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10th Annual Goldman Sachs Gives Analyst Impact Fund
Goldman SachsKunal Shah, Asahi Pompei, Rob Lightfoot, Rishi Sunak, Lena Eberhardt, Kenne Ijekeme, Dr. Alex Dagan, Una Bradley, Cynthia Kahumbura, Gunjan Samtani, Pablo Salome, Edith Cooper, Julian Salisbury, Jim Cramer, Billie Jean King
- The Goldman Sachs Gives Analyst Impact Fund (AIF) celebrates its 10th anniversary, having evolved from a pilot initiative seeded by the Partnership Committee into a firm-wide program.
- Since inception, the program has mobilized 7,000 analysts to support 170 non-profits with a total grant volume of $5.5 million.
- Participation metrics show exponential growth, rising from 1,000 analysts across the first three years combined to 1,000 analysts participating in a single recent year.
- Recent winning proposals have addressed critical global issues including maternal health, elementary education in underserved communities, clean water solutions, and disability employment support.
- The 2024 finals were held in London for the second consecutive year, a decision driven by London teams securing four of the previous nine wins.
- The judging panel included Kunal Shah (Co-CEO, Goldman Sachs International), former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, former Partnership Committee co-chair Pablo Salame, and 65 partner judges who evaluated preliminary rounds.
- Goldman Sachs is awarding grants to four finalist teams with a total prize pool of $550,000 distributed across the finalists.
- Lifelights (Team London):
- Proposed a $250,000 grant to accelerate assistive technology for children with life-limiting conditions globally.
- Submitted a three-pillar plan: accelerating tech innovation (e.g., AI facial recognition for pain communication), building an online education platform for care providers, and launching a global consultancy service.
- Stated that funding would allow the organization to triple its impact and expand from the UK to international markets like the US, Germany, and Hong Kong.
- Let's Get Ready (Team Dallas):
- Requested a $250,000 grant to triple annual student enrollment by 2030 for low-income and first-generation college students.
- Plans to allocate funds equally between program delivery and technology infrastructure, including AI enhancements for near-peer coaches and a predictive risk model for dropout prevention.
- Currently serves 32,000 students with a 64% graduation rate, more than double the national average for low-income students.
- Conservation X-Labs (Team Asia Pacific):
- Pitched a three-part plan using a grant to train AI models on rare species, upgrade Sentinel hardware for high-resolution imaging, and deploy 100 devices in under-resourced areas.
- Highlights Sentinel, a device using on-device AI to analyze wildlife footage in real-time, reducing monitoring time from 60 hours to 60 seconds.
- Cites a successful pilot in New Zealand where Sentinels flagged 100% of rodent invasions, saving millions of dollars and 25 species.
- Jacaranda Health (Team New York/San Francisco):
- Sought a $250,000 grant to expand the "PROMPTS" AI-enabled text messaging platform to Nigeria, Ghana, and Tanzania.
- Proposal included $100,000 for language expansion to reach 100,000 additional mothers and $150,000 for headcount to facilitate government partnerships and geographic scaling.
- The platform currently supports 3 million mothers in Kenya, connecting users to care via text without requiring internet access.
- Final results for the 10th annual finals were announced as follows:
- Fourth Place ($50,000 grant): Let's Get Ready.
- Third Place ($75,000 grant): Conservation X-Labs.
- Second Place ($100,000 grant + $25,000 Fan Favorite): Lifelights.
- First Place ($250,000 grant): Jacaranda Health.
- Pablo Salame reflected on the program's origin, noting the initial concept was introduced to him by Julian Salisbury to broaden the Partnership Committee's community impact beyond its existing donor base.
- Kunal Shah advised analysts to actively propose ideas and leverage the firm's culture of internal mobility and multi-career progression within different regions and product lines.
- The program is recognized as a cultural differentiator that trains junior talent in leadership, cross-office networking, and navigating organizational complexities.
- A "Fan Favorite" award was introduced this year, with voting conducted by both the audience and students from PS 218 in the South Bronx.