We are humbled to be making the Giving Pledge together. Throughout our respective careers to date, we have witnessed first-hand the power of networks, and communities of selfless purpose in particular. It is indeed a privileged responsibility to join this community of giving, and we are grateful to Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett for the opportunity.

We are under no illusion, however, that the act of giving alone is enough to address our world’s greatest challenges. That is why, as we embark on fulfilling this pledge for the remainder of our lives, we are united behind two overarching objectives.

Our objectives:

First: We want to help catalyse systemic change within the philanthropic sector. To this end, we are currently spearheading a number of philanthropic initiatives that unapologetically seek to disrupt the status quo, with a view to generating a multiplier effect on impact within the subsectors they target.

These include a community-driven digital platform intended to transform the efficiency and effectiveness of Islamic almsgiving worldwide, and an online network designed to engage more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in meeting the world’s increasing humanitarian needs. A shared feature of these initiatives is that they seek to harness the power of technology to generate greater levels of transparency, accountability and measurable impact, thereby enhancing trust within the donor-recipient nexus.

Second: We also want our philanthropic activity to help accelerate the growth of transformative partnerships and supportive networks. Specifically, we believe there is a significant opportunity – particularly in the Arab Region – to connect more private philanthropic capital with other forms of capital in the public and private sectors in order to amplify impact while acting as a unifying force between different stakeholders in our societies and economies.

Too much philanthropy in our region of the world is isolated and invisible, separated and secret. Which is why one of our broader objectives in making this pledge is to encourage more open discussion, knowledge-sharing and active cooperation between philanthropists, businesses and public sector institutions.

We have witnessed this phenomenon first-hand since the establishment in 2010 of the Pearl Initiative – a non-profit, private sector-led initiative mandated to drive the adoption of higher standards of corporate governance, transparency and accountability in the Gulf Region, including within the philanthropic sector. In the last eight years, the Pearl Initiative has built a thriving network of over 160 businesses with a shared interest in advancing these goals, and connected with more than 11,000 students from 23 universities across our region through its programmes.

Our impact pledge:

In line with these objectives, and our strong belief in the importance of embracing transparency and accountability as a means to enhance impact, we also pledge to clearly specify the goals that we will strive to accomplish over the next 9 years, and to provide regular updates to this community on our progress against them in 3-year cycles. These updates will also include a personal reflection on the progress made against our set goals, lessons learned along the way, and any adjustments we intend to make based on our experience to that point and the new realities that may emerge.

We are both very grateful to have been fortunate in life. Born into a period of historic change, during which the United Arab Emirates was transformed over a matter of decades, we were privileged to grow up within families and communities that nurtured the timeless values and integrity upon which we continue to think and act today. We remain committed to embracing these values in everything we do, in the hope that this will inspire future generations in the same way it inspired and motivated us.

That is why we are making this Pledge. We are excited to learn from this community, and will seek to collaborate with its members wherever and whenever we can in order to enhance our collective impact.