To be considered for enrollment in Investing for Impact please submit this form before 5pm (Eastern time) on July 31^st 2025, although early applications are welcome and encouraged. This application process is designed to ensure that we have students who are enthusiastic about working with founders of small, local businesses that struggle to access capital, and to create teams with a diverse range of skills to match with our founders. Given that there is complexity to matching teams and founders, we will endeavor to place you with one of your top three choices of small businesses to work with and expect that you will remain enrolled in the course if you are matched as such. We will let you know if you have been accepted into the course by August 15th, 2025. Please let us know via email ASAP if your plans or intentions have changed. Note that the class will meet on “Y” day Wednesdays and Thursdays; most Fridays will be reserved for team time (i.e. class will not meet).

Course Overview

Investing for Impact (IFI) has both a class (case-based) and field component. For the field component, student teams will work closely with a small, Boston-based business to perform thorough due diligence (financial, operational, commercial) and ultimately present their findings and a fundraising strategy and/or an investment recommendation (for $25,000 to $50,000) to an Investment Committee comprised of HBS alumni. We will be working with local intermediaries such as Nectar, Commonwealth Kitchen, Boston Impact Initiative, LEAF and the BostonXChange. See here for more information, including about the HBS Impact Investment Fund and videos of some of our existing portfolio companies. Please read the Power Point Presentation here (pdf) for more information about this course.

Course Objective

To provide students with the opportunity to understand the challenges and opportunities for community-based impact investing by conducting diligence on an operating company in the Boston area that is looking to access capital for growth. The focus is supporting small businesses that have historically lacked access to growth capital in the Boston area. Structured as a combined case and field course to provide both case-based learning as well as hands-on student experiential learning in financial, commercial, and operational diligence, as well as experience with the impact investment process and working directly with business founders. Further, we hope that students will provide the small business owners the experience of a thorough due diligence process and the steps they need to take to appeal to potential investors. This collaboration is intended to provide learning and experience for both founders and students.

Course Format

Class will meet on Y-schedule. On Wednesdays and Thursdays we will have case-based discussions relevant to understanding the principles and concepts of impact investing. Most Fridays will be reserved for team time, meetings with the founders, and office hours with faculty (i.e. class will not formally meet but students are expected to use the time to complete their projects). Some sessions will be conducted with the business founders, and many will include guests. Students will also meet weekly in their small teams of two or three (during Friday’s class time or during another mutually agreed time) to plan and conduct due diligence on their partner company. Each team is expected to work closely with their business partners, making sure partners understand the purpose and process of diligence along the way. The final deliverable is a presentation of the team’s recommendation which will include: an analysis of the existing business, market sizing, financial forecasts and financing plan, and an assessment of opportunities and risks. Some companies may be recommended for an investment by the HBS Impact Investment Fund ($25,000 - $50,000 investments). Others will be recommending a growth strategy that can help the business access appropriate sources of growth capital.

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