Social Impact

Making Impact Investing Work for System Resilience—and Investor Profits‌

Todd Cort Juliane Reinecke Clint Bartlett

To confront interconnected environmental and social crises, impact investors will need to factor resilience-building into their expected returns, especially in the most vulnerable parts of the world.

Kisenyi Bus Terminal in Kampala, Uganda
Impact & Innovation show art
Podcast

Impact & Innovation

Join the conversation as social entrepreneurs from around the world come to Yale SOM to share the challenges they are grappling with and the insights they are gaining in the field. From rural India and Kenya to the inner cities of the U.S., from the environment to nutrition to maternal child health, this series cuts across sectors to examine the convergence of business and society. Take a peek inside the classroom of Dr. Teresa Chahine as she examines the latest trends and pitfalls in social innovation, funding, and impact.

All Episodes

  • How can one country fight an epidemic?

    Elizabeth Serlemitsos

    Elizabeth Serlemitsos ’93 is chief advisor to the Zambian National AIDS Council, which is the government entity responsible for coordinating the country’s response to HIV and AIDS. The council works with international donors to develop and implement both private and public sector programs to combat devastating impacts of the disease.

  • Q4 Update: Can a double bottom line help in tough times?

    Nancy Pfund

    Solving problems at the intersection of business and society may pay dividends for a small Bay Area venture capital firm.

  • How should we fund nonprofits?

    Clara Miller

    The nonprofit sector is developing tools for financing and managing the organization that come largely from the for-profit world. Clara Miller, president and CEO of the Nonprofit Finance Fund discusses both the need for more financial savvy in the nonprofit realm as well as the pitfalls of an overly commercial mindset.

  • Can a double bottom line bring better returns?

    Nancy Pfund Seth Miller

    Why is a venture capital firm encouraging the employees in a company it funds to give free music lessons? They’re trying to prove the thesis that companies that engage with their communities also reap a business advantage.

  • Should capital be socially responsible?

    Anne Simpson Timothy Smith Anne Kvam

    Two decades ago, socially motivated investing accounted for a tiny percentage of worldwide capital. Today, investors representing $14 trillion have signed on to the UN’s Principles for Responsible Investing. What influence are they having?

  • How is the new philanthropy different?

    James A. Phills

    The wealth generated by the dot-com boom of the 1990s produced a new generation of philanthropists, determined to use their capital and their business savvy to solve social problems. A decade later, have they transformed the world of philanthropy?

  • Does our health system deliver value?

    Michael Porter

    Competitive strategy expert Michael Porter, the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor at Harvard Business School, has shaken up the thinking around healthcare reform with Redefining Health Care, a book he coauthored with Elizabeth Teisberg, associate professor at the Darden School of Business. Porter talked with Q3 about his ideas on how to bring the right kind of competition to healthcare and developments since the 2006 release of his book.

  • Can markets help the poor?

    Mary Ellen Iskenderian Dean Karlan Tony Sheldon Nelun de Silva Wijeyeratne Andrea Levere

    A loan might allow you to buy a bike to commute to a new job or to nurse your business through an unexpected setback. But billions of people around the world have little or no access to financial markets. Microfinance is one potential solution to this dilemma.