CGI MOBILIZING TOP PHILANTHROPISTS AND FUNDERS NEXT MONTH TO FILL CRITICAL GAPS AND CHART A PATH FORWARD

NEW YORK, NY – Today, President Bill Clinton, Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Dr. Chelsea Clinton announced the initial participants and agenda for the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2026 Annual Meeting, September 22-23, organized around this year’s theme: “How Do We Get It Right?” Leaders across philanthropy, business, government, and civil society will convene next month in New York alongside the U.N. General Assembly, to lay out an affirmative vision for the future amidst rising turmoil, division, and continued cuts to government funding, and Turn Ideas Into Action™ with the launch of new commitments.

Participants at this year’s CGI Annual Meeting include leaders of philanthropic foundations, multi-lateral organizations, and social enterprise funders that represent a combined $9.3 billion in annual grantmaking and investment. CGI’s defining feature is the launch of Commitments to Action — new, specific, and measurable projects and programs launched by CGI’s community of doers to advance climate resilience, economic inclusion, health equity, humanitarian response, women and girls’ equality, and more. Commitments launched at CGI 2026 will build on a record of impact by the CGI community, with 500 million people worldwide benefiting from more than 4,300 commitments in 180 countries made over the last two decades.

Key issues on the 2026 agenda include:

• Steering AI toward more responsible and just implementation — mitigating the risks of AI, driving innovation, and making sure the benefits are equitable
• Economic opportunity and community-led solutions — investing in the people and partnerships already doing this work on the ground 
• Climate and energy resilience — building the systems that can power the future without breaking it 
• Democracy and trusted information — what it takes to rebuild trust, safeguard civic institutions, and protect journalists when headlines and algorithms constantly emphasize our differences 
• Health and scientific breakthroughs — sustaining research and innovation at a moment when funding and trust are both under strain 
• Humanitarian response — reimagining how the world funds and delivers aid as needs outpace resources 
• Innovative and catalytic funding – finding new ways to finance and scale the projects we need through philanthropic and for-profit models

Read the full agenda at https://clintonglobal.org/2026.

More speakers will be announced in the coming weeks; today, CGI announced initial featured participants including Stacey Abrams, Lead, 10 Steps Campaign; Uzoamaka Aduba, Actor and Producer; Noubar Afeyan, Founder and CEO, Flagship Pioneering; George Arison, CEO and Chairman, Grindr; Jared Bauer, CEO, Seek Labs; Aisha Bowe, CEO, STEMBoard; Kate Bowler, Associate Professor of American Religious History, Duke University; Marc Brackett, Professor andDirector, Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence, Yale University; Giselle Carino, CEO, Fòs Feminista; Mathilda D’Silva,CEO, Ocean Purpose Project; Giles Duley, CEO and Founder, Legacy of War Foundation; Janiece Evans-Page, CEO, The Tides Foundation; Bob Ferguson, Governor of Washington; Heather Gerken, President, Ford Foundation; Sam Gill, President and CEO, Doris Duke Foundation; Rolando Gonzalez-Bunster, Chairman and CEO, InterEnergy Group; Ingrid-Gabriela Hoven, Managing Director, GIZ; Andy Hunter, CEO, Bookshop.org; Kate Kallot, Founder and CEO, Amini; Sidsel Marie Kristensen, CEO, LEGO Foundation; Ann Lee, Co-Founder and CEO, Community Organized Relief Effort; Kate Marvel, Senior Climate Scientist, Project Drawdown; Jose Luis Manzano, Chairman, Integra Capital; Abby Maxman, President and CEO, Oxfam America; Bernadette Meehan, CEO, Wikimedia Foundation; Jamie Merisotis, President and CEO, Lumina Foundation; President Roberta Metsola of the European Parliament; David Miliband, President and CEO, International Rescue Committee; Wes Moore, Governor of Maryland; Prime Minister Mia Mottley of Barbados; Carey Mulligan, Founding Global Ambassador, War Child Alliance; Daniel O’Day, Chairman and CEO, Gilead Sciences; Sonya Passi, Founder and CEO, FreeFrom; Maribel Pérez Wadsworth, President and CEO, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Skye Perryman, President and CEO, Democracy Forward Foundation; Paul Polman, Business Leader, Investor, Philanthropist ; Samantha Power, Former USAID Administrator and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Greg Propper, Partner, Propper Daley, Bully Pulpit International; Megan Ranney, Dean, Yale School of Public Health; Maria Ressa, Nobel Peace Laureate, Co-Founder and CEO, Rappler, Professor, Columbia University SIPA; Jason Rezaian, Director of Press Freedom Initiatives, Washington Post; Tristan Schukraft, CEO and Founder, MISTR; Jochanan Senf, CEO, Ben & Jerry’s Homemade, Inc.; Ahmed Shehata, CEO, Islamic Relief USA; Hamdi Ulukaya, Founder and CEO, Chobani; Jean Van Wetter, CEO, Enabel; Elaine Welteroth, Founder, birthFUND; and more.

Last year’s CGI Annual Meeting introduced a sharper focus on CGI Working Sessions – facilitated, action-focused sessions where leaders will collaborate with mission-aligned organizations to drive real solutions in the areas that matter most and are under the greatest threat. The CGI 2026 Annual Meeting continues this focus, with more Working Sessions designed to allow participants to dive deeper into specific topics and develop new partnerships and Commitments to Action in the months ahead.

Interested media can apply for credentials: http://clintonglobal.org/2026mediaregistration. Content creators and influencers whose work focuses on social impact are encouraged to apply to participate in the Clinton Global Initiative’s award-winning Creators Experience. Apply for a Creators pass here: http://clintonglobal.org/creators 

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About the Clinton Global Initiative

Founded by President Bill Clinton in 2005, the Clinton Global Initiative is a community of doers representing a broad cross section of society and dedicated to the idea that we can accomplish more together than we can apart. Through CGI’s unique model, more than 13,000 organizations have launched more than 4,300 Commitments to Action — new, specific, and measurable projects and programs – that are making a difference in the lives of more than 500 million people in 180 countries.