Dear Impact Investing Colleagues:

As part of the NYU Stern Solutions experiential learning program, Professor Richard Levich and I will be leading our second Impact Investing in Family Offices seminar during the Spring 2018 semester.

During our inaugural seminar earlier this year, our MBA student teams worked with four partner firms to solve real time impact investing challenges. The engagements ranged from modeling solar energy projects and evaluating ESG rating systems to benchmarking legal and operating structures and landscaping community investment opportunities. We were very pleased with the results and would like to expand in 2018 to more students and partners.

If you are interested in being a partner or know of family offices that would be interested, there are more details below. This year, we have created a simple form for interested family offices to propose their consulting projects. Our goal is to select the participating family offices by November 15th and finalize the specific project scopes prior to the beginning of the seminar in January.

I appreciate your interest and look forward to hearing from you.

All the best,

Steve

Dear Colleagues,

With multi-generational investment horizons and the ability to flexibly deploy capital, family offices sit in a unique position to incorporate impact investing strategies into their operations. A range of impact investing initiatives for family offices has emerged. However, faced with the need to balance ongoing operations, family dynamics and investing, family offices may not have sufficient resources and staff to dedicate to this work even as its importance has increased with next generation family members.

Given this challenge and the strong interest among MBA students in impact investing, Stern is offering an impact investing seminar for our students with select New York area family offices. During our initial seminar in the Spring of 2017, our students worked with four partner organizations on projects ranging from modeling solar energy projects, to evaluating ESG rating systems, and landscaping community investment opportunities in a large U.S. city.

We encourage you to consider applying to be a partner family office for the Spring 2018 semester.

We have the following learning objectives for the students and outcomes for the family office participants:

Students:

Student teams of 3-4 MBAs undertake 12-week consulting engagements to complete an analysis of a “live” impact investing opportunity/challenge facing a family office. The final consulting deliverable is a presentation to the client and a written analysis.
The seminar combines in-class lectures, guest lectures and open clinic sessions. Students will receive credit for the seminar. Students are expected to work 5-10 hours per week on the consulting project in addition to the class. The opportunity to visit and meet with the family office team is a key part of the learning experience.
Students have the opportunity to develop client and consulting skills while sharpening quantitative and analytical skills on the creation of a clear work product. The experience of working face-to-face with a client on a real business issue is one of the most important course objectives. The teams operate independently and manage the scope and expectations of the client over the course of the engagement.

Family Offices:

The family office actively engages with the team and receives a customized work product addressing a clear business need. Project engagements can be tailored for family offices that are just exploring impact investing and also for others who have already made direct or fund investments and would like to evaluate their holdings or complete due diligence.
Family office members should expect to host the student teams at least three or four times throughout the semester in their offices to provide project check-ins and feedback. Should the students be working with confidential information, the appropriate safeguards are put in place. Each office designates an internal contact to serve as the point of contact. NYU faculty members work closely with each student team and the family office at every phase of the project to assure the relevance, quality and ultimate output of these efforts.

At the end of the semester, the students present their projects to their clients as well as the other family offices. In the inaugural spring 2017 class, our family office participants considered this one of the most valuable parts of their experience.

We will be offering the seminar during Spring 2018 semester. Our goal is to select the participating family offices by November 15th and finalize the specific project scopes prior to the beginning of the seminar in January.

In order to most easily connect family offices with the students, this year we have created a simple form for interested family offices to propose their consulting projects. We are, of course, happy to talk with you directly about possible projects and offer suggestions.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,
Steven Godeke
Adjunct Professor of Finance
NYU Stern School of Business

Richard M. Levich
Professor of Finance and International Business
Deputy Chair, Finance
NYU Stern School of Business