Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation

Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation
Name	Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation
Founded	1999
Location	Chicago, Illinois
Parent organization	Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
Focus	Social innovation, nonprofit management, impact investing, leadership development

Contents

Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation is an academic center based at the Booth School of Business within the University of Chicago that supports leaders in the social sector through education, research, and practice. The center engages with practitioners from philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, impact investing, and public policy while collaborating with institutions such as Harvard Kennedy School, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Columbia Business School, London School of Economics, and Kellogg School of Management. Its work intersects with initiatives like the Skoll Foundation, Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation, and MacArthur Foundation to scale innovations in social impact, nonprofit strategy, and mission-driven entrepreneurship.

History

Rustandy Center for Social Sector Innovation was established at the University of Chicago with support from donors including the Rustandy family, aligning with broader trends exemplified by the founding of centers like the Yale Center for Business and the Environment, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and the Center for Effective Philanthropy. Early collaborations linked the center to programs at the Aspen Institute, Brookings Institution, Chicago Community Trust, and the Corporation for National and Community Service. Over time the center expanded programming in parallel to developments at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, the School for Social Entrepreneurs, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, responding to crises seen in contexts like Hurricane Katrina, 2008 financial crisis, and global public health events such as the 2014 West Africa Ebola outbreak.

The center's mission emphasizes leadership development, capacity building, and evidence-based practice, resonating with missions of organizations like Teach For America, AmeriCorps, PATH, Doctors Without Borders, and The Nature Conservancy. Goals include strengthening nonprofit strategy, fostering impact investing pipelines akin to Acumen Fund and Root Capital, and promoting evaluation practices used by GiveWell, Innovation Network, and Bridges Fund Management. Strategic aims mirror priorities of policy actors such as the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, World Bank, United Nations Development Programme, and advocacy groups like Human Rights Watch.

Programmatic work includes executive education modeled after offerings at INSEAD, Harvard Business School, and Wharton School, internships patterned on collaborations with Teach For America, Peace Corps, and City Year, and fellowship models similar to Ashoka Fellowship, Echoing Green Fellowship, and Acumen Fellowship. Initiatives span capacity-building labs, impact investing practicums with partners like Calvert Impact Capital and BlueOrchard, and accelerator programs similar to MassChallenge and Catapult. The center convenes conferences resembling Skoll World Forum, runs curriculum development comparable to Stanford Social Innovation Review casework, and hosts speaker series featuring leaders from United Way, Salvation Army, Heifer International, and World Health Organization.

Research outputs draw on methodologies used at National Bureau of Economic Research, RAND Corporation, Urban Institute, and Pew Research Center, producing case studies in the style of Harvard Business School, working papers similar to Brookings Institution reports, and policy briefs akin to Center for Global Development notes. Publications examine topics relevant to microfinance, social entrepreneurship, impact investing, and nonprofit governance with comparative analyses referencing work by Muhammad Yunus, Michael Porter, Elinor Ostrom, and Esther Duflo. The center disseminates findings through channels such as the Chicago Booth Review, academic journals like Journal of Public Economics, and practitioner outlets comparable to Stanford Social Innovation Review.

Governance structures reflect models used at the Booth School of Business and other centers headed by directors with profiles similar to leaders at Skoll Foundation, Ashoka, Bridges Fund Management, and Acumen. The center's leadership has worked with advisory boards composed of executives from Chicago Community Trust, McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company, Deloitte, and nonprofit leaders from Feeding America and Habitat for Humanity. Faculty affiliates come from departments represented by scholars at University of Chicago Law School, Chicago Department of Sociology, Department of Economics, and visiting fellows from Harvard Kennedy School and Yale School of Management.

Impact assessment practices draw on evaluation frameworks used by GiveWell, Center for Effective Philanthropy, Independent Sector, and Innovation Network, employing metrics akin to Social Return on Investment and randomized evaluation designs seen in J-PAL studies. Case-level impacts cite partnerships with organizations such as One Acre Fund, Khan Academy, City Year, and Civic Federation, with external evaluations conducted by firms like Mathematica Policy Research and RAND Corporation. Longitudinal outcomes are tracked in concert with institutional partners including Chicago Public Schools, Illinois Governor's Office, and national networks like National Council of Nonprofits.