November 2025 Newsletter
Build a Venture in the Impact Studio Incubator – Winter Applications Open
Apply by Monday, December 8th @ Noon ET
Calling all current U-M students! Do you have an idea for a venture that you want to bring to life? Want to explore the entrepreneur’s journey from concept to scale? If so, we want you! Come join our vibrant collaborative community in the Impact Studio incubator. We partner with BCG, Ann Arbor SPARK, and other ecosystem partners to provide mentorship and resources for students to launch their impactful ideas.
The Impact Studio Founders Program helps impact-driven creators and innovators bring impactful ideas to life. Using business knowledge, design tools, and research expertise, our experienced and interdisciplinary coaches and fellows roll up their sleeves and work alongside founders to accomplish great things.
Applebaum Impact Design Fellows are part of an interdisciplinary cohort working to support the Impact Studio Founders Program & prototype studio concepts.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT BOTH PROGRAMS
Apply to be a Founder | Apply to be a Fellow
Golub Capital Board Fellows Lightning Talks Open to the Campus Community
“Financial Oversight: The Board’s Role” with Vance Jackson
Fri, Feb. 13 @ Noon
Room TBA
Nonprofit Lightning Talks is a 2025-26 series, brought to you by the University of Michigan Golub Capital Nonprofit Board Fellows Program. Just yesterday, we offered a session on “Assessing Your Impact” with Sue Ann Savas. This entire series is open to the campus community and aims to equip you with concrete examples and actionable tools within each of the content areas of nonprofit governance covered.
DNEP Puts the Fun in Finance
Michigan Ross staff Siobhan Barrett and Christie Baer, along with Ross part-time MBA student (and full-time ProsperUs Detroit loan officer) Marco Andrade, Jr. and Ross alumni Paul Steih had a great time connecting with mission-based lenders at the 41st Opportunity Finance Network conference in October. During their Deep Dive session, the team described how DNEP’s accounting program leverages student talent to provide Detroit businesses with 1:1 support, plus provided practical advice for how other mission-based might find a university partner to establish their own programs.
DNEP’s accounting program brings together six community partners—ProsperUs Detroit, Invest Detroit, Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation, Live6 Alliance, Jefferson East, Inc., and the University of Michigan Detroit Center—to expand access to capital while building a new talent pipeline for the CDFI sector.
ESG Workshop
Open to all students at U-M and strongly encouraged for ESG concentrators. The landscape of mandatory ESG reporting is rapidly evolving. In this workshop we examine these emerging regulations and discuss the challenges and opportunities surrounding mandatory reporting. We will also compare and contrast the SEC’s climate change proposal with international requirements including the CSRD and IFRS S1 and S2.
Learn How Partnerships are Transforming Impact Studio Offerings
In a new article on Medium, read about how bold students across many schools at UM have stepped up to the plate as entrepreneurs to partner with the Impact Studio and the UM Center for Entrepreneurship to make their visionary ideas reality. Read more here!
Also, we are proud to announce the student team for the Impact Studio’s new Private Equity Impact Fellowship. The Fellowship is offered in partnership with Cranbrook Partners. and its portfolio company, Roman Stone, which is developing a climate-friendly pre-cast concrete technology that replaces traditional aggregates with industrial byproducts. Find out the students on the team here!
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Volunteers Needed for ESG Dilemma Challenge
We’re looking for student volunteers to help with the ESG Dilemma Design Challenge final event on Saturday, February 7, 2026 at Ross. In the Design Challenge, hosted by the Erb Institute and Business+Impact, student teams tackle real-world ESG and climate policy challenges in the banking sector. You would handle registration, logistics, setup, etc.). If you’re interested in volunteering, please send an email to rutup@umich.edu by November 15th.
Ross Events:
CPO: Listening to Flourish |
Admissions: Forté Fall Virtual MBA Forum |
Map Your U-M Journey with the Impact Roadmap
The Business+Impact Impact Roadmap (UMImpactRoadmap.com) provides you with a single location for all social impact on the U-M campus. Here you’ll find all of the events, courses, people, and key partners working to use their learning to make a real impact in the world.
At the University:
GINSBERG CENTER
Community Engagement and Alternative Break Grants
The Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning seeks grant proposals from registered student organizations to support community engagement and civic participation. This grant program aims to strengthen partnerships between UM student groups, the Ginsberg Center, and external community organizations (i.e. non-profits, government agencies, etc.) to address community-identified needs. Funding supports existing and new partnerships between student organizations and external community partners, emphasizing sustainable partnerships. Applicants can apply for the Community Engagement Grant or the Alternative Break Grant through the same application and eligibility process.
WILLIAM DAVIDSON INSTITUTE
Entrepreneurship Exchange
The Entrepreneurship Exchange brings together students from the U.S., Morocco, Libya and Egypt in small teams to identify market opportunities and develop business concepts that address real-world needs. Through this virtual certificate program, you’ll gain practical experience in civic-minded entrepreneurship. The program culminates in a video pitch competition. Once all three cohorts are complete, the winning teams will also participate in four live group mentoring sessions with a University of Michigan entrepreneurship professor.
MLK SYMPOSIUM
Apply for MLK Spirit Awards
The Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Awards Committee has announced a call for nominations for the 2026 Central Campus Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Spirit Awards! Nominations are open to undergraduates, graduate students, and student groups on central campus.
PLANET BLUE
Sustainability Honors Cords
The Excellence in Sustainability Honors Cord program is designed to recognize students who went above and beyond to advance their knowledge, skills, and practice of sustainability ethics while studying at the University of Michigan. The acceptance to the Excellence in Sustainability Honors Cord program will allow students to receive an Excellence in Sustainability Honors Cord for graduation, join an exclusive alumni LinkedIn network, and be part of a sustainability spotlight series.
GINSBERG CENTER
Foundations of Community Engagement
Fri, Nov 14 @ 4:30 pm
and
Tues, Dec. 2 @ 6 pm
Online
Foundations of Community Engagement is an interactive workshop that introduces principles and practices of equitable, ethical community engagement. Participants will develop a deeper understanding of what the term “community engagement” means, as well as the many forms it might take – from research and course-based projects to philanthropy, activism, policy, and direct service. Across all these forms of engagement, participants will learn concepts and actions that promote equitable partnerships, center community-defined priorities, and disrupt entrenched power dynamics between universities and community members.
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK
Social Work Events
Women’s Liberation at UM, 1968-72
Wed, Nov. 12 @ 6-9 pm
ECC Room 1840
Curtis Center Health Equity Seminar
Thurs, Nov. 13 @ 1-2 pm
Virtual
The School of Social Work hosts a wide range of important social impact events that engage students, community, and Social Work leaders.
FORD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY
Policy Speaker Series
The Ford School of Public Policy hosts a diverse array of timely, meaningful events that engage students, community, and public policy leaders.
In the Impact Community:
ICM Mosaic Fellowship
The Mosaic Fellowship — Impact Capital Managers’ (ICM) flagship Talent & Leadership Development program — is designed to cultivate skilled, diverse talent in the impact investment industry. Mosaic Fellows have exposure to all areas of fund management, including due diligence and landscape analysis, financial modeling and deal sourcing, portfolio company support and impact management, and marketing and fundraising.
D-Prize
Can you design a new business or NGO that delivers a proven poverty intervention at scale? Submit your design for a new organization that solves one of our Distribution Challenges below. We will award the most promising teams with up to $20,000 USD to launch their new organization wherever extreme poverty exists. Challenges include Health, Water, Education Agriculture, Livelihoods, Energy, and Public Services.
Elbow Grease AI Accelerator
Elbow Grease is A Hard Working AI Accelerator in New York City. Gutter Capital is sponsoring this 8-week residency in Chinatown. Participants will receive a $300k investment, 1:1 mentorship from Series B+ and founders, off-the-record conversations with industry leaders, and practical workshops by elite startup operators. This residency is suggested for entrepreneurial students and alumni at UMich who might be building with AI.
Global Engagement Summit Delegates
Apply Now
GES is April 23-27 in Evanston, IL
Apply to join us at the 2025 Global Engagement Summit, hosted at Northwestern University in April. The Global Engagement Summit is a social innovation conference that gathers young change-makers worldwide to collaborate, refine and promote their social ventures. Delegates have the opportunity to grow and scale their projects through tailored workshops, personalized mentorship sessions, and keynote speaker events.