Publications

January 2019
Supplement

JPMorgan Chase: Invested in Detroit (C)

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Norris

[pre-abstract] Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details. [abstract] Beginning in 2014, JPMorgan Chase launched “Invested in Detroit,” a $100 million philanthropic investment in the city over... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropic Investment; Banking; Economic Development; Expansion; Local Economic Development; Workforce Development; Financial Institutions; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Urban Development; Business and Community Relations; Banking Industry; United States; Michigan

March 2018
Supplement

JPMorgan Chase: Invested in Detroit (B)

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Norris

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Local Economic Development; Workforce Development; Philanthropic Investment; Financial Institutions; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Urban Development; Business and Community Relations; Banking Industry; United States; Michigan

24 Apr 2014
News

The path to philanthropic entrepreneurship

Internet, information services, and education. “What I learned from HBS is that you can be a philanthropic entrepreneur as well. I love that part.” Coutu spends two or three days a week in the philanthropic... View Details

September 2022
Article

Drivers of Philanthropic Foundations in Emerging Markets: Family, Values and Spirituality

By: Valeria Giacomin and Geoffrey Jones

This article discusses the ethics and drivers of philanthropic foundations in emerging markets. A foundation organizes assets to invest in philanthropic initiatives. Previous scholarship has largely focused on developed countries, especially the United States, and has... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Foundations; Spirituality; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Social Enterprise; Emerging Markets; Values and Beliefs; Africa; Asia; Latin America; Middle East

Find at Harvard

Read Now

February 2020 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Mission Related Investments at the Ford Foundation (A)

By: Shawn Cole, Michael Norris and T. Robert Zochowski

In 2017, Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world, was preparing to meet with his board of directors to discuss beginning a mission related investments (MRI) program. Walker hoped to devote $1 billion of... View Details

Keywords: Mission-Related Investing; Philanthropy; Foundation; Endowments; Socially Responsible Investing; Investment; Institutional Investing; Investment Activism; Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; United States; New York (city, NY)

12 Jan 2015
News

Good Investments

research on impact investing The Acumen Fund’s Sasha Dichter (MBA/MPA 2002) on how to grow impact investing Moving the Needle (Fran Seegul, MBA 1998) Making A Difference: Àlvaro Rodríguez-Arregui (MBA 1995)... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; impact investing; ideas; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments

January 2013
Case

Omidyar Network: Pioneering Impact Investment

By: Michael Chu and Lauren Barley

Omidyar Network, having deployed to date over $500 million in ways ranging from donations to commercial equity capital, must decide whether to back Anudip, an Indian organization dedicated to providing the rural unemployed and marginalized with livelihoods linked to... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; India

09 Feb 2021
News

Investing in Entrepreneurship

Scientific), to name a few. As a founder and managing general partner of Venrock Associates, he led the venture investments of the Rockefeller family during a 45-year career. Now retired and serving on numerous corporate and View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

09 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

How Social Entrepreneurs Can Increase Their Investment Impact

Both impact investing and traditional philanthropy are on the rise after the decade-long economic boom following the Great Recession. But when does an impact investment make a bigger difference than a grant? The question is far more complicated than simply evaluating... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

26 Apr 2018
News

Why JPMorgan Chase is Investing Millions in Detroit

July 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors: Bringing Systematic Investment to Philanthropy

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Alexander Bischoff and Sophia Pan

Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), evaluated her client’s philanthropy project and its mediocre performance. RPA was a segment of the Rockefeller Family Office’s Philanthropy Department, becoming an independent charity in 2002. Consistently... View Details

12 Feb 2015
Video

Philanthropy 2.0: Investing with a Purpose

01 Oct 1998
News

A Community Investment

Whether through career choice, board membership, volunteerism, or philanthropic support, HBS graduates traditionally have shown a strong interest in giving something back to their communities. Taking this commitment a step further, the... View Details

Web

Sustainable Investing - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Sustainable Investing Course Number 1495 Senior Lecturer Vikram Gandhi Professor Shawn Cole Spring; Q4; 1.5 credits Paper/project The course won the 2021 Teaching Recognition Award for Excellence in Sustainable Finance... View Details

21 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Searching for Better Practices in Social Investing

philanthropy and a search for 'give us better practices,' " said Nancy Roob, president and CEO of the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation (EMCF). Joining her on the panel were Matt Bannick (HBS MBA 1993), managing partner of Omidyar Network, a View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

September 2022
Case

ROI vs. ROI: The Grupo Baobá Family Office

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Jiawei Ye and Grace Headinger

Fernando Scodro, a third-generation member of his family, mulled over the next step in integrating an ESG strategy into his family office’s investment portfolio. While his family office, Grupo Baobá, had made excellent progress in incorporating his family’s values into... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; ESG; Green Building; Family; Partnership; Latin America; Brazil; Buildings and Facilities; Green Buildings; Family Business; Family and Family Relationships; Financial Management; Partners and Partnerships; Financial Services Industry; Brazil; Latin America

12 Dec 2023
Blog Post

Bridging Science and Business: My Summer Internship at Eli Lilly

Johnson's JJDC to AI and Data Strategy at Moderna, and even philanthropic efforts in Alzheimer's research within Bill Gates' private investment office, my classmates and I didn't just scatter across the... View Details

January 2020
Case

SK Group: Social Progress Credits

By: George Serafeim, Ethan Rouen and David Freiberg

SK Group was one of the largest companies South Korea. A family-run conglomerate consisting of around 120 subsidiaries and employing more than 100,000, SK was tightly knit into the fabric of Korean society. SK viewed their future success as contingent upon the strength... View Details

April 2021
Case

The Incentive for Legacy: Tsinghua University Education Foundation

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao and Spencer C.N. Hagist

Vivian Yuan seeks to bolster the Tsinghua University Education Foundation's fundraising efforts and investment goals in a new era of Chinese higher education. Competing with elite members of China's C9 League of top universities, she must develop a set of incentives... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Marketing; Strategy; Negotiation; Organizations; Markets; Higher Education; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Motivation and Incentives; China