We’re here at SOCAP because there are almost 4,000 people gathered here to think about how capitalism can help achieve social goals.
–Rajiv Shah, President of the Rockefeller Foundation*
Who might you meet at our annual conference in San Francisco? The answer might surprise you. SOCAP convenes the largest and most diverse impact investing community in the world.
Our flagship event, held every fall at Fort Mason for the past eleven years, brings together thousands of people from across the global impact ecosystem and marketplace. We welcome for-profit and nonprofit organizations; pioneers of the field and newcomers; leaders and practitioners from across the United States and the world.
Though the SOCAP Conference is known as the leading gathering for impact investors and social entrepreneurs, there are many more roles within the impact space represented at our Fort Mason event. Our tent was built to be as big as possible to encourage cross-sector collaboration and innovation.
We believe that breaking down the silos, facilitating connections between valuable strangers, and starting important conversations between unlikely allies is the path to real and sustained global change.
Who Came to SOCAP18?
The 2018 flagship conference attracted 3100 Attendees from 77 countries around the globe. Of those:
- 25% social enterprise professionals
- 19% capital providers and investors
- 19% NGOs, foundations, academia, and research
- 14% entrepreneurs
- 13% others (corporations, government, students, legal, media, and makers/freelancers)
- 9% financial intermediary and service providers
Where Did SOCAP Attendees Come From?
- 19% of all SOCAP18 attendees came from outside the United States
- 37% were from California
- Attendees came from 48 out of the 50 United States plus D.C.
- (Mississippi and South Carolina were the only two not represented if you are curious).
The Top 10 countries represented at SOCAP18 (outside the US)
- Canada
- Australia
- United Kingdom
- Netherlands
- India
- Kenya
- Mexico
- Switzerland
- Germany
- Japan
SOCAP’s Big Tent
Over the past eleven years of SOCAP Conferences in San Francisco, our event has hosted:
- 36,000+ attendees
- 800+ Social Entrepreneur Scholarship Recipients
- 3500+ speakers appearing in over 1500 sessions
Past Speakers
Every year SOCAP features some of the most influential and interesting figures working in social impact. A short list of just a few of the 3500+ speakers that have appeared on our main stage or in a session panel includes…
- Deval Patrick, Managing Director, Bain Capital
- John Legend, Singer/Songwriter, Advocate, and Philanthropist
- Cheryl Dorsey, President, Echoing Green
- Sir Ronald Cohen, Chairman, Bridges Ventures
- Cathy Clark, Co-author, The Impact Investor & Director, CASE i3
- Fran Seegull, Executive Director, U.S. Impact Investing Alliance
- Achim Steiner, Administrator, United Nations Development Programme
- Bill Drayton, Founder, Ashoka
- Jacquelline Fuller, President, Google.org
- Rachel Pritzker, Founder & President, The Pritzker Innovation Fund
- Andre Agassi, Former Tennis Champion / Co-managing partner of the Turner-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund
- Bobby Turner, Chairman and CEO, Turner Impact Capital, LLC
- Van Jones, CNN Commentator and Activist
- Julia Stasch, President, MacArthur Foundation
- Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, Executive Director, IC-SVN
- Rajiv Shah, President, Rockefeller Foundation
- Jed Emerson, Founder, Blended Value Group
- Ann Mei Chang, Author, Lean Impact
- Clara Miller, President Emerita of the Heron Foundation
- Anand Giridharadas, Journalist and author of Winners Take All
- Mitch Kapor, Partner, Kapor Capital
- Premal Shah, President, Kiva.org
- Ommeed Sathe, Vice President of Impact Investments, Prudential Financial
- Jackie VanderBrug, Managing Director, Bank of America
- Prince Emmanuel de Merode, Director, Virunga National Park
- Marc Bamuthi Joseph, Vice President and Artistic Director of Social Impact at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Join the SOCAP community at SOCAP19! October 22-25, 2019, Fort Mason, San Francisco. Learn more and get your tickets here.
An Ode to Big Tents
Produced by Issimo Story Agency for SOCAP. Premiered at SOCAP18
*Source: Q&A: Rajiv Shah on The Rockefeller Foundation’s new priorities and strategies, Devex
