Watch Live: 2020 Goldman Sachs Gives Analyst Impact Fund Finals

Event Overview & Participation

• The 2020 Analyst Impact Fund Finals, the fifth annual iteration of the competition, was held virtually and in-person with safety protocols.
• The event faced initial debate within the Partnership Committee regarding feasibility due to remote work challenges but proceeded to promote collaboration and philanthropy.
• 733 analysts from 30 locations participated, generating over 250 submissions addressing issues such as climate change, vaccine distribution, and racial equity.
• The six finalist teams pitched their non-profit organizations for the opportunity to receive a $250,000 first-prize grant.
• Total prize funding for the competition exceeded $585,000, distributed across first ($250k), second ($100k), third ($75k), and fourth through sixth ($25k each) places.
• An additional $25,000 "fan favorite" award was created for audience voting, separate from the committee's decisions.

Judging Criteria & Process

• Teams presented for six minutes, followed by two questions: one from a Partnership Committee member and one from an audience member.
• Finalist teams were evaluated based on innovation, scalability, impact, measurement, and overall presentation.
• Voting was conducted via email survey for the Partnership Committee and leadership, while a separate email-based vote determined the "fan favorite" recipient.

Finalist Presentations & Proposals

• Black Girl Ventures (Team 1: New York)

  • Proposed addressing the disparity where Black women entrepreneurs receive only 0.2% of total venture funding despite starting businesses at high rates.
  • Requested $250,000 to establish New York City as an official chapter, scaling pitch competitions from one to four annually and incubating 20+ new businesses.
  • Plan to deploy remaining funds to scale the "SheRays" FinTech platform and digital infrastructure globally.
  • Requested Goldman Sachs to engage in a partnership involving employee mentorship, board advisory, and access to the firm's entrepreneur networks.

• Khushi Baby (Team 2: Bengaluru/Tokyo)

  • Pitched to digitize healthcare records in rural India to prevent 1.5 million annual global infant deaths from vaccine-preventable diseases.
  • The organization has already improved infant immunization odds by 66% and reduced malnutrition odds by 26% using digital health cards.
  • Sought $250,000 to purchase smartphones for 1,500 health workers to track 50,000 new infants and save 2,000 lives annually.
  • The grant aims to unlock an additional $1.5 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and expand tracking to include coronavirus and tuberculosis.
  • Implemented biometric facial scan authentication and hosted data on the Government of Rajasthan's top-tier data centers for security.

• CHaN (Team 3: London)

  • Addressed gender-based violence, noting that abuse incidents increased by 30% during the pandemic, affecting 250 million women annually globally.
  • A volunteer-based network providing multilingual guides, chatbots, and micro-courses to support abuse survivors.
  • Requested $250,000 to hire dedicated staff (community manager and fundraiser) to replace volatile volunteer hours and secure sustainable funding.
  • Projected goal to expand reach to 500,000 individuals annually by 2022.
  • Proposed partnership with Goldman Sachs to support diversity goals and provide internal well-being resources using CHaN's intersectionality framework.

• Switch On (Team 4: India)

  • Targeted marginal farmers, particularly women, who lack collateral and face high-interest informal credit, leading to reliance on polluting diesel pumps.
  • Proposed a revolving guarantee fund to secure bank loans for solar water pumps, projected to increase farmer income by 260% with zero loan defaults in pilots.
  • Requested $250,000 to leverage an equivalent of $2.2 million in loans over 10 years, helping 20,000 farmers access sustainable irrigation.
  • Mitigation strategy includes financial literacy training and buyback agreements with manufacturers to recover 60% of loan costs in case of default.
  • Projected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5,000 tons and escape the generational cycle of poverty for 128,000 people.

• Buy Food with Plastic (Team 5: Switzerland)

  • Founded on a model allowing families to purchase relief packages with PET bottles, tackling plastic pollution and malnutrition simultaneously.
  • Currently relies on donations and lacks machinery to process collected bottles into reusable products.
  • Requested $125,000 (from the $250k grant) to purchase machinery to wash, shred, and mold 7 million PET bottles annually into furniture.
  • Business plan involves selling recycled ergonomic chairs to high-end markets to create financial self-sustainability and fund 12 full-time jobs.
  • Projected to produce 360 chairs monthly, capable of feeding 15,000 families annually once fully operational.

• Serum (Team 6: New York)

  • Addressed the waste of $5 billion in usable prescription drugs annually while 50 million Americans cannot afford their medication.
  • Connects unused, unexpired medicine from hospitals to 10 million underserved Americans, currently serving 150 people monthly at $2/prescription.
  • Requested $250,000 to expand patient access to 1 million individuals across six new states over five years.
  • Fund allocation includes: $100k for SMS outreach systems, $50k for Spanish language support, and $100k for warehouse automation.
  • Operating under Good Samaritan laws in 38 states, utilizing sealed and barcoded medications to prevent tampering and ensure regulatory compliance.

Competition Results & Awards

• Third Place: CHaN (London), receiving a $75,000 grant.
• Second Place: Black Girl Ventures (New York), receiving a $100,000 grant.
• First Place: Serum (New York), receiving the $250,000 grant and the additional $25,000 "fan favorite" award.
• Winners were selected by the Partnership Committee and David Solomon based on the projected impact and scalability of their proposals.

Strategic Context & Legacy

• Over the past five years, 2,700 analysts from 40 offices have participated, resulting in $2.1 million in grants awarded to 69 nonprofits.
• Goldman Sachs Matches: Employee donations of $25 or less to any of the 250 submitted nonprofits are matched 3-to-1 by the firm.
• Previous winners included "Days for Girls" (2019) and the "Solar Water Project" (2018), establishing a history of diverse social impact.
• The competition serves as a key mechanism for the firm to engage junior talent in philanthropy and foster cross-office collaboration.