Each year, approximately 30 MBA students and alumni participate in this program. Students are selected through a rigorous application process and matched with an alumnus based on experience and interest. Project topics have included:
- Community Development: Develop a business plan to create new revenues relating to a business involving labor from assisted program participants.
- Education: Rebuild the organization’s financial model to reflect changes in the way they provide services to charter schools; conduct competitive mapping to determine primary competitors and how to measure success.
- Public Radio: Assist a brand development project and a customer experience comparison across five key markets to determine differentiating aspects and what works in each area.
- Young Women: Conduct thorough board of directors evaluation on effectiveness and underlying metrics used to judge success; Recommend more effective ways to communicate and simplify evaluation metrics.
- Healthcare: Conduct an ROI analysis of all fundraising activity including gala events, mailings, phone drives, etc; benchmark against comparable organizations.
2022–23 Projects for Nonprofit Boards
Justin Manevski ’23 and Vivian Li ’23 worked with Accademia Di Gagliato Globale (AGG), focusing on the junior arm of the organization Nano Piccola. The student team set out to develop a framework to plan, fund, and execute a multi-year conference schedule for Nano Piccola, supporting the organization’s scaling and maximizing AGG’s impact. Research and recommendations included an overview of sponsorship models and competitor landscape analysis, financial model, and KPI dashboard.
Andrew Kim ’24 and Sophia Lin ’24 worked with American Composers Orchestra (ACO) to explore new opportunities for expansion of ACO’s EarShot, the nation’s first program for cultivating relationships between orchestras and emerging composers. The student team explored the potential for expansion into the gaming industry, developing a market entry analysis, assessment of ACO’s value proposition, and a proposal for possible approaches and strategic partners.
Ria Park ’23, Jesse Steinmetz ’24, and Yaqun Zhang ’24 worked with Art for Refugees in Transition (ART) to develop a fundraising and marketing plan, with the goal of leveraging ART's existing presence and activities to build awareness and raising funds for ongoing and upcoming programs.
Natalie Lim ’24 and Stella Yeoum ’24 worked with Association to Benefit Children (ABC) to develop a detailed and comprehensive fundraising and board engagement strategy. The organization immediately began implementation and welcomed the robust recommendations of this high-impact project.
Danielle Kanter ’24 and Chrisa Ramoundos ’24 worked with Blue Ridge Labs at Robin Hood, an innovation lab within New York’s largest poverty-fighting organization that specializes in creating and supporting early-stage social tech ventures. The student team set out to help Blue Ridge Labs analyze the social impact accelerator landscape in NYC and in major US cities, in order to identify new potential partners and strengthen the Blue Ridge Labs referral network for founders from their programs.
Andrew Feierman ’23 and Eleanya Onuma ’24 worked with Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School (BUGS) to develop metrics for measuring the impact of sustainability education on middle school children. The metrics proposed covered three broad categories — preparedness, wellbeing, and high school readiness. These categories measured academic performance in STEM, critical thinking, global awareness, and literacy in environmental, social, and economic sustainability. BUGS is a chartered stand-alone middle school that is entering its tenth year. Its mission is to provide a hands-on, interdisciplinary education to young adolescents of all abilities and backgrounds with a focus on real-world problem-solving and the exploration of environmental, social, and economic sustainability.
Shiksha Kaushik ’24 and Runj Viring ’24 worked with Harlem Boys and Girls Club’s STEM and strategic initiatives team, helping to develop and implement a survey for their teen population and building out a dashboard with these metrics. The team also made valuable connections for their summer programs and future development work.
Miles Bergner ’24 and Elise Higgins ’24 worked with Harlem Stage to develop their corporate fundraising and partnerships strategy. This fundraising campaign supported Harlem Stage’s mission to platform and develop artists of color who reflect the cultural legacy and artistic ethos of Harlem. Much of Miles and Elise’s work focused on low-effort but high-impact development strategies that would ensure efficient use of Harlem Stage’s limited development resources.
Eddie Auslander ’24 and Brian Lee ’23 worked with Harlem Wellness Center with a focus on the organization’s junior board, launched in May 2022. The student team developed and proposed community-building recommendations to ensure a strong and cohesive junior board, a recruitment program to recruit new junior board members and monitor roster size, and a document management program to retain key learnings.
Jen Burdick ’24 and Ava Steir ’24 worked with the founder and executive director of Hit the Books (HTB) to create a corporate sponsor database that would expedite the application process for corporate grants and identify potential corporate partners. By leveraging this database, HTB can tap into the board’s network more effectively by understanding which corporations have aligned philanthropic missions and what opportunities already exist within the organization. In addition, the team discussed alternative funding opportunities at the individual level to strengthen the funding pipeline.
Maggie Monahan ’24 and Pranay Patil ’24 worked with Family Legal Care (formerly LIFT) to conduct an analysis and develop recommendations for implementation of a new planned giving program. The team presented a strategic proposal, alongside analysis of donor data and a detailed cultivation and fundraising plan segmented according to donor history and behavior.
Ray Lu ’24 and Kerry McNeilly ’24 worked with Legal Outreach to develop a communication strategy ahead of Legal Outreach’s fortieth anniversary. The strategy focused on developing the organization’s online social media presence. Overall, the project helped further Legal Outreach’s mission of providing low-income, mostly minority, and/or first-generation students in New York City with social and academic support to students so they can matriculate to competitive colleges and pursue their career interests, fostering the next generation of diverse leadership.
Suhani Gandhi ’23 and Imade Iyamu ’24 worked with Life Project for Youth (LP4Y) to develop a unified policy statement, synthesizing a diverse set of advocacy efforts and materials into one comprehensive document. Suhani conducted a current-state assessment and benchmarking before preparing their unified global advocacy speech/statement, with the goal of supporting LP4Y in political/governmental conversations on youth professional exclusion and related issues.
Aneesha Baliga ’24 and Allie Gerber ’24 worked with Moving For Life, Inc. to improve their donor and participant marketing through quantitative and qualitative research. These recommendations will help support Moving For Life’s outreach efforts with partner programs, donors, and participants. Moving for Life enhances the lives of people affected by cancer and older adults through accessible movement and wellness programs.
Matt Bourke Costello ’34, Ayush Desai ’23, and Manav Gupta ’24 worked with Opus Dance Theatre Company on a set of recommendations for strengthening its board of directors, including recommendations for ongoing engagement and recruitment. The organization has been committed to serving thousands of New York City students and families daily through artistic and community service programs that empower young adults to express themselves.
Michael Fagan ’24 and Alix Roberts ’24 partnered with Reentry Rocks to develop a give-and-get policy for the board. Reentry Rocks is a nonprofit providing comprehensive, trauma-informed, support to formerly incarcerated survivors of intimate partner violence and sexual assault.
Claudia Rosenthal ’23 and Maia Sacca-Schaeffer ’24 partnered with The Harlem Chamber Players to increase audience turnout and grow brand awareness by performing an audit of all existing digital platforms and developing a marketing roadmap with actionable and impactful tools the nonprofit can apply to each concert. This was paired with a comprehensive social media best practices guide with easily implementable short-term goals for their digital platforms and stretch goals for longer-term innovation. The Harlem Chamber Players is an ethnically diverse collective of professional musicians dedicated to bringing high-caliber, affordable, and accessible live classical music to people in the Harlem community and beyond.
Michelle Bedford ’23, Atif Bhanjee ’24, and Lloyd Hall ’23 worked with The Meeting House Family Center, Inc on a marketing strategy assessment and recommendations. The team developed and proposed a marketing plan, including targeted recommendations for identifying and activating prospective participants. The organization supports the interests and development of children through organizing and providing play-groups and activities, counseling, homework help, tutoring, and visual and performing arts.
Brennan Azevedo ’24 and Cristina Lastres ’23 worked with We Are Not Afraid Community Resource Center to develop a set of recommendations and materials for strengthening engagement with the press, including a press release template and media packet. The organization is a Harlem-based nonprofit organization proudly led by women of color, providing services for under-resourced populations, including undocumented immigrants.
Saloni Mehta ’24 and April Moorhouse ’24 worked with You Gotta Believe, a nonprofit that finds forever homes for older youth and teenagers. The team worked on a segmentation, targeting, and positioning project to identify You Gotta Believe’s prospective parent population. This project resulted in definable targets for You Gotta Believe to market its services towards its big-picture goal of growing its prospective parent population.
Debby Greenstein ’24 and Chloe Timms ’24 worked with Youth Represent on an employee retention analysis and policy plan, responding to recent trends and workforce needs. The organization uses legal services, policy advocacy, peer education, and other tools to build power and opportunity for Black, Latiné, and other youth of color who the criminal legal system and other systems of oppression harm the most.