Funds Available During the School Year

Financial support is available for students aspiring to have a positive impact across industry sectors and functional areas. Some students may choose to form a new venture while others may identify a specific entrepreneurial or consulting project where they believe they can have significant and sustainable impact. What will hold true across all supported projects is that business acumen and market driven principles will be leveraged for sustainable positive impact on people and the planet. Project Impact funding is made possible through a generous gift from Christopher and Christina Combe. 

All Kellogg students are encouraged to apply for support of their innovative projects and endeavors. Funding for up to 80% of eligible expenses is available for the two types of activities below.  Please note that they have different funding guidelines and application links.

• Social Impact Learning Experiences: Conferences, Field Research, Research Reports, Social Impact Competitions. See learning experience funding guidelines here.  Apply here.

• Social Entrepreneurship: Impact Startups, Pilot/Prototype Funding, Executive Shadowing, Field & Market Research, Business Plan Competitions. See social entrepreneurship funding guidelines here.  Apply here.

The process for Project Impact Summer Internships is separate and can be viewed here.

Explore examples of projects solving social problems that have received funding through Project Impact

New Hope Ecotech

Developed and launched by a team of students through NUvention, New Hope Ecotech is a startup that provides technology services that are revolutionizing the management of recycling in Brazil. Created in response to the National Waste Management Policy of 2013, the company has developed innovative software solutions that measure and track huge volumes of solid waste for recycling purposes. This technology allows corporations and institutions in Brazil to closely monitor recycling projects, while also connecting them to millions of individual waste pickers who provide collection services.

Learn more

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Team MobileGuru

A group of Kellogg students formed Team MobileGuru in response to an education crisis in India, where 70 percent of preschools are of low to poor quality partly because its teachers receive no training, curriculum or educational tools. The Kellogg team created two mobile-based services to solve that problem: SMSGuru and CallGuru, which use SMS or Interactive Voice Response to connect the teachers with education experts for information and support. Because India has 100 percent mobile penetration, the services are easy for teachers to access and the model is highly scalable.

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Emily Gipple Independent Study

One of the reasons why Emily Gipple ’15 came to Kellogg was to pursue research projects that intersect risk management with nonprofit expertise. Thanks in part to support through Project Impact, she was able to conduct an independent study on nonprofit partnerships in global supply chains and operations in China and Thailand. While Gipple covered the costs associated with traveling to Asia, Project Impact enabled her to visit local factories and offices to meet with practitioners, workers and other leaders. For example, she was able to visit manufacturing facilities in Dongguan and Shenzhen to speak directly with floor managers and factory owners about their views on risk management, partnerships and sustainability issues — an experience that she calls “incredibly eye opening.”