07
Advancement
Sub Title
A global business network that truly is a force for good – and a force for philanthropy
Launched in 2013, the Force for Good Campaign ended in 2023, reaffirming our school’s mission to develop responsible leaders who drive positive change in business and society. Alumni gifts accounted for €311 million, representing 92% of all funds received, with 52% of MBA graduates contributing. This transformative fundraising effort brought the INSEAD community together and deepened our school’s commitment to diversity – one of the most powerful drivers of innovation, both in and beyond the classroom. We would like to thank all our donors during the year and throughout the decade for their outstanding support.
The Campaign donation figures serve as a reflection of the remarkable growth and success of our community members, as well as the expansion of the school over the past decade. In 2013, the network was 46,158 strong. Just ten years later, it had grown by around 50% to over 67,000. The number of alumni who acted as INSEAD volunteers grew proportionately too: from 3,253 to 4,707. And even the number of nationalities rose from 153 to 169 – almost as many as the United Nations. Perhaps most important of all, however, our graduates are living the values of the Campaign as they do business throughout the planet. Much more than the name of a fundraising initiative, “A Force for Good” has become a rallying cry for the entire community.
The ten years of the Campaign have also provided an opportunity for the school to give back to its alumni, with increased careers support and stronger links with the INSEAD Alumni Association (IAA) than ever before. As well as the traditional reunions, we have Global INSEAD Day, which itself celebrated a decade of existence in 2023. On 12 September, over 3,000 community members participated in the festivities and networking, with events taking place in over 30 cities and 20 National Alumni Associations (NAAs) involved.
Another joint endeavour with the IAA is the INSEAD Alumni Recognition Awards, which celebrate achievement in business, entrepreneurship and commitment to the school. This year, we were proud to recognise eight exceptional graduates at a ceremony in London in March 2023.
During the past decade, learning at INSEAD has become truly lifelong, with the formation of a team dedicated to running global events and online sessions. The largest event of the year took place in March 2023, when the four-day Alumni Forum Europe in London convened some 1,000 delegates from 54 countries around the theme 'Rethinking Wealth and Purpose'. There were over 40 speakers, including: Barbara Martin Coppola MBA’05J, CEO of Decathlon; Stella McCartney, the globally renowned fashion designer; and Lord John Browne, former star CEO of BP.
Moreover, our team played a pivotal role in supporting local events organised by NAAs, thereby exemplifying our dedication to fostering global alumni engagement and lifelong learning. With the dedicated efforts of numerous volunteers, the NAAs successfully hosted over 1,000 events globally. Among these events, we actively supported and enhanced the experience by providing valuable resources such as sourcing faculty expertise and implementing cutting-edge technology. For instance, we organised a VR case-study simulation for the Alumni Strategy Forum in the Netherlands.
To reach our alumni no matter where they live, we hosted 12 webinars, including the popular annual economic outlook from Professor Antonio Fatás. With the help of our amazing alumni community, we were also able to attract former United States vice president, Al Gore, and Vice Chair of Blackrock, Philipp Hildebrand, as speakers. In total, we had 17,000 registrations and about 14,000 live and on-demand views during the year.
We rounded up our offering with three pop-up programmes which are exclusively designed for alumni and cater to small groups, supporting peer-to-peer learning. Talk Lean, Navigating Change, and the newly launched Thriving to 100 engaged more than 130 participants. In addition, we experimented with producing over 60 practitioner videos to showcase and share the expertise of selected alumni, through our Learning Hub app and other platforms.
All of these activities were covered in our weekly lifelong learning newsletter, which has a very loyal following with around 20,000 regular readers in 2022–2023.
Despite the many online innovations of the last decade, class reunions on campus every five years remain the most moving and memorable form of engagement for most of our MBA and GEMBA graduates. As we continued to recover from the impact of Covid-19 era, these reunions took on heightened significance. In the autumn of 2022, we welcomed back to campus a significant portion of our MBA alumni, marking a notable milestone in our journey to reconnect. Specifically, we hosted 2,290 MBA alumni and friends in September and October, representing approximately 60% of our MBA classes, as they gathered to celebrate the milestones of 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, and 45 years since graduation.
In the summer of 2023, we returned to more normal levels of activity – although the continuous growth of our alumni community means that every year is busier than the last. In June, we welcomed a total of 1,923 alumni and partners to 5-, 10- and 15-year reunions and 140 attendees to the very special 50-, 55- and 60-year celebration of our most senior graduates.
It was a once-in-a-decade year of celebration, as a series of events across the world marked the close of The Campaign for INSEAD: A Force for Good. Much, much more than a fundraising initiative, the Campaign has reshaped INSEAD research, teaching, outreach and policy – and ensured that the school is now a beacon for others to follow in the field of responsibility and sustainability. Furthermore, although the final accounts are closed, there is a new culture of philanthropy at INSEAD, which promises to be permanent. The end of the Campaign also marked the end of an era, as – at the culminating event in Fontainebleau in June 2023 – Dean Ilian Mihov passed the baton (or rather, a lightsaber!) to Dean Francisco Veloso with the words: “May the Force for Good be with you.”
It was particularly fitting that the gift which took the campaign past its target €300 million mark was the Claude and Tuulikki Janssen Scholarship, endowed in memory of our late and much-missed founder, by his wife. The fund will make generous awards to outstanding students of limited means, particularly those from low-income countries, further expanding access to INSEAD – and ensuring that Claude Janssen’s founding commitment to diversity endures in perpetuity.
Other significant gifts of the year included: a generous commitment from David Suddens MBA’78 towards the Europe Campus Reimagination; two generous gifts from Mark Pathy MBA’98D, one to seed-fund the INSEAD Sustainable Business Initiative and the other to establish a Chair in Organisational Economics and Productivity; and a donation from John Witt MBA’93J to create the Witt South East Asia Endowed Scholarship.
The closing year of the Campaign was particularly strong in terms of donor numbers. Our various collective funds ensure that every gift, no matter how small, makes a big impact. In 2022–2023, the INSEAD Fund raised nearly €5 million from 4,593 donors towards the school’s immediate priorities. We would particularly like to thank the 559 INSEAD Alumni Fund (IAF) and reunion volunteers who played a part in this great result.
A significant proportion of these gifts were allocated to the unrestricted Dean’s Fund, which gives the school maximum flexibility and the ability to react quickly to the most urgent needs. In 2022–2023, 70% of the Fund’s total was allocated to MBA and MIM scholarships, while 27% was used to support Faculty and Research.
INSEAD Giving Day, held in March 2023 under the theme 'It starts with you' achieved a significant milestone by garnering the highest number of donors ever. With 2,637 members of our global community contributing, a remarkable €1.3 million was raised for the INSEAD Fund. The event spurred spirited competition among classes and countries, truly moving the needle towards our collective goal.
Notably, the United States led as the country with the most donors, closely followed by France and the United Kingdom. India made a noteworthy debut in the Top 10, while Canada secured the 7th spot.
The MBA Class of December 2008 led the Top 10 Classes list, closely followed by the Classes of MBA’99J and MBA’09J during their reunion year. Among the Top Recent Classes list, the Class of MIM’23 achieved a remarkable 100% donor participation rate, with MIM’22 and MIM’21 also ranking in the Top 6. Five TIEMBA classes made the Top 10, with TIEMBA’24 securing the second spot. Additionally, EMBA’23 nearly tripled its donor count, securing a spot in the Top 3.
Giving Day 2023 truly celebrated the collective efforts of donors – alumni, students, faculty, staff, volunteers and friends – whose individual contributions left a lasting impact, empowering INSEAD’s mission both now and in the future.
Finally, we are pleased to announce that membership of our long-term giving societies also increased. The Georges and Edna Doriot Society, named after our lead founder and his wife, grew further during the year as more alumni committed to leaving legacies to INSEAD. By the end of 2022–2023, there were over 65 members. Likewise, several entrepreneurs committed to the Founders Pledge, through which new ventures started by alumni promise a proportion of their profits to the school, taking total membership to 26.
Many supporters began their philanthropic journey with the Robin Hood campaign during their student years. This year, we welcomed an impressive 786 first-time donors. The MBA’23J class achieved 69% participation, aided by Rémy Best MBA’93D’s €15,000 challenge gift, resulting in the third-largest Robin Hood Scholarship in INSEAD history at €35,498. The MBA’23D class reached an impressive 80% participation, unlocking an additional €25,000 through their donor challenge, allowing two Robin Hood awards for the MBA’24D class. The MIM’23 class maintained an unbeatable 100% participation for the second consecutive year, raising €5,380, including €2,500 from their challenge donor, Thibault Séguret MBA’12J, the programme’s Global Director.
Despite the closure of the Campaign, giving to INSEAD continues enthusiastically, as does the institutional commitment to business as a force for good. Over the next decade, in addition to the usual strategic priorities, such as scholarships, faculty posts and research, we hope alumni will support the Europe Campus Reimagination. The complete renovation of our largest site represents an ambitious investment in the school’s original home and a foundation for future achievements. In the meantime, we would like – once again – to thank and applaud all those who contributed so generously to the historic success of The Campaign for INSEAD: A Force for Good.