
- 37% geographic expansion (27 countries → 37 countries)
- 49% partner network growth (67 → 100 local surgical partners)
- 100% capital deployment of largest organizational gift by March 2025
The organization applied venture capital principles to philanthropy: deploy growth capital rapidly, prove measurable impact, and use results to fuel the next funding round.
Filling a Critical Gap
Fistula Foundation has emerged as the world’s leading funder of fistula surgery—powered entirely by private philanthropy.
Obstetric fistula occurs when prolonged, obstructed labor causes a hole between the birth canal and bladder or rectum, leaving women incontinent. The condition is almost unheard of in developed countries with access to emergency obstetric care, but affects at least one million women in under-resourced regions.
At $633 per surgery with tracked outcomes, the Foundation offers donors transparent, measurable impact, at scale.
About Fistula Foundation
Fistula Foundation is the global leader in treating obstetric fistula and related childbirth injuries. Since 2009, the nonprofit has supported more than 100,000 surgeries in more than 35 countries across Africa and Asia by partnering with trusted local surgeons and hospitals in areas of high unmet need. Together with its global community of supporters, the charity delivers more of these life-transforming surgeries than any other organization in the world, and aims to leave no woman behind.