A student initiative at the University of Notre Dame is hoping to help the university emerge as a leader in "impact investing” — pursuing not just financial profits but measurable social benefits as well.
Co-founder Thomas Flaim, a junior at Notre Dame, says Unleashed has grown to more than 80 engaged students in less than two years. The group is working with Reading for Life, a successful program to help nonviolent first-time offenders avoid further legal trouble, Flaim says, and is in collaboration with the Jubilee Initiative For Financial Inclusion (JIFFI) that offers microlending as an alternative to payday loans.
The club, which had a judged Pitch Competition in Notre Dame’s Main Building as part of its educational efforts, is taking a multi-pronged approach in the impact investing field, Flaim says.
“We are trying to get a student-run fund, we are working with budding social enterprises, and we’re exploring the idea of establishing a Social Impact Bond Lab similar to Harvard’s,” he says. “It kind of took on a life of its own. It was a lot of meeting one-on-one with people, different professors, people in South Bend.”
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