As 2019 comes to an end, we’re looking back at some of our top Impact Insights blog posts of the year…

This summer marked the 25th year for the Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management (SPNM) Program at Harvard Business School Executive Education. For one week each July, SPNM convenes over 150 nonprofit leaders from around the globe and across the social sector to explore cases on nonprofit leadership and strategy, and learn from HBS faculty and a cohort of their peers. During the week, participants focus on innovation, building a strategy for high performance, measuring social impact, leading change, collective impact, and other topics. Participants come from organizations with a wide array of sizes and missions.

In February 2019, the HBS New Venture Competition received 48 entries to the Social Enterprise Track, from student teams across Harvard University. Sixteen semifinalists presented at the beginning of April to expert judges from the field, who selected our four finalists. Learn more about each finalist team.

Those of us involved with SEI today stand on the shoulders of giants. We owe it to future generations to carry forward the wisdom and insights of those who came before us so that we are able to adapt to the requirements of each moment in history and to provide a strong foundation for the next generation. John McArthur taught us, among many things, that an endless optimism in the power of human creativity combined with unfailing integrity is our best path forward to make the world a better place.

This post is part of our Social Enterprise Initiative 25th anniversary blog series, which highlights some of the faculty, staff, students, and alumni who have been a part of SEI throughout the years. In this post, Tracy Palandjian (MBA 1997) discusses the ways in which she and her organization are pursuing social impact. Tracy is the CEO & Co-Founder of Social Finance, a nonprofit dedicated to mobilizing capital to drive social progress.

Prior to Harvard Business School, I spent eight years on active duty military service as an Aviation officer and helicopter pilot in the United States Army. My career took me to three countries, six states, and countless hours of flying high in the sky and low to the ground, over water and below the treeline. I led organizations ranging in size from 17 soldiers to 120, in missions both operational and maintenance support. Yet one consistent theme throughout all of it was my sense of having a mission-driven life, of giving my time and energy to something greater than myself. So when I left the Army to attend HBS, I knew I wanted to try and capture that same sense of purpose.