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THE COVER STORY |
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Meet the People Shaping Giving in 2026 |
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BY SAM JACOBS
Editor in Chief, TIME |
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On Dec. 29, 2025, the actor Idris Elba was named in King Charles’ New Year Honours list, joining 1,156 others recognized that day. The recognition was a full-circle moment for the Luther lead, who as a young man received a £1,500 grant from the trust Charles established when he was Prince of Wales. That gift helped Elba support his acting studies and cover living costs as he sought a foothold in professional theater. |
Today, Elba, together with his wife Sabrina Dhowre Elba, is one of the world’s most energetic philanthropists, leading efforts in his father’s home country of Sierra Leone and in his native United Kingdom across a range of causes from youth-violence prevention to sustainable energy and agriculture. |
That story of an investment that profoundly changed the future for a young person is the sort of example that inspired Michael and Susan Dell to undertake one of the largest charitable commitments ever made by Americans to their fellow citizens. The couple is entrusting $6.25 billion to 25 million American children—kids in certain ZIP codes who, on July 5, if their parents have set up a government-backed account in their name, will find themselves $250 richer than the day before. They won’t soon be able to touch the money, which will sit in an investment account until they’re 18, but between now and then, the Dells very much hope the nest egg will have grown substantially. “If a child has an account like this, they’re way more likely to graduate high school,” says Michael Dell. “They’re way more likely to buy a home.” |
We introduced TIME100 Philanthropy, which this year features the Elbas and the Dells on the cover, because we believe in the power of example. By telling stories about the world’s most influential givers, leaders, advocates, and thinkers, we hope to inspire others to give, and to consider the profound impact that this field has on our future. The list was overseen by Ayesha Javed, who also wrote the cover story on the Elbas. Working with editors and correspondents around the world, we winnowed an initial pool down to 100 individuals representing the most compelling stories in philanthropy today, in a field that moves more than $1 trillion globally each year. |
I met the Dells in late March, when they were having their portrait taken by photographer Jingyu Lin and being interviewed by Belinda Luscombe. The encounter happened only a short walk from Manhattan’s Lower East Side, where Michael’s grandfather Saul Dell lived with four brothers he had cared for beginning as a teenager after arriving from Eastern Europe in 1922. Thinking of those two Dells, separated on that day by a few blocks and a century, I was reminded, as with Idris Elba and King Charles, of how giving can take many forms—and the extraordinary, unexpected ways it can echo across generations. |
READ THE STORY » |
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What I’ve been reading this week |
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