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Our Work

Articles

How Governments Can Fund Social Services with Social Impact Bonds

 

In the first UIIS article written by our new Marketing Director Curtis Lee, we take a look at how the public sector and government can leverage private investments to fund social services. Namely, we explore the pros and cons of implementing social impact bonds to “support immigrants and refugees through job training, help mothers in poverty achieve healthy births, or provide affordable homes.”

Social Venture Capital: An Equity-Based Approach

 

Ever wonder how profit and social impact can coexist? In this article, social venture capital is discussed as a means for start-ups to receive initial seed funding and also as a way for venture capital companies to make a positive social impact in the ESG sector by providing monetary or non-monetary benefits to emerging entrepreneurs. Coupled with the article produced a few months ago by UIIS regarding microfinance, this article seeks to broaden the definition and application of impact investing, demonstrating that impact investing isn’t confined to the undergraduate sphere and can extend into industry positions and firms as well.

Georgetown University's HMFI Interview

 

In honor of Georgetown University’s Hilltop Microfinance Initiative (HMFI) joining our network as the newest advising partner, our VP of Marketing, Christina Xu, sat down with the CEO of HMFI, Isabelle Wisco, to talk about how their organization is making an impact on the DC community. Not only is HMFI providing microloans to emerging entrepreneurs, but their organization is also offering group financial coaching classes to stimulate financial literacy in vulnerable or underserved communities. In this interview, Wisco opens up about HMFI’s plans for the future, past anecdotes, greatest challenges, excitement to join UIIS, and most valuable advice.

The Efficacy of Microfinance

 

We are excited to announce Undergraduate Impact Investing Society’s second article “The Efficacy of Microfinance.” Here at UIIS, our partner schools, including UC Berkeley, University of Michigan, Northwestern University, and now, Georgetown University, just to name a few, distribute microloans each semester to emerging entrepreneurs across the US in an effort to combat the unequal access to resources and capital that small businesses face. However, even amidst our success with microfinance and social equity, don’t be deceived. This article is not solely an endorsement for microfinance; we pick it apart as well especially when it comes to using microfinance as a means of reducing global poverty.

So You Want to Talk About Impact Investing?

 

"So You Want to Talk About Impact Investing?" is the first article that Undergraduate Impact Investing Society (UIIS) has ever written and produced as an organization. In this article, we explain the basics of impact investing and provide a broad overview of what exactly “impact investing” means, what differentiates it from socially responsible investing, how to measure its impact, and how it relates to microfinance. Impact investing underlies everything UIIS currently does and hopes to accomplish in the future, so this article is well worth a read!

Newsletters

Semester in Review

January - April 2020

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