Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Social Enterprise Initiative

We educate, support, and inspire leaders across all sectors to tackle society's toughest challenges and make a difference in the world.

Supporting a Dynamic Community

MBA Experience

Learn more about involvement as an HBS student, including academics, career, community, and paths for social entrepreneurship.

Alumni Engagement

Connect to a powerful global network of social impact leaders through events, interest groups, and local alumni clubs.

For Organizations

Build your organization’s social impact by connecting with HBS through executive education, research, student and alumni projects, and recruiting.

Faculty & Research

Engage with faculty creating groundbreaking research that links theory and practice to shape the future of social enterprise.

Pioneering Pain Management: CWC Alliance Combats the Opioid Epidemic

August 2024 By: Susanna Gallani, Karen L. Sedatole and Sarah Mehta Set in March 2024, this case is about CWC Alliance (CWC), a nonprofit working to prevent opioid addiction in the U.S. Founder Cammie Wolf Rice launched CWC in 2018 after her son, Christopher Wolf, died of a heroin overdose. Wolf’s dependence on opioids stemmed from a prescription he received at the age of 17 after several surgeries. Looking back, Rice wishes a healthcare worker had educated her...

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors: Bringing Systematic Investment to Philanthropy

July 2024 By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Alexander Bischoff and Sophia Pan Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), evaluated her client’s philanthropy project and its mediocre performance. RPA was a segment of the Rockefeller Family Office’s Philanthropy Department, becoming an independent charity in 2002. Consistently met with high-net-worth individuals, Berman recognized that philanthropy was not taken as seriously as it should be. If it was ...

One Way to Help Employees Build Emergency Savings

May 14, 2024 By: Timothy Flacke and Peter Tufano Intentional cooperation between two organizations — BlackRock, a major asset management firm, and national non-profit, Commonwealth — created the conditions for the nation’s largest payroll processor, multiple U.S. employers, retirement record keepers, and others to work together to help address systemic U.S. household financial insecurity through a workplace-based savings plans. This was not t...

Blog

Check out Impact Insights, shining a spotlight on the people, ideas, and happenings in the SEI community.

Visual Models for Climate Resiliency: SE Founder Sana Mojarradi (MBA 2025)

Sana Mojarradi 21 Aug 2024 As part of the HBS Summer Fellows Program, the Social Enterprise Founder Forum is offered to students in the summer between their first and second year, supporting student founders in...

Transforming Waste into Value: SE Founder Hande Ilhan (MBA 2025)

Hande Ilhan 15 Aug 2024 As part of the HBS Summer Fellows Program, the Social Enterprise Founder Forum is offered to students in the summer between their first and second year, supporting student founders in...

Investing for Community and Capital Market Impact: SE Summer Fellow Emily Tekamp (MBA 2025)

Emily Tekamp 07 Aug 2024 The HBS Summer Fellows Program enables students to apply their classroom training as they explore career opportunities in roles or regions where compensation is generally lower than the traditional MBA...

Events

2025

Mar

20 Mar-28 Mar

Executive Education: Driving Nonprofit Performance and Innovation–Virtual

For nonprofit leaders, this live, online Executive Education program explores how to align mission and strategy through performance measurement.