June 2022
Teaching Plan
HBS Case Collection

GreenLight Fund

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:8

Abstract

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 320-053. As Tara Noland, the Executive Director (ED) of GreenLight Cincinnati, reflected on her first few years on the job. Noland had delivered on what she had been hired to do in the city: work with leading philanthropists and nonprofit executives to use data and evidence to assess and understand the most pressing community needs; conduct due diligence on leading organizations nationally that were interested in replicating evidence-based programs in Cincinnati; and provide multi-year unrestricted funding and on-the-ground support for the selected programs as they launched in the community. Now, looking to raise the second fund, Noland thought about her future. GreenLight Fund is an innovative venture philanthropy fund that raises regional funds to help replicate evidence-based social service programs. The case explores the launch of their Cincinnati site and outlines some of the questions in how GreenLight balances national and local decision-making, creates career pathways for staff, how it helps organizations replicate, and how it manages its own replication and scale.