2026 Leaders Summit | Agenda
March 18-20, 2026 in San Francisco, CA
March 18-20, 2026 in San Francisco, CA
Summit Countdown:
14D 03H 02M
Day 1: Wednesday, March 18
Field Immersions:
Option A | Asombrosa: Step into Asombrosa, a nature-inspired space designed to grow ideas and deepen connections. During this resilience-centered experience, explore how our relationship with money shapes impact, reflect on sustaining resilience in high-stakes work, and engage in intentional conversations that inspire collaboration and thoughtful strategies for meaningful social change.
Option B | Courage Museum: Be among the first to go behind the scenes of the Courage Museum, an interactive exhibit opening in Spring 2027. This is not a public museum tour, but an exclusive preview of the ideas, design process, and creative vision shaping the exhibit before it opens.
Registration Opens (3:00 - 4:00 PM)
Opening Program (4:00 - 4:20 PM)
Sarah Howard, Managing Director, Global Philanthropy Forum
Philip Yun, GPF Steering Committee Chair and Co-CEO and Co-President of Commonwealth Club World Affairs (CCWA)
Keynote (4:20 - 4:50 PM) | : Naming the Moment
Lightning Talk (4:50 - 5:05 PM) | : The State of Generosity: Global Data on Power, Policy, and Philanthropic Flow
To remain fit-for-purpose, Around the world, philanthropic capital is moving through increasingly complex terrain — expanding in some regions, constrained in others, and reshaped by policy, politics, and public trust. In this dual presentation, leaders from the Charities Aid Foundation and Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy present the latest data on cross-border giving, enabling environments, and bold philanthropic action.
The findings offer more than trends — they reveal structural realities:
Where legal frameworks enable or suppress generosity
How global crises are influencing giving behavior
Where new forms of philanthropy are emerging
And where capital is failing to meet scale and urgency
In a moment when capital is increasingly contested, politicized, and concentrated, understanding these global patterns is not academic — it is strategic.
Speakers:
Amir Pasic, Dean, Philanthropic Studies, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy
(5:05 - 5:50 PM) | TBC
Fireside Chat (5:50 - 6:00 PM) | : Signals
Speakers:
Erika Gregory, Horizon 2045
Sidebar | (6:00 - 6:15 PM)
Throughout the Summit, we are creating intentional space for emergent community conversations led by TheSidebar. These sessions are designed to surface what is most alive in the room, the tensions, insights, and questions that formal programming cannot fully anticipate. From these dialogues, one community-selected topic will rise to the main stage on Friday.
Speakers:
Seth Cochran, Founder, TheSidebar
Welcome Reception (6:15 - 7:30 PM)
Day 2: Thursday, March 19
Meditation (7:45 - 8:30 AM)
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Registration Opens (8:30 - 9:00 AM)
Opening Remarks (9:00 - 9:05AM)
Speakers:
Sarah Howard, Managing Director, Global Philanthropy Forum (GPF)
(9:05 - 11:00 AM) | Capital as Code: Rearchitecting the Rules of Ownership, Power, and Agency
Lightning Talk (9:05 - 9:20 AM) | Capital as a Designed System
In this opening talk, John Fullerton examines the deep logic embedded in today’s capital systems — from extraction and growth to separation and control. He will reveal how philanthropy often replicates the very patterns it seeks to counteract, and invite the audience to imagine what a regenerative capital operating system might look like. This sets the stage for exploring alternative models that align capital with purpose, agency, and resilience.
Speakers:
John Fullerton, Founder & President, Capital Institute
Deep Dives
How Alternative Capital Logics Actually Operate (Two Panels | 50 mins)
The sessions move beyond theory to explore capital in action. Through two panel conversations, speakers show how redesigned ownership, governance, and trust reshape real-world systems, revealing what happens when capital is treated as a tool for agency, purpose, and accountability rather than just wealth.
Panel (9:20 - 9:45 AM) | Trust as Infrastructure
This panel explores how cash, autonomy, and collective governance can function as infrastructure — creating resilient, high-performing systems that operate with dignity and purpose. Through real-world examples, speakers show how simplifying capital to its core “instruction set” reshapes accountability, amplifies agency, and exposes philanthropy’s trust deficit. The conversation highlights what it takes to design systems that rely on confidence, not control.
Speakers:
Jessyca Dudley, Founder & CEO, Bold Ventures
Fyodor Ovchinnikov, Co-Founder & Director, Evolutionary Futures Lab
Audrey Selian, Director, Artha Impact
Moderator: Kristin Hayden
Panel (9:45 - 10:10 AM | Who Owns the Future?
This panel examines how ownership, governance, and purpose can be embedded directly into capital — not as a bonus, but as a structural feature. Speakers explore how aligning capital with people’s agency transforms long-term success, reshapes accountability, and sets new standards for enterprise and philanthropy. Through real-world examples, the conversation reveals what it takes to design capital that hard-codes dignity, purpose, and impact into the systems we rely on.
Speakers:
Margot Brandenburg, Senior Program Officer, Ford Foundation
Anna-Lisa Miller, Executive Director, Ownership Works
Sarah Schwimmer, Co-Lead Executive, B Lab Global
Moderator: Gina Dalma, Chief Development Officer, Global Fund for a New Economy
Lightning Talk (10:10 - 10:20 AM)
Speakers:
Nick Allardice, President & CEO, GiveDirectly
Panel (10:20 - 10:50 AM) | Architectural Reckoning: When New Code Meets Old Philanthropy
Bold models of ownership, trust-based funding, and shared governance are gaining ground. But when they enter philanthropy’s existing infrastructure — payout norms, fiduciary culture, compliance regimes, and embedded risk aversion — friction follows. This segment examines where redesigned capital collides with legacy architecture, who absorbs the risk, and what must actually change for new approaches to operate at scale. The focus is not on whether innovation works, but whether the system it runs on is fit for the future
Speakers:
Nick Allardice, President & CEO, GiveDirectly
Sid Efromovich, Co-Founder & CEO, Regeneration Group
Taj James, Co-Founder, Full Spectrum Group
Jennifer Rischer, Co-Founder, #HalfMyDAF
Moderator: Sarah Howard, Managing Director, Global Philanthropy Forum
Lightning Talk (10:50 - 11:00 AM) | The Open Question: Shared Protocols for a New Operating System
Roshan Ghadamian explores how philanthropy’s current structures often reproduce scarcity and limit organizational resilience. He will share principles for designing regenerative capital that strengthens authority, gives organizations space to govern themselves, and weaves trust and autonomy into funding systems. The session invites the audience to imagine shared protocols that make philanthropic resources interoperable, resilient, and purpose-driven.
Speakers:
Roshan Ghadamian, Principal Researcher, Institute for Regenerative Systems Architecture
Breakout Panel (11:15 - 12:15 PM) | From Capital to Culture: Storytelling in a Multipolar World
Speakers:
Flavia Carvalho Doria, (TBC)
Derrick Feldmann (TBC)
Nisaa Jetha, Global Creative Economy Institute (TBC)
Lynn Maxcy, Screenwriter and Co-founder of Creators Coalition on A.I.
Máximo Mazzocco, Founder, EcoNews
Lunch + Sidebar (12:15 - 1:10 PM)
Welcome Back (1:15 - 1:20 PM) | David Kim
Panel (1:20 - 2:20 PM) | Practitioner Signal: Field-Built Futures
This session surfaces how practitioner-led models are born, protected, and tested under real-world constraints — and what funders and institutions must do differently to recognize signal before it looks like success. The conversation focuses on emergence: the conditions, choices, and tradeoffs that allow new approaches to take shape and begin to travel across systems.
Dr. Kirsten Dunlop, CEO, Climate-KIC
Savanna Ferguson, CEO, Climate Breakthrough
Gavin McCormick, Co-Founder, Climate TRACE, Co-Founder & Executive Director, WattTime
Sheetal Vyas, Managing Director, Virgin Unite
Moderator: Nasra Ismail, CEO & Founder, Generative Connections
Break (4:00 - 4:15 PM)
Welcome Back | Sarah Howard
Lightning Talk (4:15 - 4:30 PM) | Trust at Scale: Where Platforms Meet Emergency Infrastructure
As philanthropy rethinks capital, power, and agency, it must also grapple with a parallel reality: some of the most influential operating systems shaping trust, access, and coordination at scale are often platforms. Drawing on Airbnb’s experience activating its global network in moments of crisis, including how hosts become frontline responders by offering shelter, stability, and local knowledge during disasters, the speaker explores how corporate competencies such as trust systems, identity verification, and distributed logistics can rapidly function as emergency infrastructure. The talk examines what these moments reveal about design, governance, and accountability, and what philanthropy can learn, and where it must be cautious, when private platforms and communities step into civic and humanitarian roles.
Speaker:
Christoph Gorder, Executive Director, Airbnb.org
Fireside Chat (4:30 - 5:00 PM) | Networked Humanitarianism: Building Operating Systems Under Fire
This fireside conversation brings together global advocacy and frontline civilian leadership to examine what happens when the formal systems that underpin protection and humanitarian response fail. Drawing on Crisis Action’s work coordinating collective political action and the organically formed, community-led structures of the Sudan Emergency Response Rooms, the discussion explores how legitimacy, coordination, and protection are built under extreme constraint — and what philanthropy can learn from systems that arise from necessity rather than design.
Speakers:
Haitham Elnour, Local Coordinating Committees / Emergency Response Rooms, External Communications Coordinator
Nicola Reindorp, Crisis Action, CEO
Fireside Chat (5:00 - 5:30 PM) | Who Gets to Belong: Story, Land, and the Architecture of Power
This conversation explores land not only as legal and economic infrastructure, but as a narrative one, shaped by stories about who belongs, who is visible, and whose futures are imagined.
Speakers:
Chitra Hanstad, Global Ambassador, Landesa
Julia Quinn, Goodwill Ambassador, Landesa
Moderator: Sarah Howard, Managing Director, Global Philanthropy Forum
Closing (5:30 - 5:40 PM)
Distributed Dinners (6:30 - 9:30 PM)
Hosted at venues near the Summit, these dinners provide an ambient setting for networking and thought-provoking discussions. It’s the perfect opportunity to connect in a more personal and reflective space.
Day 3: Friday, March 20
Meditation: (8:00 - 8:30 AM)
Opening Remarks (9:00 - 9:02 AM) | David Kyuman Kim
Lightning Talk (9:05 - 9:20 AM) | Bridging the Gap: How Philanthropy Catalyzes Systemic Change from the Global South
This session explores how philanthropy can catalyze systemic change by backing locally rooted, globally scalable solutions — using Nepal’s trail bridge model and its uptake by Ethiopia as a case study. It highlights how South-South collaboration and early philanthropic risk-taking can unlock long-term government ownership and reshape infrastructure for impact. It will challenge philanthropy to rethink its role from funding projects to backing systems-level change — especially by trusting and scaling Global South-led innovations. By spotlighting a successful South-South collaboration, it will offer a concrete example of how catalytic capital can de-risk government adoption, inspire new models of cross-border learning, and shift power toward locally driven solutions.
Speakers:
Ansu Tumbahangfe, Director, Transformative Rural Access Catalyst for Change
Breakout Panel (9:20 - 10:10 AM) | New Funds, New Rules: How Global South–Led Collaborations Are Leading
Speakers:
Jenn Gudebski (TBC)
Meghan Hastings, Head of Partnerships, Adeso/The Proximate Fund
Naghma Mulla, CEO Edelgive/Grow Fund
Moderator: Sheena Agarwal, Chief Partnerships Officer, Myriad USA
Lightning Talk (10:10 - 10:25 AM) | The Capital Stack Reimagined
Speaker:
Nicole Rycroft, Founder and Executive Director, Canopy
Fireside Chat (10:25 - 10:45 AM)
Coffee Break (10:50 - 11:00 AM)
Breakout Sessions (11:00 AM - 12:00 PM)
Option A | Governing in Flux: Accelerating Delivery and Forging New Partnerships in a Changing Global Landscape
The current global environment demands a pivot from traditional approaches. With institutional decline and the rise of populism, the failure of governments to deliver is a critical threat to democratic values. This session is centered on the imperative to support governments to deliver as the most effective path to stability and accountability. The session will explore the new opportunities a changing landscape presents, recognizing that previous adversarial positions may have shifted and discussing what this means for civil society actors. The discussion will focus on: the governance imperative; a changing position for civil society; new alliances and support, and adaptability and principle.
Speakers:
Joseph Asunka, CEO, Afrobarometer
Ruth Levine, Vice President and Chief Learning Officer, Packard Foundation
Ana Patricia Munoz, CEO, International Budget Partnership
Option B | Sidebar
Option C | Workshop | Civic Imagination Workshop, Plenary Co
Lunch + Sidebar (12:00 - 12:55 PM)
Welcome Back (1:15 - 1:20 PM) | Sarah Howard
Panel (1:20 - 2:05 PM) | Who Codes the Future? AI, Power, and the Next 24 Months
Speakers:
Anamitra Deb, VP, Omidyar (TBC)
Kay Firth-Butterfield, CEO, Good Tech Advisory
Tristan Harris, Center for Human Technology (TBC)
Moderator: Christy Tanner, CEO, NYPR (TBC)
What if the key to solving our most complex social problems isn't better strategy, more funding, or smarter technology—but simply learning how to truly connect? The social sector widely recognizes that collaboration is essential, yet most collaborative efforts fail because we force partnerships through frameworks, deadlines, and transactional relationships. In this session, you'll discover why you can't toolkit your way to genuine collaboration—but you can intentionally create the conditions where connection flourishes. In this talk, the speaker will share how her work leading the Solutions Insights Lab revealed four simple principles that transformed collaboration across vastly different contexts—from uniting 25 youth mental health organizations, to bringing indigenous leaders across continents together at COP30, to changing government policies that now serve 800 million people struggling with presbyopia.
Speakers:
Ambika Samarthya-Howard
Panel TheSidebar (2:20 - 2:30 PM)
This session is shaped by the emergent conversations that arose during the first two days of the Summit. The speakers will be drawn from those discussions, practitioners, funders, and leaders whose perspectives reflect the signal unfolding in real time.
Rather than offering a polished conclusion, this session honors collective intelligence. It asks: What is this room ready to confront? What patterns have surfaced? And what responsibility follows? This is the Summit listening to itself, and responding
Speakers:
Moderator: Seth Cochran, Founder, TheSidebar
Fireside Chat (2:50 - 3:35 PM)
Speakers:
Terry Boyer, Co-Founder and President, Caldera Foundation
Glen Galaich, CEO, Stupski Foundation
Closing Keynote
Closing Reflections (3:45 - 4:00 PM)
25th Anniversary Celebration (4:00 - 6:00 PM)
Afterparty Harbor Court Hotel (6:00 - 7:00 PM)
Thank you to our partners!
Day 1: Wednesday, March 12
Day 1: Wednesday, March 12
Day 1: Wednesday, March 12
Field Trips:
Option A | TomKat Ranch: Sustainable agriculture at its best! Explore innovative regenerative practices and their role in food security and climate change.
Option B | UN Charter Tour: Trace the UN Charter’s San Francisco roots and its impact on global diplomacy.
Registration Opens (3:00 - 4:00 PM)
Opening Program (4:00 - 6:00 PM)
The opening plenary at the 2025 Global Philanthropy Forum Leaders Summit will explore how philanthropy, multilateral cooperation, and global leadership can address today’s most pressing challenges.
Sarah Howard, Managing Director, Global Philanthropy Forum
Philip Yun, GPF Steering Committee Chair and Co-CEO and Co-President of Commonwealth Club World Affairs (CCWA)
Panel: Three Tectonic Plates: Climate, Tech, and Governance—The Need for Adaptive Philanthropy in an Unstable World
To remain fit-for-purpose, philanthropy must rethink how it funds, collaborates, and takes risks in a world shaped by climate disruption, emerging technologies, and fragile governance. These forces are not just transforming societies; they are disrupting traditional models of global cooperation, exposing the growing limitations of multilateralism, and demanding more agile, systems-driven funding strategies. As climate crises accelerate, emerging technologies redefine power structures, and governance is re-imagined, funders need to move beyond conventional grantmaking to act as a catalyst for adaptive solutions.
Speakers:
Rajiv Joshi, ED of Regeneration and Founder, Bridging Ventures
Bri Treece, Co-founder and COO at Fathom AI
Heba Aly, Director, UN Charter Reform Coalition
Sarah Howard, Managing Director, Global Philanthropy Forum (GPF)
2 Fireside Chats
Welcome Reception (6:00 - 7:30 PM)
Day 2: Thursday, March 13
Soundbath (7:45 - 8:30 AM)
Attendees can enjoy a Soundbath, with soothing vibrations from instruments like singing bowls and gongs to promote relaxation and clarity.
Registration Opens (8:00 - 9:00 AM)
Opening Remarks (9:00 - 9:05AM)
Speakers:
Sarah Howard, Managing Director, Global Philanthropy Forum (GPF)
Lightning Talk (9:05 - 9:20 AM) | Unleashing the Power of Labor Mobility: Building a World of Opportunity
Coming decades will be shaped by two demographic trends: rapid youth population growth in low-income countries, and aging in high-income countries. Bridging this gap offers a chance to reduce inequality of opportunity tied to birthplace. To do so, philanthropy must shift from place-based approaches to supporting mobile jobs and workers. This lightning talk will share solutions that include expanding remote work for youth, and facilitating cross-border labor mobility in current philanthropic efforts.
Speakers:
Rebekah Smith, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Labor Mobility Partnerships
Panel (9:20 - 10:05 AM) | Global Leadership for Global Philanthropy: Bridging Regions, Cultures, and Impact in a Complex World
As philanthropy continues to expand across regions, new leadership models are emerging, and they’re shaped by local cultures, histories, and economic landscapes. How do we foster leadership that honors local traditions while embracing multilateral collaboration? How do we take bold risks to drive systemic change in an increasingly complex global environment? This session brings together leading philanthropists from different regions to discuss how leadership is evolving in their contexts, how they engage across borders, and how embracing risk is necessary for meaningful impact.
Speakers:
Gbenga Oyebode, Chair of African Philanthropy Forum and Ford Foundation Board
Sumir Chadha, Co-founder and Managing Partner of WestBridge Capital
Luzia Nascimento, Chair of The Institute of Corporate Citizenship (ICE), Brazil
Moderator: Deval Sanghavi, Founder and CEO, Dasra and GPF Steering Committee Member
Coffee Break + Hall of Imagination (10:05 - 10:15 AM)
Speakers:
Caroline Bressan, CEO, Open Road Alliance
Liz Sessler, COO, Capshift
Alex Trabulsi, Global Director of Philanthropy, Acumen
Moderator: Brigit Helms, Executive Director at Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship
2nd Floor: Option B | Panel | The Future of Giving: Strengthening Communities Through Social Cohesion and Civic Engagement
Charity has long been a catalyst for building stronger communities and fostering resilient democracies. This session will explore the powerful intersection of cultures of giving—both domestic and global—and its role in promoting social cohesion and civic engagement at home. Drawing on examples from around the world, panelists will examine how acts of giving, whether rooted in cultural traditions or modern philanthropic frameworks, create bridges across socioeconomic divides, empower marginalized communities, and encourage collective action for the greater good. From fostering a sense of shared purpose to driving community-led solutions, philanthropy plays a critical role in addressing systemic challenges while strengthening the civic fabric essential to thriving democracies.
Speakers:
Mark Greer, Managing Director, Charities Aid Foundation
Shazia Maqsood, Executive Director, Pakistan Centre for Philanthropy
Almaz Negash, CEO, African Diaspora Network
Moderator: Paula Fabiani, CEO, IDIS
Asha Curran, CEO, GivingTuesday
John Hewko, General Secretary & CEO, Rotary International
Moderator: Hali Lee, Founder, Radiant Strategies
3rd Floor: Option C | Workshop | Meeting the Moment: Adaptive Philanthropy with a View to the Future
We find ourselves at an inflection point that, in retrospect, might have been more clearly anticipated. The current crisis for democratic institutions and civil society—marked by accelerating authoritarianism and systematic attacks on society's most vulnerable members—is no accident. It is the culmination of decades of patient, well-funded effort by actors on the political right who methodically built their power brick by brick while many of us failed to read the signals or respond at scale. In this interactive workshop, we will introduce Horizon 2045’s Foresight Radar and explore how the careful observation of change underpins more insightful, more foresightful, cooperation between funders and grantees across a spectrum of social, political and environmental challenges.
Speakers:
Erika Gregory, President, Horizon 2045
Morgan Matthews, Executive Director, Horizon 2045
Lunch + Impact Roundtables (11:45 AM - 12:40 PM)
Lightning Talk (12:45 - 1:00 PM) | Reimagining Sacred Spaces: Unlocking Assets for Thriving Communities
Mark Elsdon, Co-Founder, RootedGood
Panel (1:00 - 2:10 PM) | Narrative Power: Funding Stories and Culture-Makers That Show Us the Future
Narratives shape how societies understand problems, who they see as change agents, and what solutions they believe are possible. Yet, funding for narrative change work remains limited and often misunderstood. We are at a critical juncture where the meta narratives about where we’ve been and where are going as a species are increasing the linchpin in a post-truth world, with short attention spans and frantic media cycles. This session explores why storytelling matters for systemic transformation, the challenges in resourcing it, and what’s needed to fund narrative work at scale.
Speakers:
Emma Belcher, President, Ploughshares Fund
Adama Sanneh, Co-Founder and CEO, Moleskin Foundation
Aditi Juneja, Executive Director, Democracy 2076
Robyn Scott, Co-Founder and CEO, Apolitical
Derrick Feldmann, Managing Director, Ad Council Research Institute
Moderator: Sarah Howard, Managing Director, Global Philanthropy Forum
Coffee Break + Hall of Imagination (2:10 - 2:20 PM)
Breakout Sessions (2:20 - 3:50 PM)
2nd Floor: Option A | Workshop | Global Philanthropy Heat Map
In this interactive workshop, please join a broad group of experts for a highly interactive and provocative exercise focused on the philanthropic trends, approaches and changes likely to impact the field in the coming year. Based on a methodology refined in Davos and at other global events, participants will role play teams of grantors and grantees, and compete to craft winning strategies for maximum impact.
Speakers:
Kevin Steinberg, Founder and Chairman, Ascent Leadership Networks
Katherine Randall, President and Co-Founder, Pop Venture
3rd Floor: Option B | Live Podcast | Break Fake Rules: Make Way for a New Era of Philanthropy
Get ready for an exclusive behind-the-scenes recording of philanthropy’s boundary-breaking podcast, “Break Fake Rules!” Join host Glen Galaich of the Stupski Foundation and special guest, Dimple Abichandani, as they spill the tea on Dimple’s highly anticipated new book, A New Era of Philanthropy. In this special breakout session, hear how philanthropy can embrace risk to make a lasting impact and fuel resistance during challenging times. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear directly from Dimple to embrace a bolder and more fearless era of giving.
Speakers:
Glen Galaich, CEO, Stupski Foundation
Dimple Abichandani, Board Member, Solidaire Network
Coffee Break + Hall of Imagination (3:50 - 4:00 PM)
Fireside Chat (4:00 - 4:15 PM) | Philanthropy as a Market Accelerator: Unlocking Scalable Solutions in Food, Climate, and Land Restoration
Philanthropy has a unique role in driving systems change—not just through direct funding but by unlocking private capital, aligning incentives, and de-risking investment in transformative solutions. However, many funders still operate within traditional grantmaking models that struggle to catalyze large-scale, sustained impact. This fireside chat will explore how philanthropy can act as a market accelerator, using the Action Agenda on Regenerative Landscapes (AARL) as a case study. The AARL initiative, launched at COP28, is a coalition of over 35 global organizations leveraging blended finance to scale regenerative agriculture and landscape restoration in high-impact regions like Brazil’s Cerrado—a biodiversity and food production hotspot facing increasing climate and economic pressures.
Speakers:
Shalini Unnikrishnan, Managing Director & Partner, Consumer & Social Impact, Boston Consulting Group
Moderator: Eva Goulbourne, CEO, Littlefoot Ventures
Panel (4:15 - 5:10 PM) | Leveraging the Capital Stack: Mobilizing Catalytic Finance to Scale Private Sector Investment in Emerging Markets
With shrinking Official Development Assistance, innovative financing strategies are even more critical to unlocking sustainable development in emerging markets. This session will explore the different roles actors across the philanthropy-impact investing continuum can play in de-risking investments, mobilizing private sector capital, and scaling impactful solutions. Featuring insights from across the capital stack, the discussion will highlight live examples and scalable models for how philanthropy can bridge early funding gaps, align incentives, and create investable opportunities that drive private sector engagement for scaling long-term economic resilience.
Speakers:
Wagner Albuquerque de Almeida, Global Director, International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Kartick Kumar, Managing Partner & CEO, Change Forces / King Philanthropies
Jean Shia, Managing Director, Autodesk Foundation
Peter Laugharn, CEO, Hilton Foundation
Distributed Dinners:
Hosted at venues near the Summit, these dinners provide an ambient setting for networking and thought-provoking discussions. It’s the perfect opportunity to connect in a more personal and reflective space.
Dinner Options:
Art x Activism x Human Rights
Break Fake Rules
Food Systems x Climate
Future of Labor Mobility
Intersection of Faith-based Real Estate x Civic Space
Intersection of Tech & Government
Narrative and Media Leadership
Day 3: Friday, March 14
Yoga:
We’re starting off Day 3 with a peaceful Yoga session on the rooftop, a serene space to reflect, relax, and reset before the closing sessions.
Registration Opens (8:30 - 9:30 AM)
Opening Remarks (9:30 - 9:35 AM)
Speakers:
Sarah Howard, Managing Director, Global Philanthropy Forum
Panel (9:40 - 10:25 AM) | Paving the Future of Philanthropy with Bold Women at the Helm: Leveraging our Greatest Assets for Greatest Impact
The Great Wealth Transfer is upon us and women and underrepresented groups are poised to lead an unprecedented shift in philanthropy and social change. Join us for a dynamic conversation on how women can lean into their greatest assets in human and financial capital to drive impact boldly in this next era of impact. Community, family, wealth, brains and financial vehicles will all have a seat at the table as women meet this historic moment, leading with their values, and with each other.
Speakers:
Stacey Boyd, Founder and CEO of Olivela
Amy Marks Dornbusch, Founder of AtlasDaughters and Director, Marks Family Foundation
Ruby Khan
Yvonne Moore, Managing Director, Moore Philanthropy & President, Moore Impact
Moderator: Kristin Hayden, Founder and President of Vision Powered Ventures
Fireside Chat (10:25 - 10:40 AM) | Rethinking Risk: Leveraging Multicapital Strategies for Transformative Impact
This session explores the risks of misaligning non-economic capital—social, cultural, and symbolic—with an organization’s mission. Using a multicapital framework developed with MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative, participants will learn how to align and leverage all forms of capital strategically to drive innovation and impact. This workshop offers practical tools to maximize synergies, mitigate risks, and ensure alignment with mission and values to drive transformative and lasting change.
Speakers:
Vicki Maler, Program Associate for Training and Community Engagement, Center for Sustainable Finance and Private Wealth (CSP)
Karine Sarkissian, Founding Partner, Tamar Capital
Coffee Break + Hall of Imagination (10:40 - 10:50 AM)
Breakout Sessions (10:50 AM - 12:20 PM)
1st Floor: Option A | Enabling Philanthropy to Meet Global Challenges: Ethical Tech for Social Transformation in Brazil and Uganda
Philanthropy's evolving and expanding role in “de-risking” social innovations over past decades is often overlooked. Yet, it has frequently been instrumental in financing social projects that are typically considered too risky for public officials or politicians to support. Join us for an interactive session on how philanthropy’s potential can be unlocked to meet the needs of our global challenges and meet frontline organizations leveraging technology to fit the needs of the communities they serve.
Speakers:
Thiago Nascimento, Executive Director, Instituto Decodifica (Brazil)
Solomon King Benge, Founder & Executive Director, Fundi Bots (Uganda)
Moderator: Kady Sylla, Director for Africa & Middle East, Myriad USA
2nd Floor: Option B | Panel | Whose Risk? A Collaborative Path to Inclusive Due Diligence
Funders seek to empower proximate organizations. Yet navigating the complexities of risk – legal, financial, reputational – often hinders this goal. We will challenge conventional approaches to due diligence, and propose a systems-based approach that emphasizes collaborative infrastructure and risk literacy. The panelists, representing funders and local actors, will explore how philanthropy can reimagine its practices to unlock support and ensure risk is a shared responsibility, not a barrier.
Speakers:
Chilande Kuloba Warria, Team Leader/CEO, Warande Advisory Centre
Connie Archibald Robinson, CEO, Panta Rhea Foundation
Ana María Sánchez Rodríguez Director of Philanthropy, Cemefi
Geraldine Moreno, Grants Compliance Manager, AmplifyChange
Rachel Huguet, Senior Partnerships Officer, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation
Moderator: Melvin Chibole, Managing Director, TechSoup Africa
3rd Floor: Option C | Workshop | The Art & Science of Civic Imagination: A Strategic Workshop for Envisioning Collective Futures
Our ability to imagine beyond the present is one of the most powerful cognitive tools we have for problem-solving—yet it's rarely given the space and energy it deserves. Drawing from neuroscience and psychology, this session explores why our minds resist breaking from the status quo and how deliberate exercises in civic imagination can help us build more expansive, strategic, and actionable visions of the future. Participants will engage in a sample exercise to explore the future of knowledge exchange, contributing to an ongoing project that translates collective visions into real world possibilities.
Speakers:
Stephanie Fine Sasse, Founder of The Plenary, Co.
Dr. Crystal Dilworth, Neuroscientist & Science Communicator
Lunch + Impact Roundtables (12:25 - 1:20 PM)
Lightning Talk (1:25 - 1:40 PM) | Investing in Hope: Lessons from Guatemala and Syria
Gabriela Bucher, President & CEO, Fund for Global Human Rights
Panel (1:40 - 2:40 PM) | Future of the Economy: Redefining Economic Power in a Rapidly Changing World
The global economy is evolving at an unprecedented pace, shaped by technological advancements, green transitions, and shifting ownership structures. As we navigate this transformation, how can we rethink the ways the economy is measured, structured, and governed? This session brings together thought leaders who are shaping the future of economic systems—beyond traditional philanthropy and toward systemic change. Moderated by Brian Kettenring, Co-President of The Global Fund for a New Economy, this conversation will explore key signals in the economic ecosystem, the role of inclusive capitalism, and the tension between for-profit and nonprofit models. Panelists will discuss structures that democratize economic power, the implications of rapid wealth accumulation, and the critical role of policy and strategic philanthropy in shaping the future. Are we prepared to engage in designing these systems, or will we simply react to them? Join us as we map out the next frontier of economic possibility.
Speakers:
Sandhya Nakhasi, Co-CEO, Common Future
Andrea Dehlendorf, Senior Advisor, Political Economy of AI, Global Fund for a New Economy
Sarah Schwimmer, Co-CEO, B Lab Global
Moderator: Brian Kettering, CEO, Global Fund for a New Economy
Coffee Break + Hall of Imagination (2:40 - 2:50 PM)
Lightning Talk (2:50 - 3:05 PM) | Beyond Borders: Three Lessons from a Decade of Global Learning
In 2015, RWJF launched an intentional effort to pursue global learning. This involved identifying approaches in countries around the globe that could inform their own work to improve health and wellbeing in the United States, as well as creating cross-border communities of practice. In this lightning talk, Shilpa Shankar will share the three big lessons learned from ten years of exploring global ideas for U.S. solutions.
Speakers:
Shilpa Shankar, Program Associate, Global Ideas for U.S. Solutions, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Panel (3:05 - 3:55 PM) | Navigating Crisis Together: Taking Bold Action in Unprecedented Times
Global funding for human rights, social movements and peace and security is facing unprecedented change and challenge. Philanthropy is truly at a crossroads. How we mobilize in the face of this crisis, how we collaborate to ensure our reach is as strategic as possible, and what risks we are willing to take will define our field for years to come. In this session, we will assess the scope and impact of the changing funding landscape and take a global perspective on the impact, now and into the future. With speakers from the private sector, philanthropy, and activist-led funding, we will ask the hard questions about what philanthropy can do -- in real terms and in real time.
Speakers:
Jamaica Maxwell, Civil Society and Leadership Director, The David & Lucile Packard Foundation
Christelle Delenclos
Virisila Buadromo, Co-Lead, Urgent Action Fund Asia and Pacific + the UAF Sisterfunds
Moderator: Kellea Miller, Executive Director, Human Rights Funders Network
Closing Fireside Chat with UN Goodwill Ambassador Mary Maker (4:00 - 4:20 PM)
