The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth: A Playbook for Societal Impact at Scale

The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth (the Center) was launched in 2013 to advance equitable and sustainable economic growth by accelerating financial inclusion worldwide. The Center seeks to move beyond traditional corporate philanthropy by pairing philanthropic capital with Mastercard&apos;s core business assets (data, technology, expertise, and networks) to create a scalable “doing well by doing good” model. By 2024, the Center had helped bring nearly a billion people into the formal financial system, and the Center was preparing for the next shift—from a digital economy to a data- and AI-driven economy—while keeping its focus on outcomes such as long-term financial health. This case presents the Center&apos;s playbook for impact at scale, including an organizational framework built around Insights, Impact, and Influence and a program development approach of Test, Iterate, and Scale to build evidence-based solutions with partners. Examples of the Center&apos;s global work illustrate how multi-sector partnerships, measurement, iteration, and replication help convert insights into scalable programs. The case closes by asking how the Center should adapt its model, partnerships, and priorities as new technologies and contexts reshape the inclusive growth agenda.<p>Excerpt</p><p>The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth:A Playbook for Societal Impact at Scale</p><p>Remember this rule of thumb: if you want to go wide, go with government. If you want to go deep, go with NGOs and academic institutions. If you want to go fast, go with the private sector. And if you want to go far, you must go together.</p><p>—Shamina Singh, Founder and President, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth</p><p>As modern digital finance tools like mobile money and online banking became much more common over the 2010s and 2020s, millions of people transitioned to the digital economy with varying degrees of success. Together with its partners, the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth (the Center), Mastercard&apos;s social impact hub, focused on easing that transition with its mission to advance equitable and sustainable economic growth and financial inclusion around the world. This focus was integral to Mastercard&apos;s commitment to bring 1 billion people and 50 million small businesses into the formal financial system by 2025. As of 2024, the company had reached 960 million individuals and already surpassed its small business goal with a total of 65 million micro and small businesses connected. This progress aligned with broader global trends, including the World Bank&apos;s 2025 Global Findex report, which found that 79% of adults globally had a financial account, with digital payments driving much of this growth. As the shift to digital continued, the transition to a data- and AI-driven economy was projected to accelerate, and the Center positioned itself to continue to adapt its strategy to meet these evolving trends.</p><p>. . .</p>