A Tech Entrepreneur Gives $13-Million to Create an Impact-Investing Center

James Lee Sorenson’s gift to his alma mater, University of Utah, was inspired by the success of microfinance groups. James Lee Sorenson’s gift to his alma mater, University of Utah, was inspired by the success of microfinance groups.

February 10, 2013 | Read Time: 1 minute

How much: $13-million gift

Who got it: David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City

Who gave it: James Lee Sorenson, a technology entrepreneur

Where the money will go: To create the James Lee Sorenson Center for Global Impact Investing, which will conduct research about ventures that seek both social and financial returns and give students the opportunity to work with social entrepreneurs on their business ideas.

Connection to the university: Mr. Sorenson graduated from the institution with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.

Previous gift: He provided $500,000 to a venture-capital fund run by students.

Why the donor gave: Microfinance first sparked Mr. Sorenson’s belief in the power of business to tackle tough problems. He contributed to charities that make small loans to help poor people in developing countries start businesses, and watched some of the microfinance charities efforts become for-profit enterprises and grow significantly. “Instead of a few thousand, now some of these were reaching millions,” he says. “That really got me to see the power of this.”

About the Author

NICOLE WALLACE

Features Editor

Nicole Wallace is features editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. She has written about innovation in the nonprofit world, charities’ use of data to improve their work and to boost fundraising, advanced technologies for social good, and hybrid efforts at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, such as social enterprise and impact investing.Nicole spearheaded the Chronicle’s coverage of Hurricane Katrina recovery efforts on the Gulf Coast and reported from India on the role of philanthropy in rebuilding after the South Asian tsunami. She started at the Chronicle in 1996 as an editorial assistant compiling The Nonprofit Handbook.Before joining the Chronicle, Nicole worked at the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs and served in the inaugural class of the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps.A native of Columbia, Pa., she holds a bachelor’s degree in foreign service from Georgetown University.