Sorenson Impact

📢 Share this opportunity for students at The University of Utah!

We are pleased to offer the course “Social Impact Strategy and Innovation” in partnership with the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business.

In this course, instructed by Dr. Allison Boxer, students will learn how to embed and measure social considerations into strategy while still prioritizing business success. This course is open to all majors across the university. Add it to your fall 2026 schedule: https://sorensonimpactinstitute.com/classes/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=student_program

📚 STRAT 5100 / STRAT 6100
⏰ Monday / Wednesday 11:50 a.m. – 1:10 p.m.
🧑‍🎓 3 Credit Hours

Utah’s transition to a more resilient economy will require new approaches to financing housing, infrastructure, and energy systems, an area where SustainEnergyFinance (SEF) is working to play a catalytic role. SEF operates as Utah’s green bank, using innovative financial tools to expand access to clean energy and housing solutions across the state. 💡☀️

The Institute developed an impact measurement and management framework for SEF to prove the financial viability of green projects. In this conversation, Dr. Nzinga Broussard, Senior Director of Impact Measurement at the Institute, and Shawna Gabriela Cuan, CEO and Co-founder of SEF, discuss how a foundation of data helps drive investment in clean energy and why the transition to clean energy is key to a better future for Utah families.

Funding The Clean Energy Economy For A Healthier, More Resilient Utah How a foundation of data helps drive investment in clean energy and why the transition to clean energy is key to a better future for Utah families.

👋 Our Venture Capital & Impact Investing team is looking for a Senior Associate to join our Salt Lake City-based venture investing and student training program.

The Senior Associate will join a team investing in high-impact entrepreneurs to drive meaningful positive impact and simultaneously train the next generation of finance and impact investing professionals. The right candidate will have 4+ years of experience in investing or related fields and a commitment to social innovation and impact.

🔗 Learn more and apply here, or share this opportunity with your network! https://sorensonimpactinstitute.com/careers/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=job_opening

University of Utah David Eccles School of Business

Laurie Spengler, a Global Impact Leader and the founder and CEO of Courageous Capital Advisors, has spent her career in strategy and investment banking, specifically in capital raising, M&A, and private equity transactions with a focus on positive impact. 💡👏

In partnership with the Institute’s Student Program, Laurie is teaching a new course at the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business, “Entrepreneurial Finance: Introduction to Impact Investing.” Through interactive discussions, case studies, and hands-on projects, the course introduces students to impact investing and explores how investors fund ideas that tackle global challenges.

💬🎓 In this Q&A, Laurie discusses the course and what makes it valuable for business students, The University of Utah, and the field of impact investing.

Impact & Prosperity Epicenter

Empowering The Next Generation Of Impact Leaders Laurie Spengler discusses her new impact investing course and what makes it valuable for business students, the University of Utah, and the field of impact investing.

Mark Newberg is the newest Sorenson Impact Institute Global Impact Leader and the Founder and President of Stockbridge Advisors, a Boston-based impact management consulting firm that guides institutions, corporations, and entities across sectors in integrating impact into the core of their organizations.

Having worked at the heart of the impact economy for more than 15 years, Mark helps senior leadership at for-profit companies, foundations, funds, and nonprofits navigate difficult decisions and build successful strategies that use impact to improve outcomes. 💡

In this Q&A, Mark shares the decision-making lens he advises impact leaders to use in today’s volatile business environment, the role impact investing needs to play in the current ecosystem, and why community convenings are critical to the growth of the impact field.

Leading From Your North Star in Times of Uncertainty With Mark Newberg Mark Newberg shares the decision-making lens he advises impact leaders to use in today’s volatile business environment.

Meet Alan Lo, a manager on our Impact Finance team! 👋💡

In his role, Alan helps purpose-driven organizations connect with mission-aligned capital. This can involve quantifying the socioeconomic value created through our clients’ work, designing and structuring financing mechanisms that help channel more capital toward impact, and supporting partnerships that strengthen and grow the broader impact ecosystem.

Since joining the team four years ago, Alan has worked on a range of meaningful and complex projects across multiple thematic areas, including mental health and affordable housing. His work has also spanned diverse communities, including rural populations and Indigenous communities.

"What I value most is being able to contribute to work that not only supports individual organizations but also helps strengthen systems that enable more equitable and sustainable outcomes," Alan says.

👉 Meet the rest of our team: https://sorensonimpactinstitute.com/sorenson-team/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=meet_the_team

👋💬 Did you miss our informational session about the Collaboration Fund RFP? The recording is now available!

During the session, Katie Macc, CEO of the Institute, and Margot Brandenburg, Senior Program Officer at the Ford Foundation, answered questions about the Collaboration Fund RFP, a $1 million pooled grant fund that aims to strengthen the impact investing ecosystem by reducing fragmentation and financial stress among nonprofit field-building organizations in the impact investing and inclusive capital ecosystems.

▶️ Watch the recording to learn more about the fund's goals, qualifications for the RFP, and potential uses of proceeds.

Funding for Strategic Collaboration in the Impact Investing Sector: A Live Q&A Addressing Inquiries about the $1M Collaboration Fund - Sorenson Impact Institute Katie Macc of the Sorenson Impact Institute and Margot Brandenburg of Ford Foundation Answer Questions About the Collaboration Fund The impact investing movement’s impressive scale in recent years can be credited in large part to an expansion of dynamic, courageous field-building organizations. Ye...

This week, Sorenson Impact Advisory, part of the Sorenson Impact Group, announced the addition of six professionals from Align Impact, a Denver-based impact advisory firm. The move brings together two of the most credentialed impact-focused practices in the country under one platform and marks a defining moment for the independent impact advisory space. 👏

The incoming team from Align is led by Matthew Weatherley-White, one of the architects of modern impact investing, and Jack Meyercord, who brings more than 20 years of institutional and public-markets investment experience. ➡️ Learn more: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260428751238/en/Sorenson-Impact-Advisory-Unites-Industry-Leading-Talent-to-Shape-the-Next-Era-of-Impact-Investing

As part of our mission to equip the next generation of changemakers, we offer an Impact Investing and Venture Capital (VC) training program with the University of Utah David Eccles School of Business. 🎓

Students work alongside Impact Investing staff to deploy $3MM in capital annually, presenting diligence and investment recommendations at Investment Committee (IC) meetings. These critical early-stage VC checkpoints give interns the rare opportunity to present and defend their recommendations to experienced investors as active contributors to investment decisions.

Two highlights from recent IC meetings:

💡 The Joan & Tim Fenton Founders Fund focuses on investing in pre-seed investments that advance innovation and quality of life in the Mountain West. The most recent Fenton Fund IC meeting was held at Pelion Venture Partners, where students presented two deals for review and heard from Pelion investors on how AI is rapidly changing technology.

💡 Through its Program Related Investment (PRI) portfolio, the Sorenson Impact Foundation invests in commercially scalable solutions that create meaningful impact for low-income populations. At a recent IC meeting, students presented an investment opportunity focused on improving energy efficiency and tenant quality of life in low-income housing.

Learn more about our student program: https://sorensonimpactinstitute.com/studentprogram/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=organic&utm_content=student_program