Princess Banderi Abdulrahman Al-Faisal

Princess Banderi Abdulrahman Al-Faisal is the director general of the King Khalid Foundation (KKF) for the last 20 years. She is also a member of Al-Nahda Philanthropic Society for Women, The ADHD Society and Support Group (AFTA), and the Voice of Down Syndrome Society (SAUT).

The second Saudi Philanthropic Fellowship program, organized in tandem with the KKF and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was launched at KKF’s headquarters on Saturday. Called Shaghaf, meaning “passion,” the program was launched with the purpose of attracting and empowering young Saudis curious about careers in the nonprofit sector. Shaghaf will run for approximately 16 months and will include intensive lessons in the management of nonprofit organizations at Columbia Business School.

Princess Banderi welcomed the program’s second launch stating, “The partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will change our view of the nonprofit sector in line with the Vision 2030 project.”

Princess Banderi graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from King

Saud University, Riyadh, in 1994.

She obtained a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, in 1998. She has helped launch several social development initiatives and programs across the Kingdom, and has also participated in numerous conferences and forums.

In 2013, KKF advocated for a Women and Child Abuse Prevention Law, which was subsequently adopted and passed by the government.