--- description: Find out who else is on the TIME100 Most Influential People in Philanthropy 2026 list. title: TIME100 Philanthropy: Muna Al Gurg image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt843a28c2a0d8160d/69fe3938273c4c1446af5214/t100-philanthropy-Muna_Al_Gurg.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9%2Coffset-x0.00%2Coffset-y10.09 --- May 14, 2026 # Muna Al Gurg Giving with intention by [Tharin Pillay](/author/tharin-pillay/) ## Tharin Pillay Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Pillay is an editorial fellow at TIME.  Courtesy Easa Saleh Al Gurg Group For decades, mega-wealthy Gulf families have relied on intuition to guide their philanthropy, says Muna Al Gurg, whose father, Easa Saleh Al Gurg, was one of Dubai’s most influential businessmen. “The previous generation looked at things at face-value,” and tended to infer community needs through direct observation, she says. “For them, it was schools and wells.” Al Gurg is taking a different approach. In late 2023, after participation in a six-month Gates Foundation program in 2020 helped solidify her ambitions, she launched the Meem Foundation, focused on using evidence to address challenges faced by women and girls in the Middle East and North Africa. To date, the foundation has awarded 15 grants targeting a range of causes, including a scholarship and support for a young Palestinian woman from [Gaza](https://www.meemfoundation.org/who-we-support/sanctuary-fund-trinity-college/ "undefined") seeking sanctuary to attend Trinity College, Dublin, and funding for AI-driven healthcare research at NYU Abu Dhabi. Al Gurg held off on [signing](http://givingpledge.org/pledger/muna-easa-al-gurg "undefined") the Giving Pledge until last year, when—after two years working on causes she cares about—she felt confident in her commitment. “A lot of things made me quite angry before. Now I realize, it's because I wasn't doing anything about them,” she says. “Now I'm not angry.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-philanthropy/2026/muna-al-gurg/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-philanthropy/2026/muna-al-gurg/"},"headline":"Muna Al Gurg","datePublished":"2026-05-14T12:02:11.441Z","dateModified":"2026-05-14T12:02:11.612Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collection/time100-philanthropy/2026/muna-al-gurg/","keywords":["list","franchise","Accolades","Magazine","Philanthropy 2026"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt843a28c2a0d8160d/69fe3938273c4c1446af5214/t100-philanthropy-Muna_Al_Gurg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675%2Coffset-x0.00%2Coffset-y10.09&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tharin Pillay","jobTitle":"Pillay is an editorial fellow at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/tharin-pillay/"}],"creator":"Tharin Pillay","articleSection":"TIME100","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt843a28c2a0d8160d/69fe3938273c4c1446af5214/t100-philanthropy-Muna_Al_Gurg.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675%2Coffset-x0.00%2Coffset-y10.09&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/time100/","name":"TIME100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collection/time100-philanthropy/2026/muna-al-gurg/","name":"Muna Al Gurg"}}]}] ```