In celebration of the 10th anniversary of Purpose in Motion’s flagship program, the Model Foundation, we sat down with PIM Alumni turned Program Manager, Danyi Peng to reflect on her social impact journey with PIM. We discussed the common challenges students face when engaging in social impact work, and Danyi also shared her thoughts on the future of social impact, philanthropy, and social entrepreneurship.
Danyi’s participation in PIM’s Model Foundation program in 2018 was an unexpected turning point in her life. As a finance and accounting student, Danyi spent most of her academic career learning about investment-related work. But PIM’s Model Foundation program opened her eyes to the world of impact investing. Instead of evaluating investments purely through their financial return, impact investing evaluates projects based on their potential to make a positive social or environmental impact in the world.
“As a college student, I was trapped in the classroom,” Danyi explained. As a student, most of her learning came from learning passively from her professors and peers. PIM’s Model Foundation program, however, gave her a rare, hands-on opportunity to experience the inner workings of a non-profit organization. Not only did the program expose Danyi to the world of nonprofits and social impact, Danyi had the chance to learn how to oversee an endowment, manage a foundation, and develop a social impact fund. She and her peers learned about the RAISE framework, and the Theory of Change (TOC), and conducted their due diligence when evaluating the projects they could fund.
Danyi further elaborated, “Although the program is called the Model Foundation, there’s a real-life impact in this program. We fundraised, decided where to invest the funds, and had the chance to make a difference in the organizations that we are helping.”
This program planted a seed in Danyi and instilled a passion in her to make a greater social impact in the world. She proudly said, “I realized that I can build a purposeful career and make a social impact with anything I do.”
From there, Danyi found creative avenues to amplify her impact and utilize her skills to help more people. She went on to become a volunteer, a student advisor, a marketing consultant, and now the Program Manager of the Model Foundation program at PIM.
And she certainly has made her mark. While serving as the Program Manager of PIM’s Leadership with SEO program, a mini version of the Model Foundation program, Danyi played a significant role in mentoring and guiding students to understand the role that they can play in making a bigger social and environmental impact in the world.
Danyi described an experience she had while mentoring students of the Leadership with SEO program. A team of students were discussing the social challenges around providing elderly care in China. Even though the students were only allocated around 5-10 minutes to discuss solutions to this problem, the students ended up presenting a highly developed, detailed plan about the role that government entities, non-profits, and individuals can play in addressing this social issue.
Their presentation deeply impressed Danyi. She was also very moved when a student reached out to her following the presentation. The student explained to Danyi how she’d never had the chance to learn about the world of philanthropy before. She didn’t know what types of investment vehicles or resources were available to support social causes. But after this program, she was more eager than ever to continue doing social impact work and to make an impact in the world.
According to Danyi, this transformation is fairly common during the Model Foundation program. Many students are passionate about different social issues but often assume that they do not have the qualifications, skills, experience, or expertise to make a notable difference so students often remain passive in their communities. However, this Model Foundation program builds a sense of agency in the students. Students realize that they can make a difference in their communities regardless of the backgrounds they come from, the majors they study, and what skills they can bring to the table. This realization can help drive and lead to greater change in their communities.
As for the future of social impact, Danyi believes that more youth will be inspired to take action. They may not become full-time employees of nonprofits, but they are likely to join companies that care about environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG), and will find creative ways to take action and build a more purpose-driven career. When more and more youth embrace this type of career, it will also lead to a bigger network effect that can amplify the impact that we all collectively make together. Danyi also believes that at the center of this are organizations like PIM that will continue to create education programs that empower young people to think differently, actively engage in their communities, and find ways to make a great social and environmental impact in the world. PIM has already made an extraordinary contribution to social impact and social entrepreneurship education in the last 10 years and will undoubtedly bring an even greater impact in the next 10 years.
I realized that I can build a purposeful career and make a social impact with anything I do.
Danyi Peng
China
SEO with China Program Manager, PIM
Starting from a young age, Danyi has been passionate about the power of media and design to create positive impact and thrill audiences. Throughout college, Danyi explored her potential in many different areas, including journalism, design, consulting and impact investing. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting Info Systems from Gabelli School of Business, Fordham University and is currently pursuing her Master’s degree at Columbia University.
Prior to working for PIM, Danyi joined a media start-up specialized in the beauty and wellness industry as a journalist and partner. Danyi loves leveraging storytelling, design, and business to come up with innovative solutions. On a typical week, you will find Danyi interviewing founders and management teams, writing business and interview articles, designing course content for her start-up, creating marketing materials for PIM, or teaching yoga and dance classes in the studio.
