
SOCAP23 Is Back at YBCA! Join Us at the Impact Movement’s Flagship Event
October 23-25, 2023 8:00 am - 5:00 pm San FranciscoSOCAP23 Is Back at YBCA! Join Us at the Impact Movement’s Flagship Event



SOCAP convenes the most engaged and diverse impact investing community in the world. For more than 15 years, the SOCAP conference has been the flagship event and leading convener in the impact economy, gathering more than 100,000 people since our first event. This is the largest, action-oriented gathering where investors, entrepreneurs, and social impact leaders come together to accelerate progress against the world’s toughest challenges through market-based solutions.
SOCAP23 will be back at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) in San Francisco, Oct. 23 – 25! Unlike any other conference in impact, SOCAP convenes the whole ecosystem of impact to catalyze investable and profitable businesses and industries that can solve the greatest challenges of our time. We invite changemakers from every sector and across the globe who are ready to dig in to help drive urgent change for people and the planet.
We chose YBCA for many reasons, including its accessibility. The center is located in the heart of San Francisco in close proximity to hotels, restaurants, and dozens of cultural attractions. Nearby public transportation makes it easy to get around and take advantage of extending conversations over nearby lunch or dinner.
The Theme for SOCAP23 — Facing Urgency: Impact at the Speed of Trust
We must face the challenges of our time with urgent action and solutions. Trust is essential for catalyzing impactful solutions — when people trust each other, they are more likely to collaborate, share information, and take risks. When you build trust, you create a foundation for collaboration and cooperation. This leads to more innovative and effective solutions.
At SOCAP, we convene to accelerate the speed of trust. We orchestrate discovery, facilitate serendipity, and offer a platform for cross-learning. The theme for SOCAP23 propels our community to work together, collaborate, and co-create as essential ingredients for rapidly moving the needle to create real impact.
SOCAP23 Tracks
Within our theme, we have identified nine content tracks around which we will organize our sessions:
- Climate and Capital
- Philanthropy as Catalytic Capital
- Impact Measurement and Management
- Gender Lens Investing
- Full Spectrum DEI
- Community and Economic Development
- Well-Being for Impact
- Value Chain Investment
- Social Entrepreneurship
Attendees will also be able to follow content based on regional focus tracks:
- Latin America
- Asia
- Africa
Learn more about the SOCAP23 theme and tracks.
SOCAP23 Content Curation Process
We take the curation process seriously — it goes beyond selecting and organizing quality presenters and topics. We want our attendees to be a part of the session, a part of the takeaways that build a better future and help advance our community’s global mission.
This year, we have evolved our curation process, moving toward a distributed approach to building our conference programming. Along with those selected through SOCAP Open and co-created with our partners, the sessions within each content track for SOCAP23 are curated by our Content Curation Councils, populated by more than 36 experts from around the world working closely with our content and production teams.
The Councils are tasked with identifying the set of sessions that will guide the conference conversations along each track. Each track and each session is the result of a months-long process, designed to present a SOCAP23 experience that helps our community accelerate relationships, break down silos, and identify gaps — then bridge them.
Learn more about the SOCAP23 Content Curation Councils and process.
3
Days
70
Sessions
350
Speakers
3200
Attendees
What to Expect at SOCAP23
SOCAP23 General 3-Day Schedule
We are actively putting together the SOCAP23 sessions and full agenda — below is an overview of the schedule for each day so you can plan your travel and hotel accommodations. This year, for the first time, we will be opening SOCAP on Monday morning and closing on Wednesday evening. The “track-specific sessions” will be broken up into multiple breakout sessions and tracks within the listed time blocks. And, get ready to celebrate at the closing party, with live music, food, drinks, and great community!
The SOCAP23 content and schedule will feature interactive content and networking opportunities. Attendees will have ample time to focus on the issues that matter most. We’ll have big conversations inviting us to ask different questions and tactical conversations that open space for the wisdom of the crowd. We look forward to releasing more details this summer — stay tuned.
Speaking at SOCAP
About a third of the event’s content is sourced through SOCAP Open, where we seek submissions and input through a voting process from the community. The submission period has ended, but you can learn more and see the submissions on our SOCAP Open Progam page.
Entrepreneur Program
Through the SOCAP Entrepreneur Program, we’ve created a one-of-a-kind, holistic, hybrid program of support for our cohort of globally-based entrepreneurs, as well as sponsored cohorts. With six months of virtual programming leading up to the event, entrepreneurs attending SOCAP are prepped and ready to have fundraising conversations with potential funders and get the chance to present the impact of their ventures on stage at SOCAP. Learn more about the SOCAP Entrepreneur Program and meet our SOCAP23 Entrepreneur Cohort here!
Partners
SOCAP22 brought together some of the most influential and visionary leaders in the impact space such as Halloran Philanthropies, Walton Family Foundation, Ford Foundation, the University of Utah, John & Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation, Skoll Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Advantage Capital, EY, Jobs for the Future, Prudential, Bark Media, Miller Center, Sorenson Impact Foundation, Cartier Women’s Initiative, Korn Ferry and more. Partner with us for SOCAP23 — find more information here!
Stay in the Know
Join our mailing list to stay up-to-date on the upcoming SOCAP Open launch, the application period for the SOCAP Entrepreneur Program, and all things related to SOCAP23!
What people have to say
Take a look below at some of the feedback we’ve received from SOCAP22:
Register
SOCAP23 - Spring Fling
The full-price ticket for SOCAP23 is $1999. In an effort to be more transparent, we have included all fees in this price. The price you see is what you will pay at checkout.
Tickets are not refundable but can be transferred to another attendee. You will need to use a unique email address for each ticket you buy.
Discount codes cannot be combined and cannot be applied retroactively.
Please accept-list the "[email protected]" email address so that you can receive important communications regarding your ticket and your participation at SOCAP23.
$1,450.00
About our location
SOCAP23 will take place downtown San Francisco, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, 701 Mission Street.
Registration will open at 8 a.m. on Monday, October 23, with the first sessions starting at 9 a.m. Content will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Breakfast and lunch are provided every day.
We will partner again with travel company TripZero (a Certified B Corp) to offset the carbon footprint created by travel to our event. We will send relevant information to all registered attendees once we have finalized all arrangements, and add it here as well.
Yes!!!!
The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is walking distance from the Powell BART/Muni station, meaning that you can commute from Oakland and the East Bay, or arrive directly from SFO or Oakland airport using public transportation.
Learn about public transit options in San Francisco, including shared bicycles.
If you are coming from the East Bay, from San Francisco Airport or South San Francisco, take BART.
If you are coming from the South Bay, take Caltrain. The Caltrain station is a 15-20 minute walk from YBCA or you can take the brand new MUNI subway.
If you have to drive, there are several garages around Yerba Buena. We do not validate parking.
5th & Mission Garage – $5 per hour – $38 for 12 hours. Has bicycle lockers, EV chargers & carpool rates.
SFMTA – Moscone Center Garage – 255 3rd Street $3 to $4 an hour, $16 early bird if entering between 6 & 9 a.m. – Has bicycle lockers & EV chargers.
Hearst Parking Center – 45 3rd Street $24 if you stay between 2.5 & 12 hours
Museum Parc Garage – 300 3rd Street – $40 per 24 hour
(Rates quoted valid as of November 2022)
We kindly request that if at all possible, you leave your luggage at your hotel, especially if it is close by.
There will be an “at your own risk” luggage room in City View from Monday to Wednesday.
As usual, there is no dress code for SOCAP23. It’s the West Coast, so comfy business casual is the accepted norm, but wear what is comfortable to you.
Yerba Buena has a warm microclimate, but that doesn’t mean that Karl the fog cannot invite itself toward the end of the day. It can be quite windy too, so plan to layer.
You will need to walk across campus and we have activated the garden that separates our venues. You might need to walk on grass – heels are not recommended unless you are a total heel-pro.
To have an idea of the range of outfits, check this Impact Alpha 2018 article.
We will launch our networking app in July. We will send relevant information to all registered attendees, and we will also let you know here how to access the list of attendees.
No. Sessions and networking areas are for registered guests only. We will enforce this policy strictly. The gallery in YBCA will stay open for the public and might be available for casual conversation. There are plenty of cafes, restaurants, and museums in the area that will welcome your patronage.
Cancellation policy and other requirements
Tickets are non-refundable, even if we were to require proof of vaccination to allow entry in buildings. Note that we have activated a large area in the Yerba Buena Gardens, and networking will take place outdoors.
Tickets can be transferred by filling out this form
Accessibility and Health Concerns
We recommend that you contact us with any specific requests before buying a ticket to make sure we can accommodate your needs properly.
We offer vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options. Unfortunately, our gluten-free dishes are prepared in areas where gluten might be present and may not be appropriate for celiac disease sufferers.
All inside venues are ADA-accessible, with reserved seating areas. We have activated a grassy area in the Yerba Buena Gardens. You may need to wheel yourself or walk on grass to reach the picnic tables where networking will take place.
If you have hearing issues, contact us to learn which hearing assistance technology the YBCA theaters offers. Note that smaller rooms or rooms in our other venue are not equipped similarly, but we are working on solutions to make sessions available.
We will have a dedicated nursing parent room at YBCA.
I am registered, but I am not receiving emails
If you didn’t get a confirmation email right after registering, please check with us to make sure there is not a typo in your email address. The emails come from [email protected]. Make sure emails from this address arrive in your inbox.
If you used to receive our emails in the past, but you don’t anymore, there might be several possible reasons : maybe you used a different email address than you remember, or you may have used an email address that is now obsolete and you need to update it. Finally, if you have opted out of our marketing emails, you will not receive updates about SOCAP23. Please contact [email protected] so that we can help you figure out what’s going on.
If you know that you opted out of our marketing emails, contact us so that we can add you again to the attendees’ mailing list.
Registration updates
Use unique email addresses to register multiple attendees, even if you use the same first name and last name. It will ensure that we have easy access to the records for all your tickets.
If you do not know who will be attending, please contact us at [email protected] to get an invoice. Upon payment, you will be given a code to register your attendees later.
We understand that you may not be able to attend all days in person. At this point, we cannot split tickets into day passes. If you want different people to attend on different days, you will have to hand out the physical badge to your colleague in order to share a ticket. You can register your ticket in the name of the company as first name, and “.” for all other mandatory fields. Use the email of the person most likely to use the networking app.
We are not planning on selling day passes. If this changes, we would advertise them in our newsletter.
Make sure your job title and company name are current so that your badge is accurate. Fill out this form to update your information preferably before October 4, 2023.