Centers & Initiatives



Centers & Initiatives

Social Impact Centers and Initiatives

The Social Impact Program strives continuously to connect our students with meaningful and unique opportunities to effect change in the local community. As Wharton is globally recognized as a top research institution, many of our faculty are devoted to finding real solutions to today’s most significant business and social issues.

Wharton has established centers and initiatives that contribute significantly to the body of social impact research by providing resources, funding and opportunities to scholars worldwide.

The Carol & Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research

The Carol & Lawrence Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research conducts research on public and not-for-profit sectors, focusing on international development and corporate social responsibility. The center partners with both the UN and the World Bank to pool resources and expertise on global development issues.

Center for High Impact Philanthropy

The Center for High Impact Philanthropy, founded by Wharton alumni in 2006, is housed at the School of Social Policy and Practice meets the information needs of philanthropists seeking to maximize the social impact of their charitable gifts.

Wharton Graduate Leadership Program | Center for Leadership and Change Management

The Wharton Graduate Leadership Program (WLP) is focused on developing leaders who act with a deeper understanding of themselves, their organizations, and their communities. Leadership and Social Impact intersect in all of the experiences offered by the WLP.

The Center for Leadership and Change Management's mission is to develop leaders who act with a deeper understanding of themselves, their organizations and their communities, and contribute positively to the growth of each. The center has implemented programs such as the Non-Profit Board Leadership Program, which fosters an experiential learning environment for MBAs to develop a greater sense of how their leadership skills can be used to make a significant contribution to the not-for-profit sector.

Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership

Initiative for Global Environmental Leadership (IGEL) brings together business leaders and professors at Wharton and Penn, along with a network of leading experts in relevant fields from around the world to discuss and research selected topics concerning business and the natural environment. IGEL focuses on education and research on best practices, emerging salient and cutting-edge environmental issues, proposed or likely national and international regulation, and more. IGEL’s annual conference addresses timely environmental issues.

Samuel Zell & Robert Lurie Real Estate Center

 International Housing Finance Program

The International Housing Finance Program was established in 1985 to foster excellence in housing policy and housing finance education, research, and technical advisory services, with a specific focus on developing and emerging market economies. The program draws on faculty of the Wharton Finance and Real Estate Departments as well as specialists from the private sector. Project locations have included South Africa, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Brazil, Bangladesh, Trinidad & Tobago, Surinam, and Barbados. A current project involves finance training in Sub-Saharan Africa to confront escalating urbanization.

Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Center

The projects of the Sol C. Snider Entrepreneurial Center increase our understanding of the processes that lead to the creation of social wealth through new business creation and development; current research focuses on large-scale job creation, productivity, and international competitiveness.

Wharton Small Business Development Center / Environmental Management Assistance Program

Wharton Small Business Development Center (SBDC) provides business assistance to small businesses in the greater Philadelphia region, supporting over 20,000 small businesses and entrepreneurs over the last decade. SBDC works with companies with less than $10 million in annual revenue and fewer than 100 employees. Professional staff as well as MBA students supply consulting engagements and workshops for community clients.

Environmental Management Assistance Program (EMAP), an affiliate of the Pennsylvania SBDC, is housed at Wharton and serves as a no-cost confidential resource to assist small businesses with managing environmental liabilities, including regulatory issues and sustainability issues. EMAP provides energy assessments, waste minimization, pollution prevention help, new technology development and much more.

Wharton Global Family Alliance

The focus of the Wharton Global Family Alliance is to develop in-depth academic research focused on family businesses, primarily in the areas of governance, philanthropy, and wealth management.advance the study of family business research by combining scholarly research with the practical experience of successful global families to highlight the social impact of families worldwide.

Wharton Societal Wealth Creation

Wharton Societal Wealth Creation  is a concept originated by the Wharton School and is unique in its approach to social entrepreneurship. Using entrepreneurship as a weapon to combat social problems in a for-profit model, Wharton's Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center is testing societal wealth creation theories in actual live case studies throughout the African continent and the world.

Wharton Sustainability Program

Working in partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s campus-wide greening efforts, the Wharton Sustainability Program is identifying and implementing substantive reduction in the environmental impact of the Wharton community. Efforts include energy use, water use and waste reduction, increased recycling and reuse, cleaning with green products and methods, student and stakeholder engagement on sustainability issues and sourcing sustainable products.  

Initiatives  

The Bobby and Lauren Turner Curriculum Development Fund for Social Impact

As an endowed fund, a portion of the investment income from the Turner Fund is used to support the Program for Social Impact, and the remainder is reinvested to preserve the value of the fund over time.

The Diane S. Levy and Robert M. Levy Social Impact Fund

The endowed fund began in July 2006 with the generosity of Robert M. Levy and Diane S. Levy through a gift to support social impact initiatives. These 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 aim is to help educate socially responsible leaders in business and the non-profit sphere, and to do so in ways that make a meaningful difference to Wharton students. This Fund is currently administered by the Wharton Ethics Program.

In 2008-2009, the Fund sponsored the following activities:

  • Penn Program
  • Curricular development
  • Social Impact Seminar Series
  • Student sponsorship at the Net Impact Conference

The Lauren and Bobby Turner Social Impact Executive Speaker Series

A newly funded speaker series inviting significant persons in the business world to address Wharton students with social impact themes relating to business. The series motto is “Doing well and doing good.”

Social Impact Corps

The Wharton Social Impact Corps is a structured, results-oriented nonprofit consulting experience. 

Wharton Community Capital Partnership  

Wharton Community Capital Partnership (WCCP) is a new, independent for-profit financial institution working with Wharton to better the Philadelphia community by providing capital and credit needs to greater Philadelphia local businesses and social institutions. It focuses on strengthening the Philadelphia community and achieving a ‘social return,’ with the goal of helping support economically sustainable enterprises in Philadelphia area that bolster the social fabric of the region. WCCP is capitalized with equity from the Tri-state area business community and private equity and is governed by a Board of Directors appointed by the shareholders, a management team hired by the Board and an Investment Committee.

Wharton Social Impact Consulting Practicum

With the reduction in value of endowments (and personal portfolios) combined with the reduction in giving, organizations which rely on philanthropic contributions are finding it difficult to fund their programs. Several not-for-profit organizations (including The Enterprise Center and The Penn Museum) have come to Wharton to request help in building a “self- sustaining business model.” We believe there is a meaningful opportunity to help NGOs globally to become economically self-sufficient. This practicum would involve both students and faculty and would be cross functional, depending upon the needs of the “client.”