Sustainable Finance & Socially Responsible Investment

BNY Mellon Presents Inaugural Social Finance Prize at Aspen Institute Competition

May 5, 2015 1:30 PM ET
Campaign: BNY Mellon: Invested in Our World
BNY Mellon's Global Head of Corporate Social Responsibility John Buckley (at right) with the winners of the first ever BNY Mellon Social Finance Prize.

John Buckley, global head of corporate social responsibility (CSR) at BNY Mellon, presented the first ever BNY Mellon Social Finance Prize to a team of Rutgers MBA students at recent breakfast event at the NYC Yale Club for the Aspen Institute’s recent annual Business & Society International MBA Case Competition. Created in partnership with the Aspen Institute, the prize encourages innovation in social finance, a field that encompasses investment activities with both financial returns and significant social impact.

Buckley noted, “At BNY Mellon, we recognize the importance of ‘doing good to do well.’ We’ve aligned CSR and the business, and our focus on social finance is a powerful example of how we can use our investments expertise to support positive social and environmental outcomes. We believe the next generation of business leaders will be critical to defining business’ role in developing innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing issues, which is why we’re proud to award the Social Finance Prize.”

Teams submitting for the Prize were asked to consider how to further the field of corporate responsibility measurement or reporting. Specific questions included:

  • How can a company best measure its societal impact?
  • With whom and how should a responsible business communicate information about its societal impact?

“It was inspiring to see the passion of the next generation of leaders for leveraging their business skills to develop solutions that positively impact both business and society,” said Buckley.

The Rutgers student team’s recommendation focused on further developing existing guidelines to provide financial services companies with a corporate responsibility metric to evaluate performance in emerging markets. The students will work with an organization to implement their recommendation, and BNY Mellon will direct $15,000 to the organization to improve social responsibility standards.

Learn more about BNY Mellon’s CSR program and social finance focus.