As Wharton’s Net Impact chapter, Wharton Social Impact (WSI) is a community of 200+ Wharton MBA students committed to using their business skills and expertise to promote the common good across the public, private and non-profit sectors.   

WSI is a part of the larger network, Wharton Alliance for Social Responsibility 

WSI’s activities include but are not limited to:

• Curriculum Evaluation and Development: WSI collaborates with faculty and administrators to promote new Wharton courses and materials that address socially responsible business and public interest issues. A sample list of courses at Wharton related to Social Impact can be found here.

• Career Resources: Through our Resume Book and Employment Database, we are constantly developing our list of relevant companies to target. We host both a full-time and internship panels where students can learn about careers from industry leaders. Finally, we work with the Wharton Career Management Office to help public interest employers recruit at Wharton, and we supply our members with job postings from sources outside of the traditional Wharton network.

• Alumni/ae Network: Working with Career Management, we are building a network of Wharton alums working in the broad field of social impact. Crossing all sectors and industries, this growing network will support current students interested in entering the field.

• Green Team: The Environmental & Sustainability team work to reduce the environmental footprint of Wharton’s operations.

• Socially Responsible Investing (SRI): WSI has a team dedicated to promoting dialogue around socially responsible investing and attracting guest speakers to speak on the subject.  The team is in the process of trying to launch Wharton’s first SRI Mutual Fund.  In addition, a Social Wealth Venture Fund, established last year, is an active fund that distributes venture capital to areas of need in the local Philadelphia area.

• Wharton Social Impact Conference & Water Symposium: The annual WSI Conference fosters dialogue around critical social and business issues by convening leaders in a range of fields and areas of expertise. Wharton will be hosting the 2008 Net Impact North America Conference from November 13-15 which is expected to attract 2000+ students and professionals.  The Net Impact Conference will take the place of the annual WSI conference for the 2008-2009 academic year. In 2008, WSI launched its first Water Symposium which attracted a dedicated group of academics and professionals to speak about the business risks and opportunities regarding water scarcity and sourcing.  The Water Symposium is planned for April 2009. 

• WSI Speaker Series: The Speaker Series hosts pioneers in social responsibility to discuss their experience and vision for the future of business—educating students about critical decisions facing leaders and providing insight into career possibilities.  WSI also organizes a Faculty Lunch series to meet and learn more about the work of Wharton’s awesome Professors.

• Fun: At WSI, we believe in the importance of community. And we like to have fun.  We organize informal events throughout the year to foster the WSI community in and outside of the halls of Huntsman.

WSI members are helping shape the face of social impact at Wharton.  What many students learn once they get here is that Wharton is deeply involved and committed to social impact and that opportunities and resources related to social impact are endless!  The club and the administration are working on better communication our thought leadership in this space.  For the time being, please contact the recruitment team for inquiries.