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• Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2020

  Prime Coalition: Catalytic Capital for Climate Innovation

  Ramana Nanda, Benjamin N. Roth and Olivia Hull

  With long development timelines and high risk, new energy technologies were often left to languish in the “valley of death,” unable to raise enough funds to bring a product to market. In 2014, Sarah Kearney founded the nonprofit Prime Coalition to solve this problem. At the beginning, Prime’s role as a financial intermediary involved seeking out the most promising market-based technology solutions to climate change and recruiting foundations or philanthropists to fund them. In 2019, Prime changed course, adopting a portfolio approach with its Prime Impact Fund. By the end of the year, Prime had raised $40 million in philanthropic capital for its new fund. Once the funds were invested in promising energy startups, Prime planned to try its hand at recruiting traditional investors to back the same companies. Could Kearney convince traditional investors that these investments were worth the risks?

  Keywords: Energy Conservation; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Mission and Purpose; Science-Based Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Enterprise; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Nanda, Ramana, Benjamin N. Roth, and Olivia Hull. "Prime Coalition: Catalytic Capital for Climate Innovation." Harvard Business School Case 820-007, February 2020.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | May 2019 (Revised January 2020)

  Bill Cummings: The Cummings Way

  Christina R. Wing, Robert F. White and Michael Norris

  In 2019, Bill Cummings, founder of Cummings Properties and Cummings Foundation and billionaire signer of the Giving Pledge, is winding down his roles at his company and foundation. How should the management move the company forward?

  Keywords: real estate development; philanthropy; Family Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Management Succession; Real Estate Industry; United States; Boston;

  Citation:

  Wing, Christina R., Robert F. White, and Michael Norris. "Bill Cummings: The Cummings Way." Harvard Business School Case 619-038, May 2019. (Revised January 2020.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2020

  Khan Academy 2018 (Abridged)

  William A. Sahlman and Nicole Tempest Keller

  Citation:

  Sahlman, William A., and Nicole Tempest Keller. "Khan Academy 2018 (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 820-086, January 2020.  View Details

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