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Global Impact

Thunderbird's social-impact and international-development platform.

What it is

  • Thunderbird Global Impact is the social-impact and international-development platform of Thunderbird School of Global Management at Arizona State University.
  • It began in 2005 as Thunderbird for Good, was later known as Global Development, and is now called Global Impact.
  • These names represent different chapters in one continuing body of work rather than separate organizations.
  • The historic Thunderbird for Good name remains an important part of the unit’s identity and 20-year legacy.

Scale and reach

  • More than 300,000 participants reached through in-person, virtual, hybrid, synchronous, asynchronous, mobile, and offline learning.
  • Learners served in more than 180 countries.
  • More than $52 million in program funding secured through corporate, foundation, government, and multilateral partnerships.
  • Programs have addressed entrepreneurship, women’s economic empowerment, leadership, organizational capacity, sustainability, digital learning, and responsible innovation.

How the work began

  • The work began with Project Artemis in January 2005, an intensive entrepreneurship program for 15 Afghan women business owners.
  • The initial program demonstrated that Thunderbird’s business and management expertise could be mobilized to expand economic opportunity.
  • Thunderbird for Good then grew into an externally funded platform capable of designing, financing, delivering, measuring, and adapting programs in complex settings.

What makes the model distinctive

  • Thunderbird contributes curriculum, faculty expertise, program design, quality assurance, global connections, and implementation experience.
  • Local partners contribute language, cultural and market knowledge, trust, recruitment channels, facilitation, and sustained community relationships.
  • The model combines high-touch learning — such as cohorts, mentoring, peer networks, and live facilitation — with scalable delivery through digital, mobile, offline, and train-the-trainer approaches.
  • The team has managed the full program lifecycle, from needs assessment and fundraising through curriculum, delivery, technology, measurement, reporting, and renewal.

Signature initiatives

  • Project Artemis — began with Afghan women entrepreneurs and grew across multiple cohorts.
  • Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women — Thunderbird was the initiative’s first academic partner and trained more than 1,100 women.
  • SALTA / Strengthening Women Entrepreneurship in Peru — trained 102,401 women microentrepreneurs and helped fund the first student team in the model that became Thunderbird Global Challenge Labs.
  • DreamBuilder — a free entrepreneurship-learning platform created with Freeport-McMoRan; by the end of 2025 it had recorded 273,111 registrations, 173,305 active learners, 83,645 graduates, and registrants in 183 countries.
  • Project DreamCatcher — an intensive business-development program for Native American women entrepreneurs, with more than 350 graduates by the end of 2025.
  • WEAmericas, WE3A, and AcelerarME — regional accelerator initiatives supporting women-owned businesses across Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • Sustainability and SDG innovation — work with UN Global Compact Network USA and other partners connecting responsible management, sustainability, research, and applied innovation.
  • Thunderbird AI Hatchery — an emerging 2026 student-builder initiative and active pilot focused on responsible AI-supported prototypes.

Value to Thunderbird and ASU

  • Global Impact has operated through an externally funded model that supports program work, staffing, and operations while contributing institutional overhead.
  • Program funding from Peru helped launch the first student team in the model that became Thunderbird Global Challenge Labs.
  • Thunderbird for Good supplied early curricular content and program DNA for 100 Million Learners.
  • Programs have created applied projects, internships, mentoring roles, research opportunities, classroom contributions, advisory relationships, and cross-cultural experiences for Thunderbird students, faculty, and alumni.
  • The portfolio has also supported fundraising, business development, accreditation, responsible-management reporting, institutional impact reporting, and Thunderbird’s external relationships.

Current direction

  • Established work continues through platforms such as DreamBuilder, DreamCatcher, and AcelerarME.
  • The portfolio is also exploring responsible applications of AI in learner support and institutional work.
  • The AI Hatchery represents an emerging bridge between Global Impact’s history of externally engaged, scalable learning and Thunderbird’s next generation of AI-enabled experimentation.

Important wording

  • Use Global Impact as the current name.
  • Thunderbird for Good is the historic founding name and may still be used when referring to the legacy of the work.
  • Use more than 300,000 participants for current total portfolio reach.
  • Use more than 180 countries for overall geographic reach.
  • Use more than $52 million in program funding for the portfolio.
  • Do not treat DreamBuilder registrations, active learners, and graduates as interchangeable measures.

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