The Pearl Initiative, the leading non-profit organisation promoting a corporate culture of accountability and transparency across the Gulf Region, launched its new digital platform, The Circle. This new online resource center is an exciting new element of its regional governance in philanthropy program, which seeks to promote improved governance standards across the Gulf Region's philanthropic ecosystem and is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. By sharing these proven best practices on an accessible website format and by encouraging a collaborative approach amongst its members, the Pearl Initiative believes companies will be effectively supported to implement even more strategic and outcome-focused giving across the Gulf Region. Available to all, The Circle has been designed as a one-stop hub that pulls together a wealth of insights, resources and tools donors can use to achieve greater impact in their philanthropic investments. The platform offers rich content around trends and best practice in the area of charitable giving from a selection of the latest publications and videos available, and also features a wealth of practical guides and tools that can be adopted to devise and implement effective giving strategies. These include guides on Setting a Strategy, Outcome-Focused Giving, Responsible Grantmaking and Governance & Resource Management. It also offers details on upcoming events and the latest programme news to encourage a sense of community and collaboration. All content is available in both Arabic and English. With the magnitude of philanthropic activity happening on a regional and global scale, the opportunity for impactful giving is immense. The Circle is the Pearl Initiative's contribution to building the means to scale impact and promote meaningful engagements across the non-profit and private sector. This platform is one of the many steps taken to meet this demand and is part of a strategy to continually develop and support the needs of the private sector into the future. Yasmine Omari, executive director of the Pearl Initiative, said, "We are excited to introduce The Circle as an aggregate of our insights, resources and events that can be accessed by all our members. Philanthropy is embedded in the economic, social and cultural fabric of the Gulf Region and it is imperative that institutions have the tools to become as strategic and impactful as possible in their giving efforts. We are confident that the website and its rich array of knowledge-based content will be met with a positive response and look forward to the feedback from our stakeholders." Parastou Youssefi, head of philanthropy – Middle East, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, said, "We are committed to helping every person get the chance to live a healthy, productive life. Working with partners in the public and private sectors to achieve these goals is critical. That is why we support the creation of platforms such as The Circle that encourage best practice and information sharing. It is our hope that The Circle will play a vital role in developing effective philanthropy efforts that will have positive impacts across the Gulf region." Founded in 2010, the Pearl Initiative is a business–led non-profit organisation promoting a corporate culture of accountability and transparency as key drivers of competitiveness and sustainable economic growth across the Gulf Region. The organization develops programs and publishes regional research reports and case studies to promote the implementation of higher standards of corporate governance amongst business and student communities across the Gulf Region. — SG
