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20 Aug 2013
First Look

First Look: August 20

mentors can―and should―play in cultivating and sharing juniors' career narratives. Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/search/413122-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 313-111 Venture Philanthropy: Its Evolution and Its Future This note explores the current state of... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

06 Nov 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Why Does Business Invest in Education in Emerging Markets? Why Does It Matter?

Keywords: by Valeria Giacomin, Geoffrey Jones, and Erica Salvaj

Article

Business Investment in Education in Emerging Markets Since the 1960s

By: Valeria Giacomin, Geoffrey Jones and Erica Salvaj

This article examines non-profit investments by business in education in emerging markets between the 1960s and the present day. Using a sample of 110 interviews with business leaders from an oral history database, the study shows that more than three-quarters of such... View Details

Keywords: Economic History; Oral History; Education; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Business History; Emerging Markets; Reputation; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Education Industry; Africa; Asia; Latin America; Middle East; India; Chile; Colombia; Sri Lanka; Kenya

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Five Questions for James Austin

transactional, and integrative—although these stages are not necessarily linear, nor does every company move through each stage. What are the key factors that force (or encourage) companies to move from one stage to another? Austin: Moving from traditional View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

10 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

Cross-Sector Collaboration: Lessons from the International Trachoma Initiative

Luff, Manager, Corporate Philanthropy Programs at Pfizer, Inc.] and Dr. Cook [Joe Cook, head of the Program for Tropical Disease Research at the Clark Foundation] was facilitated by a personal connection... View Details

Keywords: by Diana Barrett, James Austin & Sheila McCarthy

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

Read Now

May 2022 (Revised May 2024)
Case

The Freedom Fund (A): Ending Modern Slavery

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Courtney Han

The Freedom Fund founded in 2013 to end modern slavery had raised more than half its intended target (by 2025) of $200 million. In 2021, impressed by its decentralized-partnering style of operations, philanthropist MacKenzie Scott awarded the Fund a gift of $35 million... View Details

Keywords: Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Spending; Decisions; India; Thailand; Ethiopia

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

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

16 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 16, 2008

challenge of upward voice. We first undertook in-depth exploratory research in a knowledge-intensive multinational corporation in which employee input was considered crucial. Qualitative data collected in 190 interviews with employees... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

31 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: Jan. 31

corporate leaders have significant discretion. Corporate philanthropy is our setting to study how a differentiated structural element-the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne & Carmen Nobel

July 2003
Case

De La Salle Academy

By: Thomas J. DeLong and David Ager

Brother Brian Carty, headmaster and founder of De La Salle Academy, a private school for academically talented, economically disadvantaged children in grades six to eight in New York City, is scheduled to meet with the school's board of directors to discuss how the... View Details

Keywords: Middle School Education; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Organizational Design; Management Succession; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Community Relations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Education Industry

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

June 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Goldman Sachs: The 10,000 Women Initiative

By: Christopher Marquis, V. Kasturi Rangan and Cathy Ross

Describes the conception, development, and implementation of Goldman Sachs' five-year, $100 million philanthropic initiative to provide practical business and management education to 10,000 women around the globe. The initiative recently celebrated its first... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Education; Gender; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Financial Services Industry; Education Industry

April 2008
Case

The Energy Foundation

By: Jane Wei-Skillern and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

The Energy Foundation, a philanthropic foundation established through a partnership among major donors with a mission to promote clean energy technology, is the largest funder in the U.S. focusing on the energy sector. The $60 million foundation operates through a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Networks; Expansion; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States

2007
Chapter

Beyond Dependence: Conceptualizing Information and Accountability in NGO-Funder Relations

By: Alnoor Ebrahim

This paper explores the linkages between information systems and accountability in nongovernmental and nonprofit organizations (NGOs). The information systems in four NGOs are introduced: two Indian NGOs engaged in natural resource management and rural development, an... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Accountability; Information Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Non-Governmental Organizations; Information Technology; India; District of Columbia

January 2019
Supplement

JPMorgan Chase: Invested in Detroit (C)

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Norris

Video Supplement to HBS Case Nos. 918-406 and 918-410.
Beginning in 2014, JPMorgan Chase launched “Invested in Detroit,” a $100 million philanthropic investment in the city over five years. The bank worked with local economic development organizations,... View Details

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