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Grassroots.org Social Venture Consulting Program
Business Best Practices that Better the World
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 The
Social Ventures program has helped Generations Community Development
Corporation build an infrastructure to track and monitor our clientele
and staff electronically. Electronic files help create a green
environment that saves time, space and money. Additionally, we are able
to evaluate our effectiveness, project outcomes for the future and
create needed reports for our funders.
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- Deborah Young, director
Generations Community Development Corporation
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The Smith School has partnered with
Grassroots.org, a
national organization providing free online services to more than 3,000
nonprofits in the U.S., to harness the expertise and enthusiasm of Smith
students to benefit nonprofit organizations. The partnership has recently
launched a new and evolving website resource for non-profit organizations and
university partners of the consulting program- learn more at
ChangeTheWorld.org.
The Smith School engages with selected nonprofits to provide MBA and
undergraduate students with practical consulting experience and an opportunity
to give back to their community. Projects are designed for 60-80 hours over 3
months to address specific issues—whether financial, marketing, operational,
organizational or strategic—and to develop the necessary steps to solve the
problems and improve the business. Since 2006, more than 300 full-time and
part-time MBA students and undergraduates have assisted over 80 nonprofits. Read
on for more information about how students and nonprofits can apply.
Students
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My
work with the small nonprofit International Children’s Digital Library
was my first exposure to working with a client and a team to solve real
problems. We came up with a marketing plan for the organization to reach
sponsors and increase Web traffic to the library site among children and
their parents globally. I learned that when it comes to nonprofits,
doing the greatest good with the smallest amount of resources is
critical.
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- Cynthia Soriano, MBA 2010
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Given recent curriculum changes to the Full-Time MBA program at the Smith
School, FT MBA students have been placed with projects already. However,
applications for PTMBA and EMBA students are now open.
Download
the application here. Applications are due by e-mail to
csvc@rhsmith.umd.edu by no later than
Wednesday, February 1st at 5 p.m. EST.
Stay in touch with CSVC updates by liking us on
Facebook and by following us
on Twitter.
Nonprofit Organizations
Applications for clients for the Spring 2012 program are closed. Applications
for Fall 2012 clients will open on July 1, 2012.
Program Highlights:
- Projects are designed for 60-80 hours over three months to address
specific issues, whether financial, marketing, operational, organizational,
or strategic, that allow students to apply what they're learning in the
classroom. (See examples of past projects.)
- Students are selected to participate in a highly competitive process--we
typically receive two to three times the number of student applicants as
we're able to accommodate, ensuring that you get the best and brightest
students on your team.
- The program is completely FREE for nonprofits, both to apply and to
participate as a client.
For more information, please visit our
Client Info page at ChangeTheWorld.org. Please contact Guillermo Olivos,
301-405-9506, with any questions or to discuss project specifics.
We thank you for your support of this program!
Client Spotlight: AfriCare
 AfriCare
works in partnership with African stakeholders to build sustainable, healthy and
productive communities and to be a leading voice addressing African development
and policy issues. SVC Consultants analyzed AfriCare’s current communications
platforms to optimize integration, reduce fail rates, and provide the
organization with metrics by which to make operations management decisions.
“Today we made the decision to move ahead with the Gmail solution you
recommended and expect to follow up on the other recommendations in due course.
You all went above and beyond and produced a very professional product." said Shiro Gnanaselvam, Chief Operating Officer of AfriCare.
"Please accept my thanks
on behalf of the organization."
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