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About the Haas Impact Internship Award (HIIA)
The Haas Impact Internship Awards (formerly Haas for Students, then Haas Social Impact Fund) was founded in 2004 by Haas students interested in social sector careers. HIIA provides grants to first-year, full-time MBA students who accept summer internships in the social sector including Nonprofit, Government, and (select) Impact Investing organizations. These grants allow students to put their Haas MBA to use for organizations that are doing important work in communities around the world but cannot offer to pay the “typical” MBA internship rate. Show your support today for the Impact Internship Awards and pave the way for our Haas MBAs this Summer of 2024!
How much should I give?
Every donation to Haas part of an important ecosystem, which consists of donors from $10 to $10M+. Your gift makes an impact because you're participating in the act of philanthropy.
If you currently have a paid internship or a full-time job, gifting one day's worth of wages would be a significant contribution.
You could also consider joining the Haas Leadership Society. The threshold for the Berkeley Haas Leadership Society is $2,500 annually for alumni who are more than 10 years out. In our student community, $500 or more would be considered a top-percentile, or "leadership" donation. You can read more about the Haas Leadership Society here.
Stories from past recipients
Alicia Marshall | World Health Organization | Pan American Health Organization Department of Climate Change and Environmental Determinants of Health Volunteer Intern
It has always been my dream to work for the World Health Organization, and I am so grateful for your support to make that dream a reality! With a background in public health and a focus on social impact at Haas, I found working at the World Health Organization this summer to be a perfect fit. I was able to use my experience in environmental health to support the department in improving the efficiency and effectiveness of their environmental health offices for thirty-five countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Some of my projects included:
A challenge that I faced was brushing up on my Spanish. I had spent a significant amount of time in Latin America before, but it had been a while, and working in an environment where the predominant language was Spanish was a great way to revive my language skills and put them to good use.
Abby Gritter | The Autodesk Foundation, Impact Investing Fellow
I was eager to work with the Autodesk Foundation for the opportunity test two career hypotheses: first, impact investing in emerging markets—a dream of mine since reading “The Blue Sweater” in college—and second, leveraging tech company resources for good through their corporate foundations.
I was assigned to two projects; on the Impact Investments team I sourced agriculture organizations in Asia and Africa for the Health & Resilience portfolio, and then on the Engagement team I conducted interviews and desktop research to complete a landscape analysis of how investors and foundations support their portfolio organizations. This led me to propose changes to the types and method of support being offered for the Autodesk Work & Prosperity portfolio to better meet portfolio organizations' needs.
Sourcing agriculture organizations that could be a good fit for the Autodesk portfolio proved to be a Goldilocks challenge: I was trying to identify organizations that fit a very specific list of criteria, including type, size, leadership model, target customer, and location. I tapped into the Haas student and alumni network to source a wide range of potential organizations. Conducting this landscape assessment and industry mapping yielded insight into gaps in the agriculture system and allowed me to reframe the original sourcing strategy toward organizations that were better positioned for the Autodesk Health & Resilience portfolio given the state of the industry. My manager asked me to share these findings with the whole impact investing team in a final presentation to inform their agriculture sourcing strategy for the future.
Alex Weinberg | Jonathon Rose Companies, Acquisitions & Investments Intern
Jonathan Rose Companies is an affordable housing developer and owner/operator. Their mission is to create communities of opportunity where residents have safe, healthy, quality housing and a place to thrive. I came to Haas to work on issues of housing and urban development through the lens of real estate finance, so this was a perfect internship for me to explore that field.
I worked on the Acquisitions team, which invests in the preservation and rehabilitation of existing affordable housing properties. As an intern, I sourced and evaluated investment opportunities to find deals that met the firm's objectives, both in terms of financial returns and social impact. My work spanned across the country, including a transaction in the Bay Area that closed during my internship involving a public-private partnership with the regional housing authority.
Affordable housing is a challenging industry because the costs of building and managing real estate (especially where additional social services are provided) has increased astronomically in recent years, which only exacerbates the struggle to keep housing costs down for working class residents. This summer, I learned that policymakers, public officials, and private companies— when they work together—can collaborate on potential solutions that involve creative funding sources and mission-driven management.
Kelsie Smithson | REDF, Farber Fellow
During the summer, I had the privilege of working for REDF, a venture philanthropy firm that dedicates its efforts to strengthening employment-focused social enterprises across the United States. My professional background prior to my time at Haas was deeply rooted in the nonprofit and philanthropic sector so I was particularly enthused about REDF's unique approach, which seamlessly integrates social impact with business acumen.
My primary objective was to provide support to Neighborhood Industries, an enterprise based in Fresno, California. The organization was contemplating an expansion of their thrift store operation by opening a second location, and my role was to help in shaping their decision-making process. This included developing comprehensive evaluation criteria and conducting a feasibility analysis to assist Neighborhood Industries in making an informed choice. While the first half of my summer was dedicated to developing these tools, the latter part was spent formulating an operational plan that integrated the recommendations born from the evaluation criteria and feasibility analysis.
Working closely with the dedicated teams at REDF and Neighborhood Industries was a delightful experience. Their unwavering commitment to creating positive social impact and fostering sustainable, mission-driven enterprises reinvigorated my sense of purpose and resolve to pursue a mission-driven career post-Haas.
Ava Van der Meer | Williams-Sonoma, Inc., EDF Climate Corps Fellow
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSI) has committed to achieving a 14 percent absolute reduction in Scope 3 emissions by 2030. As a Climate Corps Fellow, I developed data-driven tools, strategic road maps, and educational resources to track vendor climate commitments, inform vendor engagement strategy, and empower proactive emissions reductions throughout the value chain.
The deliverables of the fellowship will empower 150+ of vendors in WSI’s value chain to set climate commitments and undertake emissions reduction actions, thereby supporting WSI’s mission.
Josefina Montero Saavedra | Africa Healthcare Network, Strategy Intern
Africa Healthcare Network is the first and largest dialysis chain across sub-Saharan Africa, providing high-quality, lifesaving services at affordable cost across forty centers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. AHN’s mission is to expand access to affordable, world-class lifesaving care across Africa. With five years of experience in the healthcare sector, working with a healthcare provider in a developing economy with multiple challenges in their system was very exciting to me. The complexity of the system, the lack of public-sector resources, and the huge gaps in healthcare accessibility for a population where 90 percent lives in rural areas and only 20 percent has healthcare insurance was inspiring, challenging, and fulfilling.
My project goal was to make a recommendation to AHN’s CEO and Executive Committee on which other healthcare services AHN should provide. I developed a framework for
evaluating and prioritizing new verticals within AHN´s existing countries of operations, research feasibility, and key parameters related to each potential new vertical. Working directly with the Chief of Staff and members of the Executive Committee, I engaged with hospital partners to understand their pain points in order to build a detailed business case around two to three high- priority new verticals. I also visited AHN´s existing centers to understand what makes AHN unique compared to other healthcare companies and engaged with hospital leaders to get their perspectives on areas where AHN might want to consider expanding its services.
The biggest challenges I faced were completing a research-focused project for the first time and overcoming the difficulties accessing quality data to inform the decision-making process. I learned how to start a research project from scratch, define frameworks that would help me structure the analysis, and define recommendations. I talked with different stakeholders of the healthcare system in Kenya to validate my hypothesis and get the insight that I needed to build on the analysis. This challenge taught me the importance of reaching out to experts that could support and validate my analysis. I learned how to network in a culture totally different from my own and how to influence and earn the trust of key stakeholders despite not knowing them. I learned about a new healthcare system in a different continent, but most importantly I learned from passionate people that are willing to give everything to improve access to healthcare in their country. It was inspiring.
Adebola Anthonia Adeniyi | Connectivity Capital, Impact Investing Summer Associate
Connectivity Capital is an impact investment firm focused on expanding internet access through debt financing in frontier markets. I worked directly on a debt financing deal for an internet service provider in Malawi that wanted to scale and expand internet access in the regions where the company was operating. I worked closely with an associate to develop a financial model for expansion, create a financing plan to show the trend of prior and current technology investments in Africa, and highlight the opportunities for future investments.
During my work, I spent most of my time reviewing the economic analysis report, researching multilateral organizations and the financial products available to African companies in the impact investing space. I learned about the basic infrastructure, development, and internet distribution in Africa and how my work would bridge the gap for the communities that directly received access to the internet.
My experience drastically challenged my comfort zone and propelled me to embrace flexibility toward my preconceived ideas around impact investing. I gained a great understanding of the flow and movement of funds in the impact investing landscape.
Roxana Obregón | Obran Health, Summer Strategist
Obran Health is a leader in the cooperative movement and is striving to make a new, more equitable economy possible. Obran's mission is to ensure everyone feels dignified at work by reducing income disparities and returning the ownership of businesses to workers. As a dual MBA/MPH student, I have come to appreciate how tackling inequality must be done in a multifold fashion. By branching into healthcare, Obran understands this as well. I was excited to work at an organization that was aligned with my passion to create positive change.
Over the summer, I worked on developing the growth strategy for Obran’s Home Health program. I performed a landscape analysis, outlining the current players, trends, technologies, and best practices in the market to stimulate growth. I completed a geographic hot-spotting analysis to recommend future areas to enter or potential partners to work with. I also recommended best-in-class tools to help scaffold new initiatives.
One of the major challenges I found was scheduling interviews with experts in the field. I was able to glean helpful and enriching details thanks to a series of interviews I conducted; however, I would have loved to interface with more folks.
With your support, we'll be able to help many more game-changing recipients develop their careers. Thank you for making an Impact!
It takes donations of all sizes to support our Haas community!
Feeling generous? Give one day worth of wages based on 2024 MBA internship income!
