The Stanford GSB Impact Fund provides a hands-on experience in making investments with an expectation of beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return.
The experience is designed for students to gain familiarity with the day-to-day activities of “impact investing” – the intentional investing for both financial returns and measurable social and environmental returns. The program provides a robust investment experience that will prove valuable in today’s oversaturated impact investing job market.
Faculty, alumni, and expert practitioners provide strategic guidance on co-investing, sourcing, structuring deals, measuring impact, portfolio allocation, and exits. The fund is geographically flexible and invests in early-stage for-profit ventures in the following areas:
- Education
- Environment and energy
- Fintech
- Food and agriculture
- Healthcare
- Justice
- Urban Development
Students will gain:
- Hands-on experience in impact investing
- Experience providing strategic advice and support to portfolio companies
- Preparation for a future career in impact investing or as social entrepreneur, understanding how investors work
- Application of classroom knowledge to real-world impact investing
- A deeper understanding about issues in particular fields
- A stronger network of alumni, social entrepreneurs, and investors focused on impact in industries of interest
