MBA students who found nonprofit internships through the MNC's 2009 Summer Jobs Program are using their skills to work on a broad range of issues. See examples below of some of the projects they are tackling. You can also see photos from prior years in the Photo Gallery.
Aleda Schaffer (Johnson)
Benetech
Benetech develops innovative technology solutions to meet the needs of underserved communities worldwide in the areas of education, disabilities, human rights and environmental conservation. Through Bookshare, one of Benetech's core programs, thousands of individuals with print disabilities have the opportunity to read books in an accessible format. Aleda researched opportunities to launch Bookshare in other countries, drafted grant and partnership proposals, and developed a business plan for Bookshare International. (Learn more about Benetech.)
Justin Adams (Ross)
Blue Ocean Institute
Blue Ocean Institute works through science, art, and literature to inspire a deeper connection with nature. It shares reliable information that enlightens personal choices, instills hope, and helps restore living abundance in the ocean. Justin helped Blue Ocean develop an organizational hypothesis to guide the development of strategic partnerships that build most effectively on Blue Ocean’s strengths. He also caught a 31-pound striped bass off the coast of Montauk, NY. Striped bass populations reached severe lows in the 1980s, but strong management has helped them rebound, and it is rated as a green species in Blue Ocean’s Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood, URL: http://www.blueocean.org/seafood, or text: 30644 FISH [name of seafood]. (Learn more about Blue Ocean Institute.)
Ian Hepworth (Haas)
The Coral Reef Alliance
The Coral Reef Alliance protects coral reefs worldwide by educating and engaging local communities with solutions that benefit both people and the reef. Ian developed a business plan for a Marine Protected Area in Roatan, Honduras that included strategic priorities, marketing plans for tourists and the community, and five-year financial projections. Ian is pictured with the Roatan Marine Park patrol boat and crew that enforce park regulations and discourage illegal poaching within the park. (Learn more about The Coral Reef Alliance.)
Jon Gensler (MIT Sloan)
EDF/California Fisheries Fund
EDF’s California Fisheries Fund (CFF) is a revolving loan fund that supports coastal communities working to improve the sustainability of their fisheries. Jon (far L), shown here with CFF colleagues, spent the summer working with CFF borrowers to help them develop a strategic marketing plan for local seafood from Morro Bay, California. He also analyzed CFF fund metrics and produced recommendations to enhance the way the fund measures its environmental, social and financial success. He blogged about his internship in the Financial Times, at http://blogs.ft.com/mba-blog/author/jgensler/. (Learn more about The California Fisheries Fund.)
Melissa Iagulli (MIT Sloan)
The Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund
The Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund is a private family foundation that seeks to promote equal rights and opportunities for immigrants and gays and lesbians, improve the lives of low-income families and children through education, and invest in the leadership of the fund’s nonprofit partners. Melissa (L), working with a team at Haas, Jr., including Linda Wood (R), led a grants management process review project, and developed a recommendation to streamline the process by implementing a new software solution. Her recommendation could help to significantly increase the efficiency of the grantmaking process, which would allow the fund to devote more time to supporting its grantees. (Learn more about The Haas, Jr. Fund.)
Natalia Todorov (Kellogg)
Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties
Goodwill is an autonomous social enterprise with a mission of creating solutions to poverty through workforce development, social action and environmental stewardship. Natalia worked on a facilities consolidation project, including submittal of a $900K Community Block Development grant, and helped develop a Real Estate Facilities and Management Plan. (Learn more about Goodwill.)
Rong Zheng (Kellogg)
Goodwill Industries of San Francisco, San Mateo and Marin Counties
Goodwill is an autonomous social enterprise with a mission of creating solutions to poverty through workforce development, social action and environmental stewardship. Rong worked with the marketing team on an analysis of Goodwill’s marketing channels and how best to optimize them. (Learn more about Goodwill.)
Min Ki Kim (Fuqua)
International Youth Foundation
International Youth Foundation (IYF) programs are catalysts of change that help young people obtain a quality education, gain employability skills, make healthy choices, and improve their communities. IYF's YouthActionNet program cultivates young social enterpreneurs, giving them access to training, networks, and resources. Min Ki led a business planning project to expand this program to 17 more countries over the next five years, with the goal of supporting over 15,000 young social entrepreneurs. (Learn more about IYF and YouthActionNet.)
Paul Davis (Ross)
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
NRDC is a national non-profit environmental organization with more than 1.2 million members and on-line advocates. NRDC’s staff of attorneys, scientists, policy analysts and educators work to protect the environment and public health. NRDC recently launched an initiative to foster sustainability throughout the produce industry. Paul helped the initiative develop outcomes-based metrics for measuring environmental performance from farm to fork. At the beginning of the summer, Paul (far R) joined NRDC colleagues on a farm field trip in California’s Sacramento Valley. (Learn more about NRDC)
Nirosha Wickremasinghe (Haas)
PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health)
PATH is an international nonprofit dedicated to improving global health by advancing technologies, strengthening systems, and encouraging healthy behaviors. Through its Health Innovations Portfolio (HIP), PATH explores and screens novel technologies to build a pipeline of new solutions. Nirosha is working on a HIP project to assess the technical landscape and economic feasibility of fuel cells, which may one day provide energy to low-resource health settings, especially in developing countries. (Learn more about PATH.)
Louis Chieng (Kellogg)
Aarati Iyer (Fuqua)
PBS
PBS, with its 356 member stations, offers Americans from every walk of life the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Louis and Aarati worked on projects to enhance PBS ventures, which generate revenue to support programs and services provided to PBS member stations. Aarati evaluated the opportunity to serve the growing U.S. Hispanic market through PBS's home video business, and developed a marketing plan for reaching this audience. Louis analyzed industry trends for parenting websites to formulate revenue strategies for the PBS Parents brand. His recommendations included leveraging an arbitrage opportunity in the online advertising market to increase revenue for one product by 30%. (Learn more about PBS.)
Tyler Baier (Johnson)
Positive Coaching Alliance
Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1998 to create a movement to “transform youth sports so sports can transform youth.” PCA provides training to coaches, parents, youth sports organization leaders, and student-athletes on how to use the youth sports experience to teach young athletes positive character traits and life lessons. Tyler worked on marketing and development projects, as well as a program development proposal to accelerate adoption of PCA's "triple-impact" competitor model. (Learn more about Positive Coaching Alliance, or view previous placements with Positive Coaching Alliance.)
Lisa Ingmarsson (Ross)
Sustainable Conservation
Sustainable Conservation advances the stewardship of natural resources using innovative, pragmatic strategies that actively engage businesses and private landowners in conservation. Sustainable Conservation created and manages PlantRight, a voluntary, non-regulatory program to prevent invasive plant introductions through the nursery trade. Lisa conducted an in-depth analysis of the retail chain sector of the horticultural industry and developed strategies to bring more national retailers into the PlantRight program. Lisa is shown at right in Sonoma County, with an example of the kind of landscape which her work is helping preserve. (Learn more about Sustainable Conservation.)
Katherine O'Hare (Ross)
The Sustainable Food Lab
The mission of The Sustainable Food Lab, a consortium of 70 businesses and social organizations, is to accelerate the shift of sustainable food from niche to mainstream. Katherine worked with the Food Lab to evaluate strategies for farms and companies to access agricultural carbon markets. During a trip to California she helped field-test a soil carbon quantification methodology soon to be submitted as a protocol to key voluntary carbon market standard-setting bodies. (Learn more about The Sustainable Food Lab.)