Publications

07 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 7

discretion. Corporate philanthropy is our setting to study how a differentiated structural element, the corporate foundation, constrains the influence of individual senior managers and directors on corporate strategy. Our analysis of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Feb 2022
Blog Post

The Fifth Year of Short Intensive Programs (SIPs) at HBS

Times’ Ross Douthat, and Harvard University President Larry Bacow. Sessions included “Leadership as the Courage to Care” with Bob Chapman, chairman and CEO of Barry-Wehmiller; “Spiritual Philanthropy in Emerging Markets” with Professor... View Details

01 Dec 2009
News

Seven Honored with Alumni Achievement Award

Partner U.S. Venture Partners Bowes Jr. After founding U.S. Venture Partners in San Francisco in 1981, Bill Bowes helped shape companies such as Sun Microsystems, Callaway Golf, Applied Biosystems, and Ross Stores. More recently, he has focused on venture View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; awards; fishing; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing; General Merchandise Stores; Retail Trade

01 Jun 2013
News

Lesson Plans

uses a venture philanthropy model that makes early- and growth-stage investments in NGOs focused on high-quality, affordable schools; human capital development; technology in education; and school accountability." "When the business... View Details

Keywords: Educational Support Services; Educational Services; Elementary and Secondary Schools; Educational Services

01 Oct 1999
News

The View from the Pit

changing system. Barrett's commitment to social service has inspired her to see philanthropy as a lifelong habit - one that she would like to pass on to her students. Describing her own life as an extremely diversified portfolio, Barrett... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

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

12 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Global Poverty Needs a Global Answer

to be published by Princeton University Press. In this recent interview conducted by e-mail, Lodge is hopeful that the World Development Corporation will be formed. He explains why nonprofits aren't the answer to ending poverty and asks that executives look beyond... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

December 2008 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

By: David E. Bell and Brian Matthew Milder

In 2006, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation joined together to form a new organization, AGRA, to tackle the historic challenge of increasing agricultural production in Africa. Launched with much fanfare and led by former U.N.... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Investment Funds; Food; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Business and Government Relations; Non-Governmental Organizations; Poverty; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Africa

08 Sep 2021
Blog Post

Building the Bridge from Nonprofit to VC with Joshua Mbanusi (MBA 2021)

managers to unlearn their racial and gender bias; and later receiving a full-time impact investing offer from another fund. The Strategic Philanthropy Bridge Mbanusi knew that it wouldn’t be enough to make connections into venture... View Details

16 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 16, 2008

Economic Leaders, Simon & Schuster, 2008 Abstract Bill Gates is more than the world's most successful capitalist; he's also the world's biggest philanthropist. Gates has approached philanthropy the same way he revolutionized computer... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2009 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Acumen Fund: Measurement in Impact Investing (A)

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan

Acumen Fund is a global venture capital firm with a dual purpose: it looks for a return on its investments, and it also seeks entrepreneurial solutions to global poverty. This case examines Acumen's new projects in Kenya. The organization's investment committee and its... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Investment Return; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Risk Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Social Enterprise; Financial Services Industry; Kenya

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

October 2010
Article

The Emerging Capital Market for Nonprofits

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Allen S. Grossman

Many of our largest and most successful companies today did not exist 50 years ago. During this same time interval, companies that ranked among top in the 1960s have disappeared, been merged out of existence, or become much smaller presences in the U.S. industrial... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Investment Funds; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Accountability; Management Practices and Processes; Infrastructure; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Effectiveness; Nonprofit Organizations

Find at Harvard

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

December 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Opportunity International: Measurement and Mission

By: Herman B. Leonard, Marc J. Epstein and Melissa Tritter

After a "first career" in business, HBS graduate Christopher Crane becomes CEO of a worldwide microfinance network. The organization's twin challenges are: 1) developing metrics to give it an accurate picture of its situation and impacts, and 2) generating rapid... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Measurement and Metrics; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business Model; Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Financial Services Industry