THE GIVING LAB

Guiding intentional, impact-driven philanthropy.

May 14, 2026

MIT Samberg Conference Center

Presented by

Join us at The Giving Lab, hosted during Solve at MIT, on May 14, 2026.

The Giving Lab is an exclusive, invitation-only convening designed for philanthropists, family foundations and offices, and philanthropic advisors.

Offering a rare opportunity to move beyond big ideas, attendees will engage in facilitated dialogues around practical, action-oriented conversations about how philanthropic capital can accelerate innovation, strengthen communities, and shape enduring legacies, including:

- The role of family philanthropy as an engine for impact

How values-aligned capital can seed scalable innovation—and why technology and sustainability are increasingly central to long-term philanthropic outcomes.

- What’s working now

Candid insights from successful partnership stories on how social innovators have leveraged technology to tackle some of the world’s most complex challenges, and how philanthropic capital has supercharged their impact.

- Actionable frameworks to take with you

Practical tools to help integrate impact into your philanthropic strategy and legacy planning—from articulating your purpose to accessing innovation pipelines and forming the right partnerships.

Attendees are warmly encouraged to stay for the entirety of the Solve at MIT afternoon programming (1:30 pm - 6:00 pm), including opportunities to meet members of our 2025 Solver Class. This portion of the day offers early access to breakthrough innovators and a chance to explore potential alignment between your philanthropic or investment priorities and the solutions shaping the future.

Whether you're an established philanthropist or just beginning to shape your giving strategy, this is an opportunity to connect, reflect, and act alongside a community committed to solving for a better future.

Thursday, May 14, 2026

All times in Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)

Morning Agenda for The Giving Lab participants

08:30 AM to 09:30 AM: Registration and Breakfast; Samberg 7th floor lobby)

09:30 AM to 10:30 AM: Opening Plenary; Samberg 7th floor M-I

10:30 AM to 10:45 AM: Networking Break

10:45 AM to 01:30 PM: The Giving Lab; Samberg 7th floor Salon West (Lunch will be served)

Afternoon Agenda

01:45 PM to 03:15 PM: Working Session: Shaping Our Shared Futures; Samberg 6th floor Dining room 5 and 6

03:15 PM to 03:30 PM: Networking Break

03:30 PM to 04:30 PM: Closing Plenary; Samberg 7th floor M-I

04:30 PM to 06:00 PM: Closing Reception; Samberg 7th floor T

Event Location

Samberg Conference Center, 50 Memorial Dr, Cambridge, MA 02142

Speakers

Hala Hanna
Executive Director
MIT Solve
Jason Jay
Senior Lecturer and Director,
Sustainability Initiative
MIT Sloan
Brian P. Nagle
Senior Managing Director
and Wealth Manager,
Citizens Private Wealth
Ali Noorani

President and CEO

Barr Foundation
Dimple Abichandani

Author
A New Era of Philanthropy
Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal

Global Executive Director

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL)
Sara Monteabaro
Director,
Strategic
Partnerships & Philanthropy
MIT Solve

Hala Hanna

Hala Hanna is the Executive Director of MIT Solve, an initiative of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a marketplace for social impact innovation. Solve finds and supports tech-based entrepreneurs from around the globe whose solutions tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges, from climate change and economic prosperity to health equity and education. Solve has selected over 500 innovators, with more than 60% based in the Global South. Their solutions, ranging from Indigenous food sovereignty in North America to global Artificial Intelligence for good, have impacted over 280 million lives worldwide. Solve’s ecosystem of 300 partners has mobilized $70 million in funding for these ventures, while the Solve Innovation Future fund adds a pioneering venture philanthropy model to this effort. Hala also serves on the board for the Museum for the United Nations - UN Live,

Jason Jay

Jason Jay is a Senior Lecturer and Director of the MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative. He teaches executive and masters-level courses on corporate sustainability, sustainability-oriented innovation, and systemic investing. He has helped secure MIT Sloan’s position as a leader in the field of sustainability through teaching, research, and industry engagement. Dr. Jay’s publications have appeared in the Academy of Management Journal, California Management Review, Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and World Economic Forum. With Gabriel Grant, he is the author of the international bestseller Breaking Through Gridlock: The Power of Conversation in a Polarized World. Dr. Jay facilitates strategy development for companies, organizations, and business families, guiding alignment and shared commitment to ambitious goals. His clients have included Sun Life, EFG Asset Management, Novartis, Bose, Environmental Defense Fund, BP and the World Bank. His field-building efforts in systemic investing include leadership roles in CSP, TransCap, TWIST, and FEST networks, and in the Shareholder Democracy movement. He holds a PhD from MIT, two degrees from Harvard, and is a proud husband and father in Newton, Massachusetts.

Brian Nagle

Brian P. Nagle is a Senior Managing Director and Wealth Manager at Citizens Private Wealth. Brian’s professional journey began in 1989 and includes notable positions at esteemed institutions. Before joining Citizens Private Wealth in 2024, Brian was a managing director and wealth partner at J.P. Morgan Wealth Management. Prior to that, he was a managing director and wealth manager at First Republic Investment Management for ten years. He has a unique, multidisciplinary background that includes a specialization in financial markets, education in law and taxation, as well as designing and overseeing equity and balanced portfolios tailored for ultra-high net worth individuals, trusts, endowments, and foundations. Prior to his tenure at First Republic Investment Management, Brian was a vice president and senior portfolio manager at BNY Mellon Wealth Management. In this capacity, he adeptly managed intricate family and trust relationships. His contributions extended beyond investment management, with integral roles in BNY Mellon’s Closely Held Business and Trust Administrative Committees. Before joining BNY Mellon, Brian honed his skills as a tax manager within Ernst & Young’s Personal Financial Counseling Practice. Brian’s academic achievements include a Master of Laws in Taxation and a Certificate in Employee Benefits from Georgetown University Law Center, a Juris Doctorate* from Ohio Northern University College of Law, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Fairfield University. Outside his professional endeavors, Brian remains actively engaged in the estate planning and business communities. He dedicated over two decades as an adjunct professor for the Master of Science in Taxation program at Suffolk University’s Sawyer School of Management. Additionally, he co-founded the Family Business Association, a nonprofit organization supporting family business enterprises, where he served as an executive director for 16 years focusing on closely held businesses. In his free time, he enjoys skiing, swimming, and spending time with his wife and three daughters.

Ali Noorani

Ali Noorani joined the Barr Foundation as president and CEO in December 2025. Previously, Ali led the U.S. Democracy Program at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and he also served for 14 years as president and chief executive officer of the National Immigration Forum. In both roles and in both areas, Ali was recognized for his creative coalition building across political, cultural, and geographic divides, and his work to find common ground, common purpose, and commonsense solutions that help people and communities thrive. Ali’s arrival at Barr represented a return to the city and region where he spent a decade early in his career. Beginning in 1998 as Director of the Greater Boston Urban Resources Partnership within the City of Boston’s Environment Department, Ali went on to serve for three years as Director of Public Health for Codman Square Health Center and Dorchester House Multi-Service Center, and then, from 2003 until 2008, as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA). In this role, Ali led a coalition of organizations across New England dedicated to protecting access to legal rights and opportunities for immigrants and refugees in Massachusetts. Ali holds a Master of Public Health in Environmental Health and Epidemiology/Biostatistics from Boston University’s School of Public Health, and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Economics and Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley. He serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for More in Common Global and as a member of the Board of Directors for Welcome.US. Ali is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has held fellowships with the Aspen Institute, Emerson Collective, University of Chicago Center for Effective Government, and Arizona State University’s Social Transformations Lab. Ali is the author of There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American Immigration; Crossing Borders: The Reconciliation of a Nation of Immigrants. He has been a guest commentator on outlets as varied as CNN, PBS, and Fox News, a TED speaker, and his writings have appeared in varied local, national, and international publications.

Dimple Abichandani

Dimple Abichandani is a nationally recognized foundation leader, philanthropic advisor, social justice lawyer, and author of A New Era of Philanthropy: Ten Practices to Transform Wealth Into a More Just and Sustainable Future. Her widely praised book reimagines how philanthropy can meet this moment of democratic crisis and accelerating inequality.
For two decades, Dimple has brought innovation and new purpose to funding institutions. She currently works with foundations, individual donors, and boards to navigate the challenges and opportunities defining philanthropy today, helping institutions evolve from outdated practices toward more responsive, proximate, and impactful approaches to resourcing change. As Executive Director of the General Service Foundation (2015–2022), she aligned the foundation's grantmaking, investments, and governance with justice values. Previously, she was the founding director of the Rise Together Fund, a donor collaborative at the Proteus Fund that advances multiracial democracy by investing in communities targeted by Islamophobia. She also led the Center for Social Justice at UC Berkeley School of Law, where she founded a Social Justice Innovation Lab to bring multidisciplinary approaches to solving systemic challenges.

Dimple's leadership has been recognized with a Scrivener Award for Creative Grantmaking and a National Center for Family Philanthropy Fellowship. She serves on the Board of Directors of Solidaire Network and has served on the boards and steering committees of the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, Northern California Grantmakers, and Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees. Dimple is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal

Iqbal Singh Dhaliwal is the Global Executive Director of J-PAL, a global network of research centers working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. Founded in 2003 by Nobel laureates Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo, along with Sendhil Mullainathan, J-PAL now comprises 600+ permanent staff in over a dozen countries, and a network of more than 1,100 researchers at 130 universities around the world. Our work to date includes more than 2,500 randomized evaluations, spanning sectors including AI for social good, climate, education, gender, and health.

Recently, Iqbal has been speaking a lot about a few topics in particular: the future of philanthropy (including HNWI giving and family philanthropy), the role of (and importance of) evidence in giving, and AI for social good. He has spoken in forums including Davos, World Government Summit, Heritage Holdings Annual Convening, Indiaspora, India AI Impact Summit, and Philanthropy Asia Alliance Summit.

Sara Monteabaro

Sara brings curiosity, connection, and collaboration to everything she does. As Director of Strategic Partnerships & Philanthropy at MIT Solve, she helps build the relationships that power Solve’s mission to find game-changing entrepreneurs creating tech-based solutions to humanity’s biggest challenges—and connect them with the resources they need to thrive.

Since Solve’s inception, Sara has been instrumental in growing both the team and the partnerships that have transformed it from an idea into a global community of impact. Her career sits at the intersection of innovation and philanthropy, with a focus on more effectively and efficiently mobilizing capital toward solutions that advance opportunity around the world.

Off the clock, you can find Sara chasing her two young kids from playground to playground and traveling home to her native Santa Barbara, California, every chance she gets.