The Social Impact Fellowship Fund provides grants to social impact ventures led by Harvard students.

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

The fund was established in 2019 through the generosity of Alexander Navab. It was Mr. Navab’s hope that support from this fund would help recipients accelerate and advance their venture creation in social impact sectors.

Applications are currently closed.

Available Funding

The Social Impact Fellowship Fund 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 $5,000-20,000, though it can vary.

Eligibility

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.

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

• 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

Application + Selection Process

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 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.

Full-time, degree-seeking Harvard students and select alumni and affiliates are eligible to participate in this annual global venture competition. Ventures compete to win a share of $515,000 in non-dilutive funding from the Bertarelli Foundation. Applications open each fall.