Publications

February 2015
Case

Abby Falik at Global Citizen Year

By: Robert Steven Kaplan and Lauren Barley

Abby Falik, founder and CEO of Global Citizen Year (GCY), quickly read through the most recent news updates regarding the Ebola crisis in West Africa as she prepared for her board call on July 31, 2014. Based in Oakland, California, GCY was a five-year-old... View Details

Keywords: Not-for-profit; Public Service; Developing Countries; Secondary Education; Nonprofit Organizations; Higher Education; Developing Countries and Economies; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

September 2017 (Revised February 2018)
Case

Becton Dickinson: Global Health Strategy

By: Mark R. Kramer and Sarah Mehta

Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) was a medical technology firm headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, with 43,000 employees and 2016 revenues of $12.5 billion. For several years, the company had pursued developing products that created shared value, defined as... View Details

Keywords: Shared Value; Creating Shared Value; Odon Device; Medical Technology; Value Creation; Values and Beliefs; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Emerging Markets; Social Issues; Competitive Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Africa; Asia; Middle East

14 Dec 1999
Research & Ideas

From Spare Change to Real Change: The Social Sector as a Beta Site for Business Innovation

equipment, and tired executives on their way out. Such arm's-length models of corporate philanthropy have not produced fundamental solutions to America's most urgent domestic problems of public education,... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

August 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Novo Nordisk Foundation

By: Debora L. Spar and Julia M. Comeau

In 2024, Novo Nordisk A/S was one of the most profitable firms in the world, thanks largely to just two GLP-1-based drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy. Unusually, this incredibly profitable firm was controlled not by individual private shareholders, but by a non-profit... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Diabetes; Obesity; Foundation; Non-profit Management; Profit; Corporate Governance; Business or Company Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Expansion; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Nonprofit Organizations; Pharmaceutical Industry; Denmark; Europe

2012
Working Paper

The Need for (long) Chains in Kidney Exchange

By: Itai Ashlagi, David Gamarnik, Michael A. Rees and Alvin E. Roth

It has been previously shown that for sufficiently large pools of patient-donor pairs, (almost) efficient kidney exchange can be achieved by using at most 3-way cycles, i.e., by using cycles among no more than 3 patient-donor pairs. However, as kidney exchange has... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Complexity; Performance Efficiency; Medical Specialties; Health Care and Treatment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

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01 Jun 2008
News

Kash Rangan

secure a reliable stream of funds? I don’t think so. There’s a lot of charitable money available. Family foundations now number more than 34,000, an increase of 22 percent between 2001 and 2005. Big... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Finance

01 Dec 2011
News

FAQ

Investing in HBS What Keeps HBS Ahead? You Do! The Personal Touch Donor Spotlight Research With Impact: Changing Global Health Practices Why is this a good time to establish a charitable lead trust? Record low rates used in determining... View Details

March 2009 (Revised July 2014)
Case

PNC Financial: Grow Up Great (A)

By: Christopher Marquis, V. Kasturi Rangan and Alison Comings

In 2003, PNC Financial focused its corporate citizenship and philanthropic resources on a ten-year, $100 million investment in early childhood education called PNC Grow Up Great. The case tracks the origination of Grow Up Great, how it was developed and implemented... View Details

Keywords: Early Childhood Education; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Leadership; Brands and Branding; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Structure; Business and Community Relations

01 Dec 2016
News

Is Cash the Best Form of Charity?

work. “There is some visceral discomfort with simply giving poor people money,” says Faye, now chairman of the board. “But the evidence, overwhelmingly, is that cash is one of the most effective ways of alleviating poverty.” In its... View Details

Keywords: April White

01 Dec 2012
News

HBS Gift Planning

family in the future. Under current IRS valuation methods, the portion of a charitable lead trust gift that will be transferred to family can be discounted, meaning that significant gifts can be made with little or no gift View Details

2010
Working Paper

The Limits of Nonprofit Impact: A Contingency Framework for Measuring Social Performance

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan

Leaders of organizations in the social sector are under growing pressure to demonstrate their impacts on pressing societal problems such as global poverty. We review the debates around performance and impact, drawing on three literatures: strategic philanthropy,... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Expectations; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Issues

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16 Mar 2018
News

Douglas Spreng (MBA 1967)

and business through decades of change.” As his 50th reunion approached, Spreng considered what legacy he wanted to leave at HBS. In addition to including the School in his will, he established a charitable... View Details

18 Jul 2018
News

Ensuring HBS Remains a Dynamic Community

also to give her the flexibility to change industries in the future. “I chose HBS for its world-class program and powerful alumni network.” Lien likens the rigors of her first year to boot camp View Details

January 2001
Case

Merck Global Health Initiatives (A)

By: James E. Austin, Diana Barrett and James Weber

The case series focuses on Merck's drug donation program and then raises new issues facing management about what to do about HIV/AIDS in Africa given the company's development of a new therapy. Describes collaboration among many parties including the Gates Foundation,... View Details

Keywords: Programs; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Private Sector; Public Sector; Alliances; Problems and Challenges; Pharmaceutical Industry; Botswana

April 21, 2016
Article

Warren Buffett’s Risky Final Bet

By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Risk and Uncertainty; Leadership

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2006
Chapter

Corporate Philanthropy: Taking the High Ground

By: Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Entrepreneurship; Ethics

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December 2016
Case

Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley

By: William C. Kirby and Joycelyn W. Eby

UC Berkley, long known as one of the leading public universities in both the U.S. and the world, has seen turbulent times recently. While student enrollment and costs have increased steadily in recent years, the school, which has been fiercely proud of its public... View Details

Web

2024 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

activity, with special attention to the two largest markets, the US and China. Family, Finance and Philanthropy Anne McClintock, Senior Director of Development, Planned View Details

January 2013 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Pittsburgh

By: Eric Werker, Meg Rithmire, Benjamin Kennedy and Andrew Knauer

The case narrates the development of Pittsburgh from the 1940s to 2012. It analyzes the collapse of the steel industry in the early 1980s, the city's subsequent decline, and the city's later re-emergence as a hub for higher education, the tech sector, and the... View Details