Community events
Our program of events is full of unique opportunities for Founders Pledge members to forge deep connections, learn together from leading thinkers, and explore how to do good in the world.
What types of events do we host?
- We bring our community of founders and entrepreneurs together throughout the year through regular dinners in private spaces, salon-style conversations, and larger, more casual meet-ups. We host a regular calendar in New York, San Francisco, and London, and frequently gather members in Berlin, Paris, and across the Nordics.
- Further afield, our multi-day retreats create space for deeper conversation, reflection, and connection. From the French Alps, beaches in Mexico, to remote islands in Italy, past retreats have combined curated experiences unique to the location with speaker and peer-led discussions, time to connect meaningfully as a group, and space to unwind. Retreat speakers have included leading voices such as Ambassador Samantha Power and Rory Stewart.
- Our virtual gatherings, including discussions with leading thinkers, research launches, educational webinars, and our biannual Pledge Class, allow members across the globe to engage in real time regardless of geography, while also creating space to welcome and connect new members.
- Across dinners, retreats, and virtual events, our aim is to create space for meaningful conversation, fresh perspective, and deeper reflection on how to do good.
How do I view the events calendar?
Programming to empower you
We curate conversations that help members test assumptions, encounter new frameworks, and engage seriously with urgent questions.
- Dig into the world’s pressing problems and learn how you can most effectively tackle them.
- Investigate the ideas and systems shaping our future.
- Learn from each other and about the approaches behind giving more effectively.
We make space for everyone to engage and learn, whether you're brand new to a topic or well-versed in it.
Our events create space for members, each on their own giving journey, to come together in high-trust, discussion-led settings.
- Members value the chance to engage with one another as people: founders with personal motivations, shared questions, and a common drive to do good.
- Learn from and with your peers, drawing on one another's stories, experiences, and perspectives.
- Build deeper connections through candid conversation in intimate, relaxed environments.
Our events are designed to deepen your perspective and inform how you think about giving.
- Explore important topics and questions that shape philanthropy, and continue learning after the event through our research and resources.
- We create space for thoughtful discussion, intellectual curiosity, and challenging ideas that can lead to deeper reflection.
- Discover new cause areas, questions, and organizations that may shape your giving over time.
We bring together leaders with unique viewpoints to help our members engage with important questions. Some speakers reflect perspectives closely aligned with Founders Pledge research, while others bring contrasting views that make for richer conversations.
- Leading thinkers and public intellectuals, including Mariana Mazzucato, Rutger Bregman, and Francis Fukuyama.
- Founders and builders, including Sheila Marcelo of care.com, Jan Oberhauser of n8n, and Markus Villig of Bolt.
- Leaders of impactful organisations and projects, including Lucia Coulter of LEEP and Arne Bleckwenn of EIDU.
What members say
“Founders Pledge has given me a seamless way to solidify my commitment to make an impact on my community whilst connecting me with a great group of civically minded global entrepreneurs. The combination of giving and building community, sets Founders Pledge apart from other ways I've seen to give back.”
Beth Steinberg
Zenefits
“At every single event that FP has organised I've either met a super interesting and nice person who also wants to make a positive impact, or I've learned something crucial around the philanthropic sector (often both).”
Michael Langguth
Poq Studio
“The Founders Pledge dinners host fascinating speakers that have really opened my eyes to how much good and impact even small efforts can have.”
Alex Depledge
Resi
“I am a huge fan of the amazing staff team and have formed some lasting connections with other Founders Pledge members through the retreats we have attended.”
Justin Hilton
Founder of SafePlace International