NYU Wagner's New Initiative in the Field of Social Finance Receives Grant from W.K. Kellogg Foundation

NYU Wagner has received a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation to support the graduate school’s burgeoning initiatives to strengthen the field of social finance.

The $60,000 grant “to strengthen the field of social finance and its adoption through research, convening, and training activities” follows the introduction, at the start of the current academic year, of the Social Innovation & Investment Initiative specialization offered at NYU Wagner. The courses in this area of concentration blend financial management, impact investment, operations, and policy to prepare students to develop entrepreneurial solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Furthermore, planned activities in social finance will include a full-day symposium this spring, a case analysis, and the establishment of a research and training center. Additional efforts are aimed at creating a student-designed and -operated social impact investment fund.

“Impact investing, at the intersection of market and policy, represents a pioneering space for a Master of Public Administration program. As we develop opportunities for students to study, explore, and ultimately enter this huge and evolving field, we are extremely grateful for the critical support the W.K. Kellogg Foundation is providing,” said Scott Taitel, Clinical Professor of Public Service and Director of Social Finance at NYU Wagner.

“Our unique specialization, coupled with a series of closely aligned opportunities and initiatives, trains our students to be agents of social change. By speaking both the business and the policy language, students will be able to create policy, products, services, delivery systems, enterprises, and investment approaches necessary to improve lives and solve major domestic and global challenges,” he said.