Social Impact ventures

Bain people don't need to leave the firm to have an impact on the world. Many do Social Impact work as part of their regular jobs. And many take advantage of the Social Impact ventures Bain offers to gain even deeper experience.

Externships
The Social Impact externships are a high-priority professional development program that offers consultants well-rounded experiences and leadership opportunities. Externs leave Bain temporarily—while still maintaining the firm's full support—to work for a wide variety of NGOs and public sector organizations.


Mayuri Shah, for instance, is a senior associate consultant who spent several months with the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) in India. CHAI works on several different health programs in addition to its focus on HIV/AIDS—and thanks to her Bain experience, Shah could play a leadership role on projects such as providing malnourished children with therapeutic food. "I generally would own the project, with assistance from technical experts such as doctors when needed," she said.
Fellowships
Social Impact fellowships provide the kind of hands-on experience in the social sector that future leaders need. Social Impact fellows are new hires who delay their start date by three months and join a nonprofit or social enterprise with financial support from Bain.

New consultant Brian Bartlett, for example, joined the Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic in Tanzania, helping to establish basic design requirements for the ship that serves as the clinic and leading meetings with local authorities.

A popular Bain Social Impact fellowship sponsors people to build homes around the world through Habitat for Humanity. In just two years, Bain teams have built homes in nearly 20 countries, including Zambia, Malaysia and Kyrgyzstan.

Fellowships-Hungary
Leave of absence
Consultants at any level can be granted an extended leave of absence when an opportunity arises for an individual to take on a major project outside of Bain.

atlanta_capitolIn 2011, for instance, partner Peter Aman was winding up a two-year stint as chief operating officer for the city of Atlanta—a position overseeing most of the city government. Aman brought Bain's emphasis on results to Atlanta; in a relatively short time his teams achieved such goals as dramatically improving EMS response times, increasing the reliability of garbage pickup and adding police officers and firefighters, all while cutting overall expenses by some $16 million.

Not surprisingly, Bain people also serve on hundreds of different NGO and nonprofit boards, from the United Way to GLAAD. It's another opportunity to bring our training and experience to organizations that are most eager for it.
  • Experiential learning

    These are just a few of the organizations that Bain employees have helped through the Social Impact externship and fellowship programs:

    • Acumen Fund
    • African Leadership Academy
    • Ashoka 
    • The Bridgespan Group
    • Clinton Foundation 
    • Department for Energy and Climate Change
    • Endeavor Global
    • GoodStart Childcare 
    • Gramshree Trust
    • Green Dot Public Schools
    • Private Equity Foundation
    • Teach for America
    • TechnoServe 
    • Ugandan American Partnership Organization
    • World Childhood Foundation
  • Bridgespan collaboration

    bridgespan_165
    Bain and Bridgespan collaborate to provide clients with the most effective management insights and tools