NEW YORK -- The inaugural Liquidnet Impact Challenge offers business students across the U.S. the chance to transform how individuals approach charitable giving. Developed by Liquidnet, the premier institutional investment community, in close collaboration with Net Impact, a global organization of students and professionals using business to improve the world, the competition challenges both undergraduate and graduate business students who are members of the Net Impact community to submit their best ideas about how to engage more traditional donors to become social investors.
“We believe that in a more perfect world, nonprofit donors should behave more like investors, efficiently allocating capital to those organizations that are sustainably achieving the greatest social impact,” says Brian Walsh, who oversees Liquidnet For Good™, Liquidnet’s social engagement program. “This competition is designed to foster collaboration among students in order to find fresh ideas about how to accomplish this.”
Teams of three to four students are asked to develop a marketing campaign, an online resource or some other tool that provides a new way of thinking about the giving process. One finalist will be selected by public vote and the remaining four to six finalists will be selected by a panel of judges. The winning team will receive $7,500 and $2,500 to donate to a charity of choice. Awards will also be granted to second and third place winners.
“The Net Impact community is an engaged group focused on using the power of business to create a more socially and environmentally sustainable world,” says Liz Maw, Executive Director of Net
Impact. “This competition provides a unique opportunity for our members to develop solutions that will potentially have a long-term positive impact on smart giving.”
Since 2007, Liquidnet has committed its time, expertise, resources and a portion of its revenues to tackle global challenges and strengthen local communities. Through its Markets for Good TM initiative Liquidnet is galvanizing the players in the philanthropic ecosystem to reduce the transaction costs of giving and to create more opportunities for value-driven allocation of philanthropic resources. Knowing that social impact requires a variety of tools – from lending and investing to donating and volunteering, Liquidnet is helping to drive the conversation between the philanthropic, impact investing, and traditional investing communities.
“Liquidnet was founded to build a more efficient market for the buy-side investment community. We are now applying that same problem solving approach to improve inefficiencies that currently exist within the
philanthropic sector,” says Walsh.
For more information about contest guidelines, eligibility and additional background information, please visit www.netimpact.org.
About Liquidnet
Liquidnet is the premier institutional investment community, bringing together the world’s largest asset managers and public companies on a single network that directly connects traders, portfolio managers, analysts and corporate issuers. Liquidnet enables Members of its community to achieve greater performance by moving from investment idea to implementation faster, ultimately retaining more alpha throughout the entire institutional investment cycle. Launched in 2001, the Liquidnet Community™ extends to 37 equity markets across five continents. Liquidnet is headquartered in New York with offices in Boston, London, San Francisco, Chicago, Toronto, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney and Singapore. For more information on the Liquidnet community, its liquidity, block executions, and additional investment capabilities, visit www.liquidnet.com.
About Net Impact
Net Impact inspires a new generation of leaders to put their business skills to work for a better world. We help members transform their careers into ones that make a ‘net impact’—benefiting not just the bottom line, but people and planet too. More than 20,000 student and professional members turn to Net Impact for learning, connections, and leadership opportunities. Net Impact chapters can be found in cities across the globe and on the world’s leading business school campuses.