Jed Emerson, President, Roberts Enterprise Development Fund,
Harvard Business School

Jed Emerson is the President of the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund, located in San Francisco, CA.  He is also the Bloomberg Senior Research Fellow in Philanthropy at the Harvard Business School, Harvard University.

From 1989 through the end of 1996, Jed Emerson served as Director of the Homeless Economic Development Fund of The Roberts Foundation.  The HEDF worked with a variety of non-profit organizations in the greater San Francisco Bay Area to expand economic opportunity for homeless people through the creation of small businesses and related strategies. 

In September of 1996, The Roberts Foundation published a comprehensive progress report on its work edited by Jed and entitled, “New Social Entrepreneurs: The Success, Challenge and Lessons of Non-Profit Enterprise Creation.”  The 400-page book was well received by practitioners, funders and members of the business community as an honest, thoughtful guide to the practice of social purpose business venturing. 

As of January, 1997, Jed became the Executive Director of The Roberts Foundation’s next phase of work, The Roberts Enterprise Development Fund—a five year, $3 million per year strategy for taking the top ten non-profit businesses in the Fund’s portfolio to complete sustainability in the market. 

REDF is viewed as an “elder” in the field of social venture capital practice and under Jed’s leadership has published a series of documents addressing issues related to venture philanthropy, social return on investment, social cost accounting in the field of non-profit enterprise creation and a variety of related areas.  In 1998, the Stanford University Graduate School of Business published a case statement, written by Jed and his associate director, analyzing REDF and its work with non-profit organizations.  Additional information on REDF, its work and relation to the field, may be found at www.redf.org.

In 1998, Jed was selected by The Nonprofit Times as one of the “Top 50 Most Influential People in the Nonprofit Sector,” individuals whose thoughts and work are felt to have significant impact on how the sector evolves in the coming century.  In prior years, Jed has served as executive director of the Larkin St. Youth Center, (serving homeless and runaway youth in San Francisco), a national consultant to church-based non-profits, and young adult coordinator of a national volunteer program for the Presbyterian Church (USA).   He began his career in community work as a peer tutor in Spanish Harlem while in junior high school and served in a variety of volunteer and paid positions throughout high school and college.  He holds both an MSW and an MBA.