Hello from Portland, Maine July 25, 2007

I am having a great summer – I started it on the Southern Africa GATE, which was amazing, and now am interning with Common Good Ventures in Maine. They have assigned me to a very challenging project – the development of a growth strategy for the Alzheimer’s Association, Maine Chapter. It includes the development of a project plan, both internal and external research, including 20+ interviews, cost analysis, and drafting a final report to deliver at their Board Meeting in August. I have enjoyed the work, especially with 1 year of an MBA under my belt.  Like Jenny, I was reflecting on what classes or experiences have been invaluable to me as well as my regrets.  Besides computer skills (thanks, Paula!), here are my thoughts:

A.  I was lucky to be involved in the CASE Consulting Practicum, which included a three-term consulting project for a local non-profit, TROSA.  I learned a lot about developing a project plan and how to synthesize research into a meaningful report.  Plus, Matt Nash oversees the program and, as a former consultant, just being around him taught me a lot.

B.  I took Lynch/Carlson’s Market Intelligence elective class – it not only taught me a number of great tools for my arsenal going into my internship (structure of interviews & surveys), but it taught me how to think differently about competition and market analysis.

C.  I took Managerial Accounting (it was required, but will be an elective for 1st years) and it has been invaluable.  It helped me look critically at numbers and having that context has made all the difference in my cost analysis. 

D.  I also think that anyone going to Common Good Ventures in the future should have at least 3-5 years of non-profit experience.  Both Jenny and I do.  It has made the internship better for us and the organizations.  My previous experience at the American Heart Assocation has been invaluable.

E.  I wish I took one of the classes through the Ford Library on “how to research.”  I’ve been doing a lot of external research.

Springboard – A novel idea July 24, 2007

Last night, Suzanne and I attended Common Good Ventures Springboard event. Springboard is a program that brings together local business leaders to contribute their expertise to benefit nonprofit organizations in an energetic brainstorming session. Selected nonprofits present a specific challenge to the Springboard participants. Following the presentation, participants engage in a facilitated interactive brainstorming session to develop and promote solutions.

About 40 business professionals spanning every discipline from banking to venture capital to marketing to operations and everything in between listened to employees from Jobs for Maine’s Grads present. JMG Maine’s affiliate of the national organization Jobs for America’s Graduates. They identify middle and high school students that exhibit at least 4 barriers to higher education and help them develop core competencies in areas such as leadership, communications, job attainment and career development. JMG spent about 10 minutes giving an overview of their organization including mission, population served, and program impact before proposing the following question: How can JMG cost-effectively reach more youth through additional products/programs and/or distribution partnerships?

Attendees then spent 25 minutes brainstorming ideas. Craig Larrabee, JMG’s CEO and seen in the photo below, said that Springboard events not only produce great ideas for the nonprofit involved but when the business volunteers come up with ideas the nonprofit is already pursuing, it validates that effort for the nonprofit. I also found out that many of the business volunteers like attending Springboards for the networking opportunity. So Springboards seem to be a win for everyone involved.

Pay Attention in Computer Skills July 13, 2007

When packing for my summer internship, I grabbed materials from some of my first year courses…stats, managerial writing, marketing…and for some crazy reason, I decided to leave my computer skills stuff behind. And now I’m kicking myself. I can picture the binder sitting on my dining room table. Let this be your first lesson in packing for your summer internship: TAKE YOUR COMPUTER SKILLS BINDER! You won’t be sorry.

I’ve already emailed the great Paula Ecklund for some guidance. She was amazing and so helpful. Now I’m in the middle of building this crazy spreadsheet in order for my partner organization. The Leadership School is going to be able to not only track the impact their curriculum is having on the kids, they are going to be able to track a lot of other things such as parent participation, financial goals, and school retention and also correlate things like teacher involvement with student impact.

Luckily for me, Chad is an Excel genius and has offered to point me in the right direction. Stay tuned for the final spreadsheet. I’m really excited about it.

Pictures soon. I promise.

Hello from Maine! July 9, 2007

Hi everyone!

I’m so excited to have the SIC blog up and running! A big thanks to our tech guru Seth Groener for setting it up!

Well, after an amazing East Asia GATE, I packed my bags and headed north to the lovely state of Maine. I am a summer associate with Common Good Ventures, a venture philanthropy based in Brunswick. CGV has been a great friend of Fuqua for years and I’m so happy to spend my summer with them. Not only has CGV had Fuqua interns in the past, Chad Sclove (Fuqua ‘03) works there full-time as a Portfolio Director and fellow rising second year Suzanne Steffens is here this summer as well.

CGV’s model is to partner with Maine nonprofits through long-term business coaching partnerships (3-5 years). By focusing on accountability and results, asking the probing strategic questions and providing managment tools and resources, CGV shows their partners a path to greater impact and self-sufficiency. Often, this work results in nonprofit partners creating – or improving upon – a business venture or social enterprise, generating income for themselves.

This summer, I am working with CGV’s partner The Leadership School at Kieve Wavus, Inc. The Leadership School runs experiential learning programs for over a quarter of Maine’s middle schools. The curriculum teaches students to make healthy decisions about risky behaviors, relationships and peer pressure. My specific focus is on the school’s evaluation and reporting tools. This past year is the first time the school has really started to prove their impact. So I’m trying to help them make that process efficient, meaningful, and user friendly. I wish I had photos to show you. Hopefully I can get some uploaded soon. I can’t imagine a better place to spend the summer!

I start the second half of my internship tomorrow. So I’ll write again soon. In the mean time, I hope you’re all having great summers and if anyone has experience creating a reporting tool for a youth organization, let me know!

-Jenny