Editor's note: It is rather easy and enticing to take a cynical, broad brush to the Morgan Stanleys and Goldman Sachs of the world and paint any of their efforts to do good as laughable and self-serving. With that said, impact investing both intrigues and inspires me to learn and do more.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/06/education/06oneducation.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2012/08/28/10-reasons-why-some-people-love-what-they-do/

http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/habitat_builds_out_its_vision

Editor’s Note: If you notice, all of this month’s reference material comes from the 10th anniversary issue of the Stanford Social Innovation Review (www.ssireview.org) from whom I have learned a lot. If your interest is keen on social innovations, I recommend you subscribe and support their efforts. This article from Jacqueline Novogratz of the Acumen Fund is essentially the “dream come true” I began pursuing in 2005, when my favorite MBA professor, Jay Dial, said “Government and NGOs are doing the best they can to solve social problems but need business to take their appropriate social responsibility in order to succeed long term”. Amen, Jay, and amen Jacqueline for describing Acumen and other’s progress the last ten years.

Editor’s Note: The founding chair of Big Society Capital explains how the UK’s social investment bank will harness entrepreneurship and capital to solve societal problems.

Editor’s Note: The story of three friends from Galveston, Texas, seems less a tribute to upward mobility than a study of obstacles in an age of economic inequality. Each showed the ability to do college work, even excel at it. With little guidance from family or school officials, college became a leap that they braved without a safety net. Their story resonates as our foundation’s vision is that all low-income and/or first-generation students will have a caring and committed mentor to help get them get to and through college.

Editor’s Note: In the video below you will see Candace Klein, founder and CEO of both Bad Girl Ventures and SoMoLend, make the winning pitch for SoMoLend at Finovate, a conference that showcases the best new innovations in financial and banking technology. SoMoLend is a peer-to-peer lending platform that connects business borrowers seeking loans with investors looking to make a return on investment, doing well by doing good. NEO Fund, the CDFI in Ashtabula, plans to partner with SoMoLend in 2013 to make its lending administration process more effective and efficient.

Editor’s Note: A sobering fact from the article I wanted to highlight: “A small portion of philanthropic efforts are aimed at helping those who most need it. A study by Rob Reich, an associate professor of political science at Stanford University, concluded that only a small share of charity redistributes income from the wealthy to the poor. “