Wharton Social Impact Initiative

Pension funds have great potential to drive companies toward ESG practices, but several hurdles stand in the way.

A Sound Plan for Sustainable Investing? Pension funds have great potential to drive companies toward ESG practices, but several hurdles stand in the way.

“We have seen ourselves as this test kitchen that really aims to disrupt the food industry and prove that it can feed a collective good.” Roma McCaig is Clif Bar & Company's Senior Vice President of Impact and Communications, leading sustainability strategy, community initiatives, corporate brand, and employee communications.

Read more in Knowledge@Wharton about how the company is on a mission to lift up people and the planet through sustainable practices.

How One Firm Has Baked Purpose into Its Business Model - Knowledge@Wharton Wharton’s Katherine Klein talks to Roma McCaig from Clif Bar & Company about living the company’s “five aspirations.”

Hamsa Bastani, assistant professor of operations, information, and decisions at Wharton, discusses key findings from her research on how deep web data and machine learning can help law enforcement agencies investigate and intervene in human trafficking.

Research Spotlight: Prof. Hamsa Bastani on Using Machine Learning To Combat Human Trafficking - Wharton Social Impact Initiative In Wharton Social Impact’s “Research Spotlight” series, we highlight recent research by Wharton professors and doctoral students whose research focuses on the intersection of business and impact. This month, we spoke with Hamsa Bastani, assistant professor of operations, information, and decis...

"For wealthy investors who care about advancing the role of women in business and supporting workplaces that consider the needs of their female employees—there’s good news—many more privately managed funds are investing in companies with those goals." In this Barron's article, WSII Managing Director Sandi Hunt speaks about the field of gender lens investing and our Project Sage 4.0 report.

Future Returns: Gender-Lens Strategies Gain Even as Funds Come up Short Private investment vehicles dedicated to supporting women raise $6 billion through mid-2021