The Navab Social Impact Fellowship Fund was first established in 2019 through the generosity of Alexander Navab (MBA 1991) and then endowed by his widow Mary Kathryn Navab in 2025. It is the Navab family’s hope that support from this fund helps recipients accelerate and advance their venture creation in social impact sectors.

SIFF awards $200,000 in grants annually, over the course of three pitch days (fall, spring, and summer with $60-75K distributed per semester). Multiple teams can be funded each round. Grants average between $4,000-15,000, though it can vary.

In addition to funding to propel their ventures, recipients gain valuable feedback from and exposure to expert judges. They will join a growing network of past SIFF winners who are forging paths in social entrepreneurship.

Open to Harvard student-led ventures that meet all the following criteria without exception:

• The venture has an active founder or co-founder who is a matriculated, degree-seeking Harvard undergraduate or graduate Harvard student, Harvard postdoctoral fellow or clinical fellow.
• The venture has not pitched in a previous round.
• The venture has not raised more than $750K
• This is a startup venture and not an initiative
• The venture can have any incorporation status including none

Traction, one of...

• A good number of active users (e.g. 300+ individuals, or 2+ organizations)
• Written partnerships
• External funding (investment or donations from arms-length funders) OR intellectual property

Proven Impact

• The venture shows significant social impact on lives or climate
• Data that what you are doing works (e.g. user retention, user satisfaction, or your impact metrics, and supplemented by testimonials)
• Can articulate a path to scale

1. Review our SIFF Applicant Resources to help you prepare a competitive application.
2. Complete the online application, which includes submitting a pitch deck. You must demonstrate traction (you need one of the following: active users, written partnerships, external funding, OR intellectual property) as well as to show impact, and be able to articulate a path to scale. You don’t have to be perfect on your pitch — the i-lab team can work with you on that!
3. The Social Impact Fellowship Fund Committee reviews and evaluates all applications.
4. Five to seven ventures (each round) are invited to pitch virtually to the SIFF judges, comprised of senior impact entrepreneurs, funders, and operators.
5. After the virtual pitch day, the SIFF judges determine the number of grants and grant amounts and notify winners.
6. Harvard Innovation Labs staff works with winners to disburse the funds as an unrestricted grant, either to the individual or to the venture entity (the later is often preferred by teams).

The Fine Print

By submitting an application, you consent to the release of information contained in your application to the Navab Social Impact Fellowship Fund. Do not include confidential information in your application.

Ventures that are not selected to pitch may reapply for future rounds, especially if they have achieved significant traction since the time of application.