The Levy Social Impact Fund at Wharton began in July 2006 with the generosity of Robert M. Levy and Diane v.S. Levy
through a gift to support social impact initiatives.
These initiatives include student, faculty and
institutional initiatives in such areas as social
impact management and business ethics, including
summer internships for students who want to work in
either the public or nonprofit sectors. The Levys' donation strengthens Wharton's prominent position in the increasingly critical global field of social impact. It is designed to provide opportunities for non-traditional students, educate the next generations of ethical and responsible business leaders and help private enterprises create innovative solutions to urgent global problems. The Levy Social Impact Fund reflects a movement that is broadly supported by Wharton faculty and students for leadership in corporate social responsibility, ethics and social entrepreneurship.
Having a social impact is nothing new to the visionary and proactive Robert Levy. As a 1974 graduate of Wharton's MBA Program, Mr. Levy was already teaching evening school classes for members of the community and volunteering in a community education program to help small, minority-owned businesses develop business plans. Today, serving Penn as a Trustee and Wharton Overseer, he talks to "our extraordinary students" about the merits of giving back in their own lives, and he is energized by the process. "Diane and I have found our increased involvement with Wharton and the University to be rewarding, exciting, and fun."
Building on the vision of the Levy family, the Wharton Ethics Program is now involved with different social impact initiatives such as:
1. Penn Social Entrepreneurship Mentoring Program (PennSEM)
PennSEM was established to provide undergraduates with a formal opportunity to explore the possibility of pursuing a career as a social entrepreneur. The Program is meant to complement the existing opportunities for undergraduate students to apply their skills in a consultative capacity to non-profit organizations and social enterprises.
In its first year, the Program placed ten students for two-month summer internships with leading social enterprise organizations around the world: (PennSEM Blog)
- First Book - USA
- Jaipur Rugs Foundation - India
- Philanthropy Works - Singapore
- Rubicon Programs - USA
- Ventures in Development - China
- Volans Ventures - UK
The internships are designed to create value for the students, the participating organizations, and the Wharton and Penn community. To this end, each internship involves 1) substantial mentoring for the student from the founder or a senior leader of the organization, 2) a project that leverages the student's skills and academic background to benefit the organization, and 3) writing a case study for purposes of research and knowledge generation. Integral to the success of the Program has been the active involvement of the student leaders in every aspect of the Program's establishment and operation. We believe this combination of features helps to distinguish PennSEM as a co-curricular activity.
The students were selected by the
PennSEM Faculty Advisory Board, whose members include Ira Harkavy (Netter Center for Community Partnerships), Nien-hê Hsieh (Legal Studies and Business Ethics), Andrew Lamas (Urban Studies), Doug Lynch (Graduate School of Education), and Keith Weigelt (Management).
2. Curricular Development
Wharton faculty (in consultation with students) developed proposals to expand the curricular offerings at Wharton in the area of socially responsible business education. The courses and concentration will be launched in the Spring 2010 semester and will be housed in the Legal Studies and Business Ethics Department.
3. The Levy and PennSEM Social Impact Seminar Series
Two leaders in the field of social impact and responsibility were featured in our first series:
Kyle Zimmer
of First Book (a pioneer in providing free and low-cost books to children by working with publishing companies) and
Jonathan Harrison of Rubicon Programs (a leader in using business enterprises to address social challenges such as the employment of economically disadvantaged individuals)..
4. 2008 Net Impact Conference
Net Impact is a leading professional organization supporting MBAs who seek careers in the field of social impact. Their national conference is one of the largest of its kind.
Wharton was chosen to host the 2008 conference. We
sponsored conference attendance
for both MBAs and undergraduates.
Below is a slide show of images from events hosted by the
Levy and PennSEM Social Impact Seminar Series.
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