M Force is the student arm of CSIL comprised of dedicated student leaders with strong interest in introducing Social Entrepreneurship professional and academic activities to the MIIS campus. M Force engages student leadership to implement CSIL priority initiatives during the academic year.
M Force is divided into multiple sub groups focusing on key activities around campus and which engage the community at large. To learn more about M Force activities and connect with the members, please contact the Student Impact Coordinator, Courtney Kemp at ckemp@miis.edu
Currently, there are three consultant groups working on B-Corps Certification, Impact Management, and Impact Investing:
B-Corps Certification Taskforce:
B Corps are for-profit companies certified by the nonprofit B Lab to meet rigorous standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.
Today, there is a growing community of more than 1,600 Certified B Corps from 42 countries and over 120 industries working together toward 1 unifying goal: to redefine success in business.
The B-Corps Consultancy Task Force works with for-profit clients interested in obtaining their B-Corp certification, completing and assessing the company’s B Impact Assessment (BIA) and making any necessary improvements or changes. This can include writing company policies, creating impact reports, identifying sustainability gaps around the areas of governance, the environment, customers, community, and business impact models, and participating in a final B Lab audit.
Last year, the group achieved re-certification for Brand Geek, a law firm working to protect and strengthen social enterprises. The group raised the company’s BIA score from 44 to over 100, achieving not only more than the required 80 points but the highest BIA score ever for a law firm of Brand Geek’s kind. Current clients include the Law Office of Maija West, a local law firm advocating for human rights in Monterey County.
Future clients will include various social enterprises and other “impact first” companies seeking first-time B-Corp certification or re-certification.
Impact Management Task Force:
There are a variety of benefits associated with measuring and managing a firm’s social and environmental impact, and entities from all sectors are increasingly seeking to measure the impact they create through their activities.
AID: Tech is one of the only firms of its kind specializing in block chain technology, facilitating aid payments from governments, charities, and multilateral agencies to program participants in need (recent programs include facilitating aid payments to refugees in France and Lebanon). Through its block chain technology, the company increases transparency, decreases corruption, and creates efficiencies for aid organizations, streamlining the delivery of development and humanitarian assistance.
The Impact Measurement Taskforce works with AID: Tech to measure the impact of its business operations on its clients, as well as that of their program participants. This includes researching the vast array of methods to measuring social and environmental impact, developing indicators and collecting data about them, and producing a Social Return on Investment (SROI) analysis. It also includes an analysis of the financial benefits Aid:Tech brings its clients.
Impact Investing Early Stage Due Diligence Taskforce:
Impact Investing is the practice of making investments into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return. The amassed demand for impact investing knowledge and practice is growing among foundations, venture capitalists, and even retail investors, but there is a large gap in service.
The Impact Investing Due Diligence Taskforce helps firms meet the demand for services by conducting early stage due diligence into potential clients around financial, social, and environmental viability and impact. Current projects include designing impact frameworks for firms on the individual and portfolio level, conducting market analyses around specific impact areas and asset classes, and producing professional reports around impact measurement and management trends in the impact investing space.
Clients include Align Impact, a Santa Monica-based wealth management firm, and Beyond Capital Fund, a New York-based impact fund.