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Social Venturing: Past Projects
An MBA Student View: Teams Present Final Projects in Social
Venture Consulting Program
MBA students, faculty and nonprofit leaders gathered at the Robert H. Smith School
of Business on May 5, 2009 to discuss the efforts of these parties to enhance the
future for several organizations.
The presentation was the culmination of semester-long consulting projects through
the Social Venture Consulting Program (SVCP), an endeavor of the
Dingman Center
for Entrepreneurship and newly launched Center for Social Value Creation in
partnership with Grassroots.org. Twenty-four
Smith MBA student consultants worked with nine nonprofit and community organizations
on projects ranging from cutting overhead and raising funds, to marketing and social
media outreach.
Each team presented a background on their client, their research and recommendations,
as well as what they have learned about consulting, teamwork and the not-for-profit
business environment.
One client was The LAMP, a nonprofit
working to expand media literacy education, offering workshops to New York City
children, parents and teachers. With help from the SVCP consultants, the client
was looking to launch an advertising campaign, cleverly titled LAMPooned. The student
team researched print advertising options in New York City, but concentrated on
taking the campaign online, recommending an interactive Web portal and Facebook
application, as well as expanding marketing efforts on Twitter and The LAMP’s blog,
LAMPpost.
Another team worked with a small organization called
Fathers and Families of San Joaquin based out
of Stockton, Calif., which was recently named one of the most dangerous cities in
the U.S. because of its high crime rate. The nonprofit has several programs to help
engage fathers and strengthen the families of Stockton, but really needed to focus
on a couple programs, narrow its message and expand its reach in the community.
The consultants arranged a Father’s Day event to be held at the local minor league
baseball stadium, as well as compiling a contact list for future outreach endeavors
and helping to narrow the scope and marketing efforts to two specific workshops.
Beyond location, this semester’s nonprofits also ranged in size, budget and establishment.
The Carbon Offset Venture through the University of Maryland’s Office of Sustainability
was looking for a place to start, seeking a viable business plan and partnerships
within the College Park community.
Angelwish,
on the other hand, has been in operation for 10 years and was looking for advice
on how to adapt to the many changes it’s seen in the charity industry, from struggling
to find people to donate in this economy to specifying to whom the gifts should
ultimately go.
There were several common trends in the presentations. Many teams found difficulty
narrowing the scope of the project, as they were so excited about the many tasks
presented, and found that the coaching provided by second-year MBAs who had previously
completed the consulting program as well as Melissa Carrier, executive director
for the Center for Social Venture Creation, helped lead the projects in the
right direction. Multiple teams used a benchmark approach to get a better look at
the case at hand while giving a solid basis for comparison. Reoccurring problems
included having trouble quantifying outcomes and obtaining funding while in the
midst of a recession.
Overall, students were grateful to be able to apply what they learned in the
classroom in a real-world situation while helping nonprofit and community organizations
that likely would not have been able to afford a consultant. It was a productive
spring for all parties involved.
Andrea Cohen, Smith MBA Candidate 2011
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