She graduated from the Northrop Collegiate School and then received a bachelor's degree from Smith College.
[1][2] Syracuse University Dean Eugenia Leonard advised "women college graduates to enter volunteer work rather than accept a salary," which Pillsbury followed.
She helped create the International Planned Parenthood Federation and traveled to India to discuss the organization with Mahatma Gandhi.
[2] She was the vice president of the American Red Cross and sat on its national board as an honorary member at the time of her death.
[1] In 2000, the Women's Refugee Commission established the Eleanor Bellows Pillsbury Fund for Reproductive Health Care and Rights for Adolescent Refugees to provide grants for adolescent reproductive health projects.