NBLP Projects

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.

Joud Hadi ’23 and Emma Waugh ’23 worked with Sara Green ’01, founder and executive director of Art for Refugees in Transition (A.R.T.), to develop a marketing strategy that aims at finding the right partners for the organization and actively communicating with potential donors. A.R.T. has completed projects that support refugees across the globe and aims to continue supporting refugee communities in preserving and sharing their culture.

Richard Garcia ’23, Lauren Leonard ’23, and Mary Myles ’22 worked with Brooklyn Urban Garden School (BUGS) to research the peer landscape of sustainability-and-specialty-focused charter schools to create a proposal for their cutting-edge classroom differentiation model. BUGS is a nonprofit charter school based in New York City that provides 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.

Shirin Ahmed ’23 and Hilary Price ’23 worked with CaringKind to identify new donors and current high engagement donors via a variety of analyses such as donor cohort analysis and geofencing technology analysis. For over thirty years, CaringKind’s mission has been to create and promote comprehensive and compassionate care for persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Kathryn Benvenuti ’23 and Lucy Bian ’22 worked with CIANA to utilize the organization’s existing data to effectively communicate the organization’s impact to both improve community outreach and increase fundraising. CIANA is a social services organization that focuses on providing new immigrants and their families in New York City with cultural, language, legal, and educational services to assist with their cultural integration, as well as professional and personal advancement.

Wilburt Carpenter '23, Michelle Morand '22, and Levi Palmer '23 worked with Creative Art Works to source and evaluate quantitative and qualitative research of art and its positive impact on youth development. The research supported Creative Art Works’ outreach efforts with partner programs, potential donors, and grant applications. Creative Art Works is a youth development organization that empowers and develops young people through visual and multimedia arts.

Becca Richman ’23 and Emily Serwer ’23 worked with Dancing Classrooms to evaluate transitioning their organizational structure away from working with affiliates who are all separate 501(c)(3) entities. Instead, Dancing Classrooms was exploring the opportunity to provide training for a network of teaching professions to who could become Dancing Classrooms certified instructors.

Anke Ehlert ’23 and Brenna Sargent ’22 worked with Harlem Wellness Center to create a streamlined process for recruiting, interviewing, and onboarding junior board members. The mission of the Harlem Wellness Center is to close the racial health gap by providing access to innovative and holistic wellness programs that empower individuals, strengthen communities, and create spaces where all can connect, heal, and thrive.

John Hill ’23 and Gee Mi Jordan ’23 worked with Immigrant Justice Corps (IJC) to perform a compensation analysis focusing on their Justice Fellows Program. The compensation analysis will allow IJC to remain competitive in hiring promising and passionate lawyers across labor markets. IJC is a nonprofit focused on recruiting, training, and mobilizing lawyers and advocates to provide legal assistance to immigrants in need.

Callie Estreicher ’22 and Catherine Tong ’22 worked with Fighting Pretty to explore potential corporate fundraising partnerships for the organization. Fighting Pretty is a nonprofit that helps women feel strong and beautiful during and after cancer treatments.

Heather Knight ’22 and Jane Richards ’22 worked with Film at Lincoln Center to evaluate the existing membership program tier structure and trends in membership counts over the last four years. Film at Lincoln Center was founded in 1969 to celebrate American and international cinema, to recognize and support new filmmakers, and to enhance awareness, accessibility, and understanding of the art among a broad and diverse filmgoing audience.

Alexander Coulard ’23 worked with Job Path to conduct an analysis of existing donor prospecting software and systems to better engage individual donors. Job Path supports people with developmental disabilities as they make choices about their lives and play valued roles in their communities. Job Path encourages people to explore what they want out of life and to chart their own journeys. Whether it’s finding a job, contributing as a volunteer, establishing a home, or joining a community group, the goal is to assist people to lead full and active lives. In other words, to lead the same kind of life everyone wants.

Paige Gindi ’23 and Edward Patterson ’23 worked with mentor Clare Premo Perez ’16 at Literary Inc. (LINC) to present data and research supporting innovative ways to measure the organization's impact as it works to ensure that children in New York City are reading at grade level by third grade. LINC seeks to improve childhood literacy by engaging with children when it matters most, empowering parents to unlock children's potential, and leveraging the power of community.

Emily Gemp ’23 and Yaneli Rubio ’23 worked with Qualitas of Life Foundation to create a strategic marketing plan. Qualitas of Life Foundation is a nonprofit that provides financial education to Hispanic individuals and their families to foster financial security and improve standards of living. Qualitas works to advance the economic prosperity of Hispanic individuals and their families through a comprehensive financial education and asset building program.

Aakash Budhiraja ’23 and Karsten McVay ’22 worked with Red Balloon to review and assess their board structure and identify new governance models. Red Balloon is a nonprofit daycare and preschool that focuses on development of the whole child, empowering children to be confident, creative, and compassionate as individuals and members of a community.

Watson Leffel ’23 and Hudson Hoyle, ’23BUS ’24SIPA, worked with Tomorrow’s Leaders to analyze their current financials and operating model and make targeted recommendations to (1) improve operational sustainability, (2) scale growth of the organization, and (3) develop a strategic partnership with the City of New York’s Department of Education. Tomorrow’s Leaders is an education nonprofit in New York City that helps over-age students overcome social, emotional, and academic challenges so they can complete their education and become positive and productive leaders of their community.

Zach Fredman ’23 and Lucy Goldberg ’23 worked with mentor Lindsay Kruse ’06 at Uncommon Schools: Camden Prep to conduct market research and prepare a competitive analysis of student enrollment in Camden, NJ with the goal of providing more students access to a high-quality education while improving financial sustainability. Camden Prep has transformed academic outcomes for more than 1,000 students in grades K-10. Since taking over the former Bonsall Family School in 2015, Camden Prep has increased student proficiency by more than 13 times in English and 15 times in math — the greatest academic gains of any school in the city.

Christmas Marquez-Correa ’21 and Daniella Young ’22 worked with Washington Heights and Inwood Development Corporation (WHIDC) to research and identify grant opportunities as well as develop a comprehensive strategic plan to effectively support its mission and programs. WHIDC promotes the development and retention of businesses and jobs in Upper Manhattan and the Western Bronx and spreads awareness of the cultural diversity and vitality of the communities to businesses, investors, and the public.

Michelle Jastrzab ’22 and Rinol Pereira ’21 worked with Blue Engine to support a pivot in business strategy from in-person with an NYC focus to codified programming and out-of-state expansion by providing an implementation framework for their business, talent, fundraising, and marketing plans, with a research focus on growth and monetization best practices. Blue Engine optimizes how educators work together to create engaging, individualized learning experiences for students marginalized by racism and bias.

Nicoline Bach ’22 and Daksh Khullar ’21 worked with Bottom Line NYC to develop a strategic improvement plan to increase student participation, engagement, and outcomes focused on achieving employment within six months of graduation from the program. Bottom Line is an education nonprofit that serves over 8,000 students from three regional offices in Boston, Chicago, and New York City to address the low college graduation rates for first generation students from low income-income backgrounds.

Giovanna Vera ’21 and Sihe Zhai ’21 worked with Bronx Arts Ensemble to research how similar organizations, locally and internationally, are coping with the adverse effects of the COVID-19 crisis, and to identify potential opportunities to expand their impact despite physical constraints and lockdown regulations. Bronx Arts Ensemble is a nonprofit based in New York that brings music and related arts to Bronx schools and neighborhoods.

Barrie Ginsberg ’21 and Anne Troy ’21 worked with CaringKind to develop and scale a new national fundraising program called “Caregiver Champions.” CaringKind is a New York City-based nonprofit focused on supporting Alzheimer’s and dementia caregiving.

Alice Ou ’22 worked with Equality New York (EQNY) to conduct user and market research to optimize marketing efforts and iterate core product offerings, and to further drive the user outreaches and branding awareness. EQNY is a largest New York State-wide advocacy organization dedicated to advancing equality and justice for LGBTQI New Yorkers and their families.

Benjamin Best ’22 worked with Food Equality Initiative (FEI) to research the online nutritional counseling landscape and create a recommendation on how to incorporate telehealth into FEI’s existing online food marketplace. Food Equality Initiative is a nonprofit that seeks to improve health and end hunger in individuals diagnosed with food allergies and celiac disease through access to safe and healthy food, nutrition education, and advocacy.

Jennifer Golden ’22 worked with mentor Susan Zuckerman to collect and analyze data about Gilder Lehrman Institute’s individual donors to develop a strategy to further engage those donors. Gilder Lehrman Institute is an education nonprofit that provides engaging historical resources to teachers and students to make history come alive in the classroom.

Becca Manning ’22 and Nicole Ziegler ’22 worked with Good Shepherd Services to cultivate a marketing strategy to target potential volunteers and/or board members and sustain involvement. The marketing plan is constructed via counterpart analysis, the design of an enhanced data tracking system to better match volunteer programs and point of entry analysis, identifying potential corporate sponsorships, and SWOT Analysis of GSS’s junior board initiative called Spring Board. Through educational, residential, and child welfare programs, Good Shepherd Services creates opportunities for New York City's children and families who have been historically marginalized and impacted by systemic racism. Since 1857, the organization's mission has been woven into the fabric of New York City, serving more than 30,000 participants in more than 90 programs.

Calvin Yu ’22 worked with Good Shepherd Volunteers (GSV) to research and quantify characteristics of volunteer applicants and impact of volunteer efforts. GSV recruits, educates, and supports full-time volunteers who use their God-given talents to serve women, adolescents, and children affected by poverty, violence, and neglect in domestic and international placements.

Katherine Boorstein ’22 worked with The Harlem Chamber Players to scale its funding strategy by identifying best practices for private donor cultivation, board development, and foundation relations. The Harlem Chamber Players is an arts nonprofit dedicated to bringing live classical music to the Harlem community, building a next-generation audience for classical music, and creating opportunities for classically trained musicians of color.

Kathryn Savasuk ’21 and Josephine Wei ’21 worked with Harlem Wellness Center (HWC) to design and build an effective junior board for the organization, creating an additional revenue stream and a more effective organization with the potential for greater impact. HWC is a nonprofit based in New York City that aims to foster healthier communities by educating, supporting, and engaging populations most vulnerable to adult-onset disease in healthy lifestyle behaviors.

Chris Franzi ’21 and Chris Waterman ’21 worked with mentor Stephen Mott and HELP USA to develop a public relations plan that supports HELP USA’s recently completed five-year strategic plan. HELP USA works to ensure that everyone has a safe place to call home; HELP USA runs over 50 programs and residences and has served 500,000 people.

Blake Garcia ’21 and Daniel Vasserman ’22 worked with mentor Mimi Boublik ’90 and Jericho Project to support the organization’s finance team. Blake and Daniel partnered with key members of Jericho Project’s leadership team to implement their online banking needs by researching best practices and streamlining the processes needed to effectively implement their digital strategy.

Caroline Ostrover ’22 and Farrin Ripp ’21 worked with mentor Shari Levine ’87 at Literacy Inc. (LINC) to research and design a marketing plan for the 25th anniversary of Literacy Inc. with the goal of celebrating the organization’s history and increasing the visibility of the critical importance of early literacy. LINC mobilizes resources in high-need communities in New York City to surround children with a literacy-rich environment at home, school, and in their neighborhood.

Justin Terry ’21 and Danielle Yanai ’22 worked with The Meeting House to research market opportunities, establish a clear brand identity, and develop a comprehensive marketing strategy to expand the reach and impact of their programming and achieve a sustainable growth model. The Meeting House is a nonprofit providing social and emotional education programming to children and adults in the New York City area. Their innovative curriculum focuses on empathy, self-awareness, flexibility, self-regulation, resiliency, friendship, and conflict management, through an active participatory environment of fun, friendship, and community.

Elizabeth Bielen ’22 and Robin Mesiro ’22 worked with the Nantucket Boys and Girls Club to expand the organization’s annual fundraising efforts and identify potential grant opportunities. The Nantucket Boys and Girls Club is a nonprofit whose mission is to empower the youth of Nantucket to realize their full potential.

Cynthia Mantassas ’21 worked with The National Multiple Sclerosis Society to research geographic, generational, demographic, and lifestyle trends of Society’s constituent groups and recommend effective ways to build volunteer and community engagement efforts to achieve maximum impact. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is a nonprofit based in New York City whose mission is to ensure people affected by MS can live their best lives as we stop MS in its tracks, restore what has been lost, and end MS forever.

Laura Tulchin ’21 and Andrea Sordia Zanella ’22 worked with Qualitas of Life to review the organization's financial model, board structure, and growth opportunities. Qualitas of Life is a financial literacy nonprofit based in New York City that provides educational resources to Hispanic individuals and families in order to foster financial literacy and improve standard of living.

Thilini Ariyawansa ’21 and Anna Houseman ’21 worked with The Reading Team to create a metrics framework with recommendations on (1) necessary data points to track and (2) a sustainable infrastructure to measure and track the data. The Reading Team is an education nonprofit in New York City that provides daily reading and writing instruction to help young children at high risk of reading failure develop the skills, habits, and behaviors that will support their success in school and in life.

Charlotte Keys ’22, Laura Miller ’22, and Rola Saleh ’21 worked with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors to research norms and trends in European philanthropy and assess the market for the organization’s services in Europe. Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors is a nonprofit based in New York City that aims to create thoughtful, effective philanthropy throughout the world by offering their clients various forms of support in organizing their philanthropic initiatives.

Douglas Dutton ’21 and Katie Schneider ’21 worked with SoHarlem to develop metrics to quantify the effectiveness and success of the organization's trainee and apprenticeship, and designers in residence programs. SoHarlem is a place-based social enterprise that partners with artists, artisans, creative entrepreneurs, Manhattanville residents, and public and private partners to connect under-employed and unemployed local people with cultural industries opportunities, enabling them to achieve economic self-sufficiency.

Mary Myles ’22 and Peter Sun ’21 worked with University Settlement to develop a robust marketing strategy for its Connection Circles initiative that included recommendations for sales enablement, marketing toolkits, customer journey mapping, and digital community and customer relationship management. In the climate of COVID-19, University Settlement worked to amplify the awareness, engagement, and advocacy around Connection Circles in order to widen their impact on an individual and collective level. University Settlement tackles multidimensional challenges created by systemic racial and economic inequalities by providing integrated services that strengthen families.

John Paluska ’21 worked with mentor Russ Carson ’67 and the 9/11 Memorial & Museum to develop an advisory board geared toward military families. The 9/11 Memorial & Museum is the country’s principal institution concerned with exploring 9/11, documenting its impact, and examining its continuing significance. Honoring those who were killed in the 2001 and 1993 attacks is at the heart of our mission.

Tyler Gamble ’21, Mercedes Li ’21, and Sophie Zhang ’20 worked with Abilis, a nonprofit services and residential provider targeted towards individuals and their families with disabilities in the Lower Fairfield County that provides support, advocacy, and transitional programs at all stages of the individual’s life. The project specifically focused on Abilis’ expansion into other areas in the community to increase its scope of offerings while maintaining its commitment to providing the best in class services it currently offers.

Thomas Angiulo ’20 and Gabriel De Santis ’20 worked with Blue Engine to research public funding opportunities and identify potential funding models. Blue Engine is an education nonprofit based in New York City that empowers schools to create or support multi-adult classrooms to accelerate learning for all students affected by educational inequity.

Dicarlos Davis ’21 and Dallas Poulson ’21 worked with mentor Kevin Quinn ’91 and the Brady Campaign to accelerate Brady’s engagement with a broader range of partners aligned with their growth priorities and to enable the Brady Campaign to identify these unlikely partners in the future. The Brady Campaign is a nonprofit that works to reduce gun violence 25 percent by 2025 through a comprehensive plan that will eliminate the epidemic.

Jenna Masi ’20 and Minna Schilling ’21 worked with mentor David Nussenbaum ’81 and the Bronx Arts Ensemble (BAE) to identify opportunities to strengthen their individual donor contributions and develop fundraising strategies to cultivate recurring individual donations. BAE brings music and related arts to Bronx communities through live performance series and in-school arts education programs.

Michelle Ferber ’20 and Emily Stoopler ’20 worked with CaringKind to conduct a cost benefit analysis to provide transparency for foundations and donors on the impact of their donation. CaringKind is a nonprofit that works to deliver and promote comprehensive and compassionate care and support services for individuals and families affected by Alzheimer’s disease.

Jeremy Seah ’21 and Eric Shu ’21 worked with the Center for Open Hiring at Greyston Bakery to develop a go-to-market strategy to assist leadership in their decision-making process. The Center for Open Hiring is aspiring to become the “go-to” partner to help companies understand the potential of open hiring.

Alex Meyers ’20 and Sophie Song ’20 worked with mentor Bill Cody ’88 and Cristo Rey New York High School (CRNYHS) leadership to develop a marketing program to attract more work-study corporate partners and donors. CRNYHS provides students from low-income families with rigorous academic curriculums and work-internship programs, helping students graduate from college and become professionals.

Kerry Meyer ’20 and Roshan Prakash ’20 worked with Day One Agency to develop a strategic and operational board governance plan. Day One seeks to end dating abuse and domestic violence through preventive education, supportive services, legal advocacy, and leadership development.

Elizabeth Mauban ’20 and Jenny Tromski ’20 worked with mentor Ronnie Planalp ’86 and Film at Lincoln Center on an owned content strategy to support its strategic marketing plan and generate additional revenue. Film at Lincoln Center supports and elevates the craft of cinema by making film discussion and appreciation accessible to a broad audience through programming, events, and publications.

Joao Matias ’20 and Joana Pires de Lima ’20 worked with mentor Christopher Snyder ’12 and Futures and Options leadership to help them design a license model of its operations to scale their business. Futures and Options provides job training and career opportunities for young adults of underserved communities and helps companies find the right talent while decreasing their initial investment by filling the skill gaps in entry-level jobs.

Hande Oney ’20 and Sandra William ’21 worked with Knology to develop a customer targeting strategy to increase its philanthropic funding revenue stream. Knology is social science research entity that provides practical research and advisory services to partners.

Julia Dean ’21 and Jake Van Namen ’20 worked with mentor Shari Levine ’87 and Literacy Inc. (LINC) to develop a comprehensive donor segmentation strategy for capturing preferences and demographics that enable tailored communications and targeted interactions to increase individual donations. Throughout New York City’s five boroughs, LINC’s educational programs connect family, school, and community to address the literacy crisis in high needs neighborhoods through programming to ensure children have access to reading and reading support.

Patrick Chen ’21 and Nisha Datta ’21 worked with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) to conduct a nonprofit trends assessment and lifestyle assessment to inform future fundraising strategies and ensure they are engaging, competitive, and successful. The NMSS is a nonprofit that works to empower those impacted by MS and further its vision of a world free of MS.

Liam Byrne ’21, Elizabeth Dorsey ’20, Ryan Leach ’20, and Charles Tricomi ’21 worked with mentor John Anderson ’13 and the Rick Herrema Foundation (RHF) to develop a business plan for using a traveling, mobile obstacle course as a fundraising activity and means of publicity for RHF. RHF strengthens relationships and builds community for the military family through fun, quality activities.

Jenny Forrest ’21 and Anthony Villamagna ’19 worked with mentor Les Franks ’95 and the Riverside Hawks Youth Basketball Organization to conduct a competitive analysis on youth sport educational programs in the New York area and create a Middle School educational program implementation plan. Riverside seeks to empower youth through basketball to achieve academic success and promote character development.

Stephanie Lin ’21 and Wineeta Paul ’21 worked with The Charter High School for Law and Social Justice (CHSFLSJ) to develop and implement capital budgeting and financing roadmap for the next five years of the charter school facility. The roadmap was aimed at advancing CHSFLSJ's mission, which is to break the school to prison pipeline by instilling a charter school to develop youths into lawyers, providing students with a comprehensive high school education for future careers in law.

Taylor Perkins ’20 and Sarah Russell ’20 worked with The Door to produce a board development and governance recommendation, ensuring that The Door maintains a board with the ability to meet the financial and knowledge-based needs of the organization going forward. The Door’s mission is to empower young people to reach their potential by providing comprehensive youth development services in a diverse and caring environment.

Meg Johnson ’20, Conor O’Boyle ’21, and Letty Perez ’21 worked with The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History (GLI) to propose a strategy for GLI to transform its online resources and digital content into a source of earned revenue. GLI promote knowledge and understanding of American history among teachers, students, and the general public through its archive of 70,000 documents and extensive network of eminent historians.

Caitlin Herling ’20 and Rebecca Schwartz ’21 worked with mentor Jessica Kearns ’92 and WIN NYC to complete an inventory and process assessment of the laptop/desk procurement process for WIN employees, as well as research best practices around future refresh options. WIN is the largest provider of family shelter and supportive housing in New York City, running 18 properties across the five boroughs. The nonprofit offers transitional shelter housing and permanent supportive housing for women and their families, coupled with programs and services developed to support long-term housing stability.

Mercury Tin ’19 worked with Tess Mateo ’97 and the American Composers Orchestra (ACO) to develop corporate partnerships for the organization. ACO is dedicated to the creation, celebration, performance, and promotion of orchestral music by American composers.

Christopher Chi ’20 and Jason Segal ’20 partnered with David Nussenbaum ’81, executive director of Bronx Arts Ensemble, to research new fundraising strategies in the corporate sector. Bronx Arts Ensemble is a New York nonprofit dedicated to bringing art classes to public school classrooms and professional concerts to nearby community venues throughout the Bronx.

Siwol Chang ’20 and Richard Peng ’20 provided a project for Bronx Community Charter School (BCCS) and mentor Ariel Behr ’05 to analyze their current data and develop a data roadmap to support BCCS’s charter renewal process.

Sanvir Junnarkar ’20 and Ian Sukienik ’20 partnered with Charter High School for Law and Social Justice (CHSLSJ) to develop a plan to improve recruitment, enrollment, and retention of special education students and English language learners. CHSLSJ is a charter school in the Bronx that uses the theme of law and social justice to engage, inspire, and empower students and create a pathway to law school.

Michael McCarter ’20 and Aishani Sheth ’20 provided a market map and peer analysis for Community Resource Exchange (CRE), a nonprofit consulting firm that provides the strategies and tools needed to build sustainable, high-performing organizations that improve people’s lives and drive social change. Michael and Aishani worked with Katie Leonberger ’08, president and CEO of CRE.

Alex Meyers ’20 explored potential new revenue streams and fundraising best practices for Corbin Hill Food Project. Corbin Hill Food Project is a Harlem-based nonprofit and social enterprise that supplies fresh, local food to those who need it most.

Halle Morse ’20 worked with mentor Patricia Koyce and Dancing Classrooms to pursue a strategic partnership. By collecting donor data and conducting peer analysis, Halle helped scope out different scenarios that would maximize the potential for both organizations to merge and thrive.

Ilay Karateke ’20 worked with End Allergies Together and mentor Elise Bates to create a tangible action plan to spread “Give and Go” messages across the nation to create awareness for children suffering from food allergies. Targeting allergists and pediatricians, the team will evaluate its current footprint and understand which gaps that they need to fill to create awareness.

Adam Gravitt ’20 worked with Peter Iwanowicz, executive director of Environmental Advocates, to increase the organization’s current board diversity by conducting comparable organization board analysis and identifying potential new board members to fulfill its board diversity initiative.

Caitlin Gallagher ’20 and Shayna Johnson ’20 worked with mentor Joan Rosenthal and Friends of the Children NY to calculate the return of investment (ROI) for program prevention for students in the foster care system. Friends of the Children is a nationwide organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of generational poverty through salaried, professional mentoring.

Brandon Rye ’19 and Sophie Zhang ’20 worked with HELP USA, an affordable housing developer providing quality and sustainable housing for low-income families and individuals, to evaluate the long-term financial viability of several new development opportunities, as well as related social enterprise ventures and programs.

Jitesh Patel ’20 and Agathe Roncey ’19 worked with mentor Leslie Abbey and LIFT (Legal Information for Families Today) to design an action plan for the organization to undertake a rebranding project. This included a request for proposal (RFP) and an evaluation framework to select an external marketing agency for the rebranding. LIFT provides information, guidance, and counselling to underrepresented families in New York City’s family courts.

Joycerine Lee ’19 and James Rosenberg ’20 each worked on independent projects regarding data and fundraising for Literacy Inc. (LINC), with mentor Shari Levine ’87, executive director. LINC’s mission is to engage families and community members to support young readers in high need neighborhoods.

Charles Gariepy ’20 worked with David Johns and the National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC) to develop a fundraising and engagement strategy with new donors and partners that will expand the organization’s current imprint to deliver a greater volume of advocacy work. NBJC, which empowers LGBTQ people of color in a variety of ways, is the only organization that addresses the intersectional concerns of this unique minority group on a national level.

Praveen Aanur ’19 and Michael Alfieri ’20 worked with mentor Michael Bogdonoff and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) to conduct a return on investment analysis to assist leadership and support the business case for its new constituent relationship management system. The NMSS is a nonprofit that works to empower those impacted by MS and further its vision of a world free of MS.

Meredith Kernan ’19 and Leeds Pierce ’19 also worked with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS) to determine factors that favor a culture of innovation. The findings were presented to leadership to help NMSS implement organizational best practices.

Tanya Rosenblut ’20 worked with mentor Shannon Tyree Brown ’08 and the New York Common Pantry (NYCP) to assess the feasibility of a new food pantry delivery alternative to address food insecurity in other areas of New York. NYCP is dedicated to reducing hunger throughout New York City while promoting dignity and self-sufficiency.

Peter Brown ’19 partnered with mentors Michael Conboy and Steve Solnick, head of school at The Calhoun School, to create a data dashboard for board oversight. The Calhoun School is a co-educational, progressive independent school on Manhattan's Upper West Side serving students from preschool through twelfth grade.

Cynthia Allum ’19 and Jessica French ’19 worked with The New York Women’s Foundation and mentor Rachel Melroy ’09 to developing a corporate engagement strategy. The New York Women’s Foundation creates an equitable and just future for women and families by uniting a cross-cultural alliance that ignites action and invests in bold community-led solutions across the city.

Justine Chausson ’20 and Jamie Landsman ’20 partnered with The Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco) to analyze potential revenue streams for a new Bronx Music Hall. WHEDco is a community development organization founded on the radically simple idea that all people deserve healthy, vibrant communities. WHEDco’s mission is to give the South Bronx access to all the resources that create thriving neighborhoods: from high-quality early education and after-school programs, to fresh, healthy food, cultural programming, and economic opportunities.

Karla Bailleres ’19 and Cristian Lopez ’20 worked with Year Up New York (YUNY) leadership to develop a strategic marketing plan to increase its local market awareness. YUNY provides job training and career opportunities for young adults without a college degree and helps companies fill the skills gaps in entry-level jobs that can ultimately be gateways into profitable careers.

Erica Abramson ’19 worked with mentor Bob Wright and Code Purple Now to identify key stakeholder organizations that the foundation should partner with in order to build support for the establishment of a new government agency, the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (HARPA), to support research for pancreatic cancer.

Nellie Beach ’19 worked with mentor Anisa Keith ’93 and Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) to conduct peer analysis on national organizations that provide comparable services. CUP is a nonprofit organization that uses the power of design and art to increase meaningful civic engagement.

Katherine Bergstrom ’19 worked with mentor Tess Matteo ’97 and American Composers Orchestra to identify potential new governing board structures. Analysis included peer research and a recommendation to the current board.

Edwinna Bright ’19 worked with mentor Jane O’Connell and Partnership for Inner City Education, a network of six urban Catholic schools in Harlem and the South Bronx, to create a teaching fellowship program for Xavier University students.

Miah Brown ’18 worked with mentor Joan Rosenthal and Friends of the Children NY to develop additional metrics to track success beyond simple rates of participation. Friends of the Children NY is a nonprofit organization that provides salaried, professional mentors to at-risk youth in Harlem and the South Bronx.

Emily Carton ’18 and Michael Schub ’18 worked with mentor Dr. Mark Lauria at the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS), a nonprofit association of nearly 200 independent schools across New York state. Emily and Michael analyzed the association’s data collection and analysis tool, DASL, which is used by member schools for strategic decision making purposes, with the goal of increasing both the quality of data collection and its utility for school decision makers.

Miranda Chu ’18 worked with mentor Regina Fechter ’13 and Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School (BUGS) to develop additional metrics to track success beyond simple rates of participation. Friends of the Children NY is a nonprofit organization that provides salaried, professional mentors to at-risk youth in Harlem and the South Bronx.

Sara Ferrario ’18 worked with mentor Brad Evans ’70 and Horizons at Sacred Heart University, a summer enrichment program located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Sara identified local sources of government funding and provided a roadmap for Horizons to obtain the potential government grants.

Jordan Giallanzo ’18 worked with mentors James Blanco ’05 and Radhy Miranda at the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center (KHCC), an organization that provides holistic resources and services to empower Bronx residents from cradle through career. Jordan developed business and implementation plans to diversify the organization’s funding sources.

Dena Greenbau, ’18 and Jackson Tanis ’18 worked with International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) and mentor Claude Arpels ’98. The project focused on potential real estate opportunities for ICE.

Adam Goren ’19 worked with executive director Peter Iwanowicz and center advisory board member Lise Strickler ’86 of Environmental Advocates of New York (EANY). EANY is the leading environmental government watchdog in Albany. Adam provided EANY with a clear, actionable playbook to improve annual marketing and fundraising efforts.

Julie Joseph ’19 worked with mentor Peter Sacripanti, a member of the Columbia University Medical Center board of ddvisors and chair of the Cardiac Council for the Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), to build a strategic business, marketing, and branding plan for the Women’s Heart Center at CUMC. The Women’s Heart Center is a new program at the CUMC that focuses on clinical care, research, and education in the area of women’s heart disease.

Josh Landay ’18 worked with the Arthur Miller Foundation, an organization dedicated to providing access and equity to quality theater and film education in New York City in the belief that arts education is a right, not a privilege. In collaboration with Jaime Hastings, executive director of AMF, and Peter Avery, NYC DOE director of theater, Josh analyzed research data on the impact of the Arthur Miller Fellows Program, and helped to communicate the quantitative and qualitative results of that study. In addition, he provided strategic recommendations for future program assessment.

Jessica Langman '19 joined the strategic planning committee at the Calhoun School, a team of stakeholders assembled to assist with the outline of a five-year strategic plan. Jessica worked closely with Michael Conboy, the head of school, to survey faculty and parents from choosing a survey provider, managing survey design, overseeing survey implementation, and analyzing the data to help inform the priorities for the strategic plan.

Joycerine Lee ’19 worked with mentor Shari Levine ’87 and Literacy, Inc., an organization that creates a sustainable culture around reading through interconnected programming designed to mobilize existing resources. Joycerine analyzed available academic achievement data for 30 LINC schools to better understand LINC’s impact.

Anne McGrath ’18 worked with The Vera Institute of Justice, a research and advocacy organization that works closely with the government to build and improve justice systems that ensure fairness, promote safety, and strengthen communities. Partnering with the director of Vera's new policing department, Anne analyzed historical reliance on revenue from fines and fees in municipal budgets around the country.

Ariel Merrick ’18 worked with mentor and center advisory board member Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA). Ariel worked with Melissa and Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change staff to explore potential interest in a new philanthropy series for Columbia Business School alumni.

Jackie Piccolo ’18 worked with mentor Blake Sturcke ’98 at Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School (BUGS), a relatively new charter school in District 15. Jackie assisted BUGS in its effort to reduce teacher turnover, benchmark best practices, and make recommendations for better recruitment practices.

Venkat Rajaraman '19 mentored by Professor Alonso Martínez, worked with Abilis to evaluate potential merger opportunities with peer organizations to extract cost synergies while maintaining quality of services and reputation. Venkat analyzed cost drivers for Abilis and peer organizations, interviewed key people, and recommended a plan of action for a merger with certain peer organizations within Connecticut.

Carli Roth ’19 worked with Bottomless Closet and mentor Sheila Lambert to streamline client data collection and inventory management processes. By evaluating current procedures as well as conducting peer analysis, Carli and Bottomless Closet realigned reported outcomes with the organization’s mission statement and improved operational efficiency.

Kurt Schwab ’18 worked with mentor Michael Bogdonoff at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a national organization dedicated to empowering those affected by MS and ultimately ending the disease forever. His project involved the development of performance metrics for the organization to measure its progress, evaluate its impact compared to resources invested, and hold itself accountable to the achievement of its strategic plan.

Jill Scovanner ’19 worked with mentor Sharon Sager at The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), a venture philanthropy organization that funds breakthrough Alzheimer's research. ADDF was aiming to increase gifts from major donors and needed better insight in to their existing donor base. By analyzing historical giving data and highlighting trends for various categories of donors (e.g. Multiyear, Lapsed), Jill helped inform ADDF's donor retention strategy.

Thayna Silva ’18 worked with mentor Patricia Koyce and Dancing Classrooms, an organization that cultivates essential life skills in children through the art of social dance. Thayna analyzed potential strategic partnership models for Dancing Classrooms.

Onika Williams ’18 worked with mentor Moran Shekel Nosatzki ’10 and Kweli Journal, an organization that supports emerging writers of color and creates opportunities for their voices to be recognized and valued. Onika helped Kweli building a new financial model to improve the organization’s ability to predict revenue generation and financial sustainability.

Elaine Wu ’18 worked with mentor Dan Vandivort ’82 and the Huntington’s Disease Society of America (HDSA) to help formalize and implement a new volunteer engagement and fundraising plan. HDSA is dedicated to improving the lives of everyone affected by Huntington’s disease by providing a range of services from community services to education, advocacy, and research.

Patrick Yee ’19 supported strategic planning for the arts education program at the Bronx Arts Ensemble, a multidisciplinary arts organization serving diverse communities in the Bronx. With the support of executive director David Nussenbaum, ’81, Patrick helped define the program’s existing strategic model and collaborated in developing a new model that supports deeper integration with partner organizations

Rob Zochowski ’19 worked with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and mentor Michael Bogdonoff to analyze the society’s organizational realignment process. Rob produced a final report that leveraged an academic change management framework to describe and analyze the changes implemented by the organization. The report also provided MS Society leadership with recommendations and guidance to realize the full benefits of the aligned structure.

Julia Zweig ’19 worked with mentor Wendy Rowden and Building for the Arts to conduct analysis of social media in the sector and provided recommendations for how Building With The Arts could use social media to increase awareness and support fundraising efforts.

Miah Brown ’18 worked with mentor Joan Rosenthal and Friends of the Children NY to develop additional metrics to track success, beyond simple rates of participation. Friends of the Children NY is a nonprofit organization that provides salaried, professional mentors to at-risk youth in Harlem and the South Bronx.

Eugene Chai ’17 worked with mentor Keith Timko ’02, executive director of The Support Center/Partnership in Philanthropy. Eugene created a dashboard for use in strategic planning for the organization.

Cristabel Choong ’17 worked with mentor Shauna Ruda at New Women New Yorkers (NWNY), an organization dedicated to empowering young women immigrants in New York City, to develop a fundraising strategy to fund their outreach programs. Cristabel analyzed approaches taken by similar nonprofits and identified potential organizations to diversify funding sources. Finally, she developed a roadmap for the implementation of the fundraising strategy.

Shagun Chopra ’18 worked with mentor Nora Murphy ’08 at Creative Alternatives of New York (CANY), a nonprofit that has pioneered the use of drama therapy as an effective treatment intervention for trauma-affected populations that include at-risk youth, refugees, veterans, and domestic violence survivors among others. Shagun focused on developing strategies to identify and recruit new board members for CANY and worked with the executive committee to increase the size of the CANY Board.

Melanie Chow ’17 worked with mentor and center advisory board member Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA). Melanie worked with RPA to evaluate its existing pricing structure. She conducted market research on competitive pricing models, analyzed RPA’s historical pricing data, and built a pricing model to understand how certain variables would impact margins across its service lines and provide potential for long-term funding of innovative ideas and thought leadership work.

John Clarke ’17 worked with mentor and center advisory board member Mark Zurack and CaringKind, a nonprofit health organization focused on Alzheimer’s and dementia caregiving in New York City. John analyzed CaringKind’s annual Alzheimer’s Walk to evaluate its fundraising potential, recommend strategic changes, and ensure alignment with CaringKind’s organizational structure.

Joe Cosentino ’18 worked with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society to help develop an internal audit function for the first time. Joe took an external view of the project, and conducted several interviews with internal auditors in national nonprofits to identify best practices and pitfalls to avoid when creating an internal audit function, and worked with management to develop an implementation plan.

Charles Eberly ’17 worked with mentor Brad Evans ’70 and Horizons at Sacred Heart University, a summer enrichment program located in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Charles conducted an analysis of Horizons’ current and potential funding sources. He identified local sources of government funding and provided a roadmap for Horizons to obtain the potential government grants.

Bill Fields ’17 worked with the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change and center advisory board member Mimi Boublik ’90 to research and target potential corporations to sponsor the center’s Awards Breakfast.

Maria Fillas ’18 worked with mentor Marcia Santoni ’89 and Pioneer Works, a center for research and experimentation in contemporary culture that seeks to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, foster community, and provide a space where alternative modes of thought are supported and activated in tangible ways. Maria worked with the founder, CEO, COO, and head of advancement to design a membership program for the four-year-old organization. Maria surveyed the landscape of comparable cultural institutions, analyzing programs and identifying best practices in membership cultivation. She integrated these findings with analysis of Pioneer Works’ historical data regarding donors and visitors to craft a strategy uniquely tailored to Pioneer Works’ needs and ethos.

Alexis Goldstein ’17 worked with mentor Gia Machlin ’91 and the The Blue Card, an organization that works with Holocaust survivor households. Alexis helped create metrics for new marketing materials.

Elsbeth Grant ’18 worked with mentor Andrew Jacobi ’12 at Minds Matter NYC, a mentorship organization in New York City that provides high achieving low-income students with mentorship and college preparedness resources. Elsbeth researched methods for future growth and prepared recommendations for future partner schools that would allow Minds Matter NYC to double the number of students they serve in the 2017-2018 school year and be prepared for future growth in subsequent school years.

Erwan Kerouredan ’17 worked with Fresh Youth Initiatives (FYI) and mentor Amit Jain to develop recommendations for new HR procedures to develop a talent pipeline for FYI. FYI provides a safe haven in Washington Heights for children and teens, grades K through 12, the majority of whom are immigrant and bilingual youth from the Dominican Republic and Central America.

Miriam Krule ’18 partnered with The Alpha Workshops and mentor Steve Symonds ’84 to create a marketing brochure to emphasize impact and outcomes. The Alpha Workshops is the nation’s only nonprofit organization that provides creative HIV-positive individuals with industry-specific training and employment in the decorative arts.

Samantha Lalli ’17 worked with mentor Aryanne Ferranti ’10 and Metropolitan Lighthouse Charter School (MetLCS) to formulate a data dashboard for the education committee of the board. The dashboard will be used to assess how MetLCS is making progress towards meeting education-specific goals.

Sarah Lewis ’17 worked with executive director Alison Overseth ’84 and mentor Dr. Tanya Williams and the Partnership for After School Education (PASE) on a review of their marketing strategies and materials. Sarah focused on increasing external visibility and attracting sponsors.

Federico Martino ’18 worked with mentor Joel Copperman and Youth Represent, an organization dedicated to improving the lives and futures of young people affected by the criminal justice system. Federico analyzed potential social media and website upgrades and ways for Youth Represents to implement additional social media products.

Molly Magnusun ’18 worked with National Organization on Disability (NOD) and mentor Carol Glazer as well as chief external affairs officer Ilene Moskowitz ’80 to conduct analysis and research on a variety of industry sectors and their applicability to NOD. Molly helped identify potential target industry verticals for creating employment opportunities.

Jordan McNulty ’18 worked with the Bronx Arts Ensemble and mentor and executive director David Nussenbaum ’81 to redefine the core strategy of the Bronx Arts Ensemble and improve its marketing efforts. Jordan developed a competitive landscape of similar organizations and applied the learnings from this exercise to develop a strategy and marketing campaign that would allow BAE to serve more students and increase attendance at their musical performances for the broader Bronx community.

Chris McVety ’17 collaborated with Jon Friedland ’97 at Classroom, Inc., a nonprofit that offers digital learning games to students in low-income communities to cultivate their literacy and leadership skills. To assist in the development of the organization’s positioning strategy, Chris completed a competitor analysis to map the industry landscape and identify market opportunities.

Jamie Meyerson ’17 worked with mentor Josh Weisbrod at City Health Works, a nonprofit that bridges the gap between the doctor's office and the everyday lives of patients diagnosed with life-threatening chronic illnesses. Jamie worked on business development efforts, creating a framework to identify and prioritize customer opportunities to support future growth.

Clare Murray ’17 worked with executive director Peter Iwanowicz and center advisory board member Lise Strickler ’86 of Environmental Advocates (EA) of New York. EA is the leading environmental government watchdog in Albany. Clare interviewed current members of the board of directors to understand their current structure, individual responsibilities, and future vision for EA. She also researched peer organizations and industry best practices to form a development strategy. The findings will help environmental advocates explore additional funding opportunities and partnerships.

Kelly O'Connell ’18 worked with mentor Sheila Lambert and Bottomless Closet, an organization that provides professional clothing and job readiness for disadvantaged women in New York City. Kelly analyzed the inventory management system and identified opportunities to systematize efficiency and maximize donations.

Ted Ogden ’17 worked with mentor Shari Levine ’87 at Literacy, Inc., an organization that creates a sustainable culture around reading through interconnected programming designed to mobilize existing resources. Ted reviewed LINC’s existing marketing materials, compiled a comparative study of peer organizations’ strategies, and helped LINC to shape a new pitchbook and portfolio of marketing materials reflecting best practices and designed to increase engagement and fundraising capacity.

Lauren O'Meara ’18 worked with mentor Kimberly Doyle ’11 and PowerPlay NYC, an organization dedicated to inspiring and educating girls through one-of-a-kind sports and academic enrichment programs. Lauren’s project focused on fundraising and marketing for PowerPlay.

Divya Raj ’18 worked with mentor and center advisory board member Mimi Boublik ’90 and the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change to conduct a feasibility analysis on the potential for a corporate social responsibility training program for mid-size firms.

Jeannie Rumsey ’17 worked with mentor Regina Lee Fechter ’13 at Brooklyn Urban Garden Charter School (BUGS), a relatively new charter school in District 15. BUGS is still establishing itself in the local community as a high-quality middle school that focuses on environmental sustainability and systems thinking. Jeannie partnered with BUGS to create a strategic marketing and recruiting plan for the 2017-2018 school year.

David Schreiber ’17 worked with the Coalition of Rainforest Nations, an organization that seeks responsible stewardship of the world's last great rainforests through innovative strategies that integrate social, economic, and scientific rationales to achieve environmental sustainability. David worked with mentor Professor Geoffrey Heal to suggest a potential platform for trading existing carbon credits.

Charu Singhall ’18 worked with Pratham USA, the local affiliate of the India-based organization that provides education, specifically literacy programs, to children in India. Charu worked with mentor Raman Kapur ’73 to research potential corporate sponsors for Pratham.

Jeff Snop ’17 worked with the Film Society of Lincoln Center and center advisory board member Ronnie Planalp ’86 to investigate new sponsorship opportunities. By evaluating current sponsorship partnerships as well as conducting peer analysis, Jeff and the Film Society of Lincoln Center unlocked new revenue opportunities that fit well aesthetically within the organization.

Matt Taylor ’18 worked with Partnership Schools and mentor Jane O’Connell to design a process for aligning school outcomes against the organization’s mission. Matt worked with the Partnership Schools team to develop essential questions and measures of success for assessing organizational health and performance.

Elina Tunyan ’17 partnered with mentor Diron Jebejian and the Children of Armenia Fund (COAF), a nonprofit organization that uses community-led approaches to reducing rural poverty, with a particular focus on children. Elina provided summary recommendations and sample templates for internal budgeting, reporting, KPI metric tracking and external presentations.

Kimlee Wong ’18 worked with mentor Amanda Cahn ’10 and Friends of WHEELS to conduct a peer analysis of similar organizations in the education space, with a special focus on how other organizations communicate their missions and successes. The results with help Friends of WHEELS formulate a more effective marketing strategy.

Ellen Yang ’17 worked with mentor Mike Bogdonoff at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a national organization dedicated to empowering those affected by MS and supporting MS research, to explore market expansion opportunities in the NY and DC metro area. As part of the project, Ellen worked with the MS Society national development lead and conducted revenue analyses and stakeholder and donor research to craft recommendations for increasing revenue in the target markets.

Meredith Milstein ’17 worked with mentor Marcia Colvin at 92nd Street Y, a nonprofit cultural and community center located in New York City, to create a strategic plan for its recently launched volunteerism enterprise, 92YServes. Meredith developed budgeting recommendations, a programmatic timeline, and a growth forecast to enable 92YServes to exist as a primarily volunteer-led division of the high performing nonprofit.

Jennifer Feierman ’16 joined mentor Alyssa Zeller ’97 at Action Against Hunger, a global humanitarian organization committed to ending world hunger that works to save the lives of malnourished children and provide communities with access to safe water and sustainable solutions to hunger. Jennifer analyzed the board of director’s current structure and process and researched peer organizations and industry best practices. Finally, she presented proposed updates to the board structure and operations as well as an implementation plan for each suggested step.

Cristina Botero ’16 worked with mentor Ayesha Vera-Yu ’03 at Advancement for Rural Kids (ARK), a global humanitarian organization committed to ending world hunger that works to save the lives of malnourished children and provide communities with access to safe water and sustainable solutions to hunger. Jennifer analyzed the board of director’s current structure and process and researched peer organizations and industry best practices. Finally, she presented proposed updates to the board structure and operations as well as an implementation plan for each suggested step.

James Davis ’16 worked with chief of staff Dan Dobin at BELL (Building Educated Leaders for Life), an educational nonprofit organization focused on providing summer and out-of-school learning opportunities for children in under-resourced communities. The project was to identify and allocate BELL’s overhead expenses between the two different service lines BELL offered and understand — and project — how those overhead expenses would grow over time as BELL expanded each service line. The project will help BELL develop an enhanced forecasting ability to more accurately understand the full cost to operate its services on a per scholar basis and reduce variability between budgeted and actual annual financials.

Christine Solitario’17 worked with Ellen Wilner ’94 at Charley’s Fund to develop a strategy for fundraising partnerships with young professionals. As the organization enters into its next major growth phase, Charley’s Fund is looking for ways to engage untapped donor bases to lead fundraising events. Christine analyzed young professional engagement across similar nonprofits, identifying appropriate opportunities for Charley’s Fund and developing an initial engagement strategy. To culminate the project, Christine oversaw the execution of the pilot young professional event, using lessons learned to refine the plan for future fundraising activities.

Jeremy Stern ’16 and Teresa Lee ’16 worked with mentor Michael Boublik ’90 at Children’s Museum of Manhattan, a museum that inspires children and families to learn about themselves and our culturally diverse world through a unique environment of interactive exhibitions and programs to better understand their core revenue drivers. Jeremy worked with the museum to identify their competitive landscape, customer demographics and future earning potential, while Teresa forecasted the organization’s revenue potential, created visitor profiles, and gathered demographic information to see what new market of visitors the museum could capture in a new location.

Wilson Chen ’16 worked with Allan Levine ’95 at Citizen Schools, a national nonprofit that works to extend the school learning day for low-income students. Wilson teamed up with executive director Kathrine Mott to identify and recommend key staff development initiatives for Citizen’s Teacher Fellows staff in order to improve retention and, ultimately, allow Citizen to continue delivering its unique educational experience to students.

Darren He ’17 worked with CBSAC/NY co-president Ilene Moskowitz ’80 at the Columbia Business School Alumni Club of New York, which works to strengthen the alumni network and support services available to School alumni. Darren helped plan and execute a marketing campaign to increase club membership and recalibrate club events to member interests. He made recommendations to the club board and supported planning for the School’s Centennial Membership campaign.

Gautam Sachdev ’16 and Samantha Shaffer ’16 worked with mentor Brian Ricklin and Creative Art Works, an organization with a mission to improve the lives of under-resourced New York City youth through the arts by serving thousands of young people each year through in-school and out-of-school-time classes, community art events, and public art. Both Gautam and Samantha worked on perfecting the measurements of the youth outreach programs to track progress.

Emily Ford ’16 worked with mentor Erickson Blakney and executive director Tim Lord at DreamYard Project, an organization dedicated to arts education and social impact, which teaches participants to become agents of change and develop a sense of agency that continues to serve them throughout their lives. Emily supported a longitudinal study of the organization’s impact on its participants. The findings will help DreamYard explore additional funding opportunities and partnerships with institutions of higher education.

Danielle Austin ’17 worked with mentor Eileen Fusco at the Edna St. Vincent Millay Society, a nonprofit working to illuminate the life and writings of Edna St. Vincent Millay and preserve the character of Steepletop, her home and gardens. Danielle performed an analysis to better understand the society’s current operating approach. The analysis included reviewing the operating budgets of similar nonprofits and performing a gap analysis.

Robby Rutkoff ’16 worked with mentor Stan Buchesky ’02 and Equality Charter School, an independent middle and high school in the Bronx that provides an engaging, academically rigorous, and fully inclusive learning environment to help each student achieve success. Robby analyzed Equality’s current teacher recruitment practices, and researched hiring and onboarding best practices from similarly resourced schools. Robby recommended process improvements Equality can adopt to improve the quality and quantity of its teacher applicants.

Alice Kogan ’16 worked with mentor, and Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change advisory board member, Ronnie Planalp ’86 and director of operations Matt Bolish at the Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC). The purpose of the project was to evaluate an opportunity for the FSLC to develop a platform for connecting independent filmmakers with grant funding for their projects. In particular, the FSLC was interested in exploring the idea of creating a "common application" to simplify what is currently a complex and laborious process. Alice explored analogous common applications, mapped the stakeholder ecosystem, and interviewed filmmakers and funding organizations in order to identify the key considerations for pursuing this undertaking.

Janice Li ’16 worked with mentor Judy Vrendenbergh at Girls Inc., a New York City-based organization that offers girls the opportunity to discover their intellectual and emotional strengths. Janice created a marketing plan consisting of recommendations for branding positioning and digital marketing activities.

Josh Forstater ’16 worked with mentor, and Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change advisory board member Mona Sinha ’93 at Global Mental Health Program (GMHP) at Columbia University. GMHP’s mission is to promote mental health and reduce the burden of mental illness around the globe by delivering education programs and developing training programs that build capacity for research in low- and middle-income countries. Josh worked on designing and implementing GMHP’s education and training franchise.

Lars Langhout ’16 worked with mentor Brian Carroll ’80 at Groundwork Hudson Valley, an organization that works to make neglected neighborhoods more livable and sustainable through an array of on-the-ground environmental projects that directly involve local residents. Lars analyzed Groundwork’s present fundraising system and created new a fundraising strategy based on external research.

Shakira Adigun-Boaye ’17 worked with mentor Leah Pederson-Thomas ’10 at Healing Hands of Joy, a nonprofit that seeks to make motherhood safer for women in Ethiopia by preventing the common disease of fistula, reintegrating survivors into their communities, and identifying cases of fistula to be treated. Shakira worked on modeling the impact of a future treatment center. The project involved researching historic trends and conducting high-level analysis to predict the potential impact of a new treatment center.

Kassie Means ’16 worked with mentor Brad Evans ’70 at Horizons at Sacred Heart University, which serves children from Bridgeport public and parochial schools by providing them with a strong life foundation through a rigorous focus on academics, a high-quality enrichment program and the tools to become good citizens. The program at Sacred Heart began five years ago, when the board was interested in branding and positioning the organization for the next five years. Inspired by Professor Paul Ingram’s values exercise, Kassie led the board in identifying and coalescing around the organization’s core values, which will become the foundation of its branding, grant writing, and hiring.

Anna Han ’16 worked with mentor, and Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change advisory board member, Mimi Boublik ’90 and chief of operations Doreen Straka, of the Jericho Project, a New York City-based nonprofit that provides housing, employment services, and other critical programming to adults and children experiencing homelessness in New York City. Anna analyzed the expenses across the seven residential buildings Jericho Project owns to provide recommendations for cost savings.

Caroline Escobar ’16 and Barbara Vrede ’16 worked with mentor Sue Orchant and executive director Shari Levine ’87 at Literacy Inc., an organization that builds neighborhood networks that support young readers by working with schools, libraries, and community partners. Literacy Inc.’s community-based strategy targets families in high-need, high-potential neighborhoods across New York City. Caroline worked on creating an interactive dashboard for board members to incorporate into their quarterly meeting, while Barbara worked to perfect their fundraising strategy.

Renata Cecco ’16 worked with mentor Frank Pedersen at NPower, a national nonprofit that mobilizes the tech community and provides individuals, nonprofits and schools opportunities to build tech skills and achieve their potential. Renata analyzed and suggested improvements to NPower’s growth strategy and helped prepare a new marketing plan.

Jessica Prue Rifkind ’17 worked with mentor, and Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change advisory board member, Mark Zurack and the NYC Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, a nonprofit health organization that focuses on support and research for Alzheimer’s disease. Jessica developed revenue projections for a three-year strategic planning effort by quantifying revenue uncertainty using sensitivity analysis and analyzing historical revenue patterns. She then used comparative financial benchmarking to identify revenue and partnership opportunities for the organization moving forward.

Damien Vacherot ’16 worked with mentor Kathleen McInerney, Kristin Lewis ’15 and Partnership for a New American Economy (PNAE), a New York City-based nonprofit that brings together more than 500 republican, democratic, and independent mayors and business leaders to make the economic case for streamlining, modernizing, and rationalizing the United States’ immigration system. Damien worked to develop a digital strategy allowing the organization to sustain engagement with its grassroots supporters. Damien focused on conducting an analysis of best practices pertaining to digital strategies across different types of organizations, including nonprofits, think tanks and successful companies, and delivered a set of recommendations tailored to PNAE’s objectives and resources.

Kaley deNicola ’17 joined mentor Jane O’Connell at Partnership for Inner City Education, a network of six urban Catholic schools in Harlem and the South Bronx supported by a leadership team of entrepreneurial educators committed to transforming pre-K to eighth grade urban, Catholic education. Kaley developed a performance framework to be delivered to the board of directors and shared with current and prospective donors. The framework was then used to measure the impact of the partnership across key performance criteria.

Julia Rosenblum ’16 worked with Melissa Berman, mentor, Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change advisory board member, and CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. RPA is a nonprofit that provides research and counsel on charitable giving; develops philanthropic programs; and offers complete program, administrative, and management services for foundations and trusts. Julia used data from over 60 interviews with foundation leaders to identify discrete, useful archetypes in order to enhance the capacity of foundations to align resources; develop shared concepts, frameworks, and tools; and encourage collaboration.

Alexander Subashi ’16 worked with mentor John Emmert and Support Center/Partnership in Philanthropy, a New York/New Jersey-based nonprofit that consults with and trains nonprofit leaders and their organizations to increase overall effectiveness. Collaborating with Keith Timko ’02, associate executive director, Alexander helped Support Center survey the impact investment space in New Jersey, develop strategic priorities to accelerate the space, and form a regional impact investment network.

Katherine Chang ’16 worked with mentor Sandi Wright and the Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change advisory board and staff to help develop the first Tamer Center Nonprofit Board Showcase. Katherine worked on the programming and created the criteria for nonprofit organization participants.

Byron Austin ’16 worked with mentor Steve Symonds ’84 and the management team at the Alpha Workshops to develop an evaluation model that will help them better manage and monitor the effect of the organization's programs on their students.

Alex Nelson ’17 worked with mentor, and Tamer Institute for Social Enterprise and Climate Change advisory board member Debbie Perelman ’00 at the Child Mind Institute. Alex provided analysis of current and potential enterprise budget and planning software.

Mark Parsonson ’15 worked with mentor and Social Enterprise Program advisory board member Mark Zurack and the Alzheimer’s Association to conduct a detailed assessment of all areas of the Alzheimer’s Association’s NYC Chapter Charity Walk. Mark developed a concrete plan of implementable actions in order to improve the effectiveness of the Walk and its impact for the NYC Chapter.

Sarah Sung '15 worked with mentor Jim Matison ’68 at Berkshire Farm Center & Services for Youth, a nonprofit child welfare agency that supports children across New York State with a continuum of services from prevention, to foster care, to residency at the Canaan school and center. Sarah developed a strategic plan for the Workforce Development Council, a group of business and professional leaders that advise, reinforce and amplify the reach of Berkshire’s Workforce Development Program.

Baylee Simon ’15 worked with mentor Sheila Lambert and Bottomless Closet, a New York City-based nonprofit that aims to build self-confidence, executive presence and interview readiness among disadvantaged women poised to enter the workforce. Baylee worked to develop a volunteer recruitment strategy that would help the organization achieve its growth goal of serving an additional 25,000 New York City women in the next five years. Baylee focused on her analysis and recommendations on which volunteer segments and recruitment channels Bottomless Closet should target to expand its volunteer base, as well as how the organization should structure its corporate partner program to help fulfill its growth plan.

Genevieve Kinney ’15 worked with mentor Brian Ricklin, executive director and CEO of Creative Art Works (CAW), a nonprofit organization that seeks to empower NYC youth through arts programming that incorporates academic enrichment, creative expression, workforce development and community engagement. Genevieve worked to develop a Corporate Partnership Strategic Overview document that presented the various avenues by which CAW could pursue and build sustainable partnerships with corporate institutions. Her work included research of philanthropic corporate organizations and engaged key decision makers at these organizations to understand the most impactful ways for CAW to engage with such corporate partners. Her project culminated in a Strategic Overview document that is used to educate new CAW staff and board members as well as to initiate dialogue about possible partnership opportunities with target institutions.

Rachel Thau ’15 worked with mentor Katie Leonberger ’08 and Community Resource Exchange (CRE), a nonprofit management-consulting firm. Rachel worked with CRE to develop a cohesive brand strategy and helped to activate the brand through the creation of marketing materials, case studies and outreach collateral.

Lee Grzesh ’15 worked with Kaitlin McTighe and Citizen Schools, a New York nonprofit that partners with middle schools to expand the learning day for students and their families. The goal of this project is to create marketing materials for use in partner and fundraising meetings to illustrate the business case for volunteering with Citizen Schools. Lee reviewed external research on volunteerism as well as existing internal survey data. To develop a holistic view as part of his research efforts, Lee may interview select Citizen teachers to understand the benefits of volunteering on an individual basis.

Seema Balani ’15 worked with mentors Todd Rudsenske ’09 and Manmeet Kaur ’12 of City Health Works, an organization that integrates local health coaches into clinics and social service providers to support population health management. Seema worked with the team to develop a framework for City Health Works to optimize their ability to build new partnerships quickly and effectively to achieve successful growth in the local community.

Joyce Yang ’15 worked with mentor Gary Brewster to help the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation, an organization that seeks to improve the treatment, quality of life and the long-term outlook for children with brain and spinal cord tumors. Joyce worked to define the foundation's national expansion strategy. Joyce was responsible for developing a market landscape analysis and identifying high potential acquisition or partnership targets in priority regions.

Nik Kapauan '15 worked with mentor Matthew Carpenter and executive director Tim Lord on a project for DreamYard Project, the largest private supplier of arts education in the Bronx. The project was to identify, prioritize, and create an action plan to target currently untapped public funding sources available to DreamYard. Nik analyzed potential sources at the municipal, state, and federal levels, such as the discretionary budgets of Bronx city councilors and state and federal grant programs, and prioritized based on the amount of funding available, ease of application, and DreamYard's chances of winning the funds.

Alexis Mayer ’17 worked with mentor Elisabeth Wadsworth and Friends of the Children to review the organization’s current data and metrics, compare the data to citywide and comparable mentoring organization standards, and aggregate the data to highlight FOTC’s strengths. The goal of the project was to better represent services so as to secure additional funding.

Zachary Collins ’15 worked with mentor Amanda Cahn ’10 at Friends of WHEELS, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to ensure that all students at the Washington Heights Expeditionary Learning School (WHEELS) – most of whom are first-generation college-goers – have access to and succeed in a college of their choice. Zachary provided a three-year strategic development plan for the organization that helped transform and map out fundraising strategies for three organizational revenue sources: foundation, corporate, and individual.

Lauren Gentry ’16 worked with mentor Judy Vredenburgh, president and CEO, and Patricia Driscoll, COO, of Girls Inc. For her project, Lauren analyzed the effectiveness of the Girls Inc. Learning and Sharing program. Initially created in 2012, the program was designed to provide an opportunity for Girls Inc. affiliates to meet on a regular basis and discuss best practices. The goal of this project was to help Girls Inc. assess the effectiveness of these discussions and develop a strategy for the Learning and Sharing programs going forward.

Jillian Roland ’16 worked with mentor Peter Novak ’09 on a dashboard project for the Global Community Charter School (GCCS), an elementary school in West Harlem. GCCS is a relatively new school and the board wanted to develop a dashboard it could use at monthly board meetings to monitor the school's progress. Jillian attended board committee meetings and met with school staff to identify key performance indicators in the four identified focus areas of achievement, operations and culture, finance, and strategic goals. She then worked with relevant staff and committee members to develop a process and tool for monthly data collection and to design a dashboard that displays the key performance indicators against targets. By the beginning of the summer, the GCCS board will use this dashboard regularly to inform discussion and aide in governance of GCCS.

Anjali Verghis '15 worked with mentor Claude Arpels ’98 and the International Contemporary Ensemble. With 35 leading instrumentalists performing solo or in large ensembles, ICE functions as performers, presenters and educators, advancing the music of our time by developing innovative new works and new strategies for audience engagement. Anjali worked with ICE to optimize its OpenIce digital media strategy, specifically by examining issues related to overall goals, audience accessibility / interests, and presentation and display options.

Kendall Miller '15 worked with mentor Todd Larsen ’96 and Literacy Partners, a New York City-based nonprofit dedicated to offering high quality community-based literacy programs to empower adults to reach their full potential as individuals, parents, and citizens. Kendall developed a business case for an English language academy to better serve Literacy Partners' existing community, and to expand the reach of the organization's impact. The language academy aims to specifically target parents in order to break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by empowering adults through education. Kendall's analysis and report focused on different scenarios for a program that included partnering with technology startups and developing a multi-level academy that would serve everyone from beginners to business professionals.

Marina Araujo ’15 worked with mentor Paula Campos, of Orfanato Ninos de Cristo, an orphanage in the Dominican Republic that serves over 200 children. Marina worked on the budget strategy to allocate resources among the girls' and boys' orphanages in order to produce auditable financial statements that in three years will enable the orphanage to apply for grants internationally. Marina also focused on a plan to develop a network of local donors and researched corporate governance with an eye towards improving the internal communication channels between the orphanage in Dominican Republic and the board members based in the United States.

Sarah Drew ’16 worked with mentor Carrie Braddock ’06 and ROADS Charter High Schools, a network of charter high schools in New York City that serves over-age and under-credited students and engages them in their own academic and personal development. Sarah created an organizational dashboard for the board based on best practices and ROADS-specific needs to effectively track performance and form actionable goals.

Danielle Ross ’16 worked with mentor and Social Enterprise Program advisory board member Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, a nonprofit organization that provides research and counsel on charitable giving, develops philanthropic programs and offers complete program, administrative and management services for foundations and trusts. Danielle analyzed the knowledge management platform to provide insights into advisory practices and worked directly with an advisory team on a philanthropic project.

Mike McGregor ’16 worked with mentor and Social Enterprise Program advisory board member Mark Zurack and Teach for America NY (TFA NY). The project’s goal was to increase and sustain the organization’s donor base by 1) identifying data-oriented metrics to demonstrate the impact of TFA’s teachers and alumni and 2) providing clear indicators of the positive effect donor’s contributions have on underserved students’ academic and life outcomes. In the spring, Mike presented TFA NY with recommendations for how to develop and refine its approach to attracting and appealing to potential and current donors.

Susannah Vila ’16 worked with mentor Steve Symonds and The Alpha Workshops, an organization that provides vocational training in the decorative arts to individuals living with HIV. Susannah and Steve worked with the executive director and the board to structure key organizational challenges – including funding gaps, the profitability of their studio business and the social impact of their training services – into a strategic plan.

Andrew Faubel ’16 worked with mentor Jonah Zimiles ’08 and The Children’s Institute (TCI), a New Jersey-based nonprofit school for children and adults with autism and related disabilities. The school’s adult program, TCI Center for Independence, provides vocational and job skills training and teaches social, life and relationship skills. Services are provided free of charge but New Jersey’s upcoming transition from a contract-based service system to a fee-for-service system posed several uncertainties for the organization. Andrew worked to develop a model to optimize the services TCI could provide under the new system. Andrew focused his analysis on how the organization could maximize the impact it was having on each student while continuing to serve its expanding class size for years to come.

Elizabeth Miller ’15 worked with mentor Mimi Boublik ’90 and The Jericho Project, a nonprofit that provides housing, employment services, and other critical programming to adults and children experiencing homelessness in New York City. Elizabeth developed a study to assess the needs of the underserved young adult homeless population, 40% of whom are LGBT. She provided a recommendation for the appropriate educational incentives structure for this new initiative and organized an assessment of Jericho’s “LGBT-affirming” level.

Wendy Chan ’15 worked with mentor Lisa Canoura ’00 and West Side YMCA (WSY) to assess how the WSY can increase engagement with the west side community with a focus on increasing memberships. Wendy worked with Lisa and the senior staff at WSY to identify membership profiles and analyze how they communicate in order to formulate marketing and engagement strategies for WSY’s diverse program offerings and facilities.

Andrew Reich ’16 worked with mentor Lanie McNulty and Writopia Lab, a nationally recognized creative writing workshop for kids and teens ages 6 to 18. Andrew worked with Writopia’s senior directors to analyze the financial health of the organization following an explosive period of growth. Such analysis enabled the organization to analyze new programming from a financial perspective and construct the organization’s budget for the year ahead.

Peter Valeiras '15 worked with mentor Tess Mateo '97 and American Composers Orchestra, an orchestral group supporting the composition of new types of music by American composers through funding and support. Peter worked with the American Composers Orchestra to develop a plan and methodology to increase board membership over the next 6 months with an emphasis on increasing corporate relationships through board placement and fellowships.

Fabio Bergamo ’15 worked with mentor Jim Matison ’68 at Berkshire Farm Center & Services for Youth, a nonprofit child welfare agency that supports children across New York State with a continuum of services from prevention, to foster care, to residency at the Canaan school and center. Fabio provided analysis and recommendations for the implementation of a new financially self-sustainable set of business enterprises that prepare high school students for the workforce through experiential learning.

Daniella Gold ’14 worked with mentor Debbie Perelman ’00 to answer the question of what age the Children’s Museum of the Arts should target for exhibitions and programming. Daniella identified and researched leading children’s museums in the US to prepare a best practices analysis with regard to aging up. The project included interviews with industry professionals.

Pilar Cervantes ’14 worked with mentor Christine Chang and Bottomless Closet, an organization that guides and inspires disadvantaged women in New York City to enter the workforce. Pilar analyzed and updated the organization’s use of metrics to articulate Bottomless Closet’s impact.

Stephanie Weichsel ’14 worked with mentor Murry Stegelmann ’86 and Cathedral Community Care, an organization under St. John the Divine that is set up to combat poverty through preventive poverty services, education and advocacy – specifically targeting the issues of health and hunger. Stephanie worked on multiple projects about the strategy and fundraising aspects of the organization.

Mari Ishiguro ’14 worked with mentor Venk Varadan ’08 at the Center for Arts Education (CAE). CAE works to inform and influence educational and fiscal policies that support arts education in all New York City public schools. Mari worked with CAE’s director of research and policy to assess the current state of arts in education in city schools (based on reporting from the Office of Arts and Special Projects) and helped devise budget recommendations that would enable schools to deliver arts programming to meet state and city mandates. Mari collected and evaluated necessary data to support CAE’s policy suggestions to the new mayor.

Mohinshu (Mac) Trivedi ’14 had the opportunity to work with Jason Chiang ’12 and the Choral Society of New York. The Choral Society strives to bring the high quality choral music to the greater New York community who may not otherwise experience such work. Mac’s role was to help devise a long term funding strategy, which involved identifying new sources of funding, performing a competitive analysis on the operations and funding of comparable organizations, and working with the board to develop an overall mission statement and strategy.

Dr. Sharon E. Smith EMBA’14 worked with mentor Manmeet Kaur ’12, founder and executive director of City Health Works, to develop relationships with healthcare providers and insurers. The goal was to form partnerships with providers who will refer East Harlem patients with uncontrolled diabetes to the program. These patients are then paired with health coaches who assist patients in confronting barriers to care. These barriers may be social, economic, or access related.

Jason Finkelstein ’15 worked with mentor and SEP advisory board member Allan Levine ’95 and the New York Office of Citizen Schools, a nonprofit geared towards providing quality extended school day enrichment programs for middle school students in under-served communities. Jason worked with Citizen Schools to provide quantitative analysis for creating actionable next steps for boosting the nonprofit’s volunteer retention. Based on the insights gathered from the analysis, the Citizen Schools team is considering implementing a similar analysis to understand volunteer retention in other key geographic regions.

Jesse Rose EMBA’14 worked with mentor Brian Ricklin, executive director and CEO of Creative Art Works (CAW), a nonprofit that improves the lives of Harlem & Northern Manhattan youth through the visual, performing, and technology arts. Jesse worked on updating and enhancing the program's Charity Navigator data in order to highlight their competitive sets and unique standing as an arts education nonprofit. The project was focused on ensuring CAW is on track to achieve Tier-1 levels for fundraising efficiency, revenue and expense growth, and to enhance the transparency and accountability practices to meet industry standards. .

Abhinav Gupta EMBA’14 worked with mentor Brian Ricklin, executive director and CEO of Creative Art Works (CAW). Abhinav developed a plan for leveraging existing CAW assets for multiple revenue streams: cause marketing by primary research with consumer product companies, nonprofit consulting firms, and literature research. Abhinav created a plan to build CAW’s capabilities, a blueprint for a cause marketing strategy and possible ideas to implement in the short to medium term.

Audrey Iriberri ’14 worked with mentor Ken Shubin Stein, Columbia Business School adjunct professor, at Crutches 4 Kids (C4K). C4K is a nonprofit organization that collects used crutches in the US and donates the crutches to needy children in developing countries. The project was to create and communicate a fundraising strategy that developed relationships with CSR offices of private companies. Audrey developed potential fundraising initiatives for C4K, identified potential partners, and reached out to potential partners to grow the organization's revenue base.

Young Park ’15 worked with mentor Lou Caltavuturo ’94 and Forestdale, a family services organization that provides foster care, preventive and other services to break the cycle of poverty in Queens. Young developed an actionable funding strategy and researched funding sources to build capacity of volunteer services in Forestdale. Young researched potential funding sources including foundations, individuals, and corporate sponsors. Young identified other successful models in the field that can be applied to Forestdale.

Stephanie Sherline ’15 worked with mentor Jordan Roth ’10 and Freedom to Marry, an organization that campaigns for the right of same-sex couples to legally marry in the US. Stephanie’s project both assessed the effectiveness of the organization’s current fundraising programs and presented an execution strategy for implementing additional programs to capture low-dollar donors. Additionally, Stephanie provided recommendations of how to recognize and reward high-level volunteers and donors associated with a new development campaign.

Malini Muralidharan ’14 and Elise Miller ’15 worked with mentor Joan Rosenthal and Friends of the Children New York, a youth development program that employs professional mentors to work comprehensively NYC's most vulnerable youth for a 12-year period from kindergarten through high school graduation. Malini and Elise worked with staff to explore Friends of the Children's program model and its short- and long-term expansion possibilities. Malini and Elise used the information gathered to create a donor pitch for Friends of the Children staff to use in building future partnerships.

Virginia Whitney EMBA’14, worked with mentor Judy Vredenburgh, president and CEO, and Cheryl Blowers, Marketing and Communications Director, of Girls Inc. Virginia worked on identifying a set of metrics and developing a standard economic model to help quantify Girls Inc.’s performance and the bottom-line effect of the organization’s efforts “at the girl level” in dollar terms. The goal of this project was to help Girl’s Inc. communicate its message of impact quantitatively to enhance its fundraising potential.

Christopher Swinney ’14 worked with mentor Peter Novak ’09 on a partnership exploration project for Global Community Charter School (GCCS), an elementary school in West Harlem. GCCS is a relatively new school and the board wanted to explore what resources and partnership opportunities existed within Columbia University. Chris attended board meetings and met with school staff to assess operational areas, strategic plans and the school's most glaring needs. He then researched and interviewed numerous programs and staff across Columbia University to identify more than twenty relevant opportunities. His findings were compiled in a document and shared with board at their April meeting. GCCS expects to act on this deliverable beginning this summer.

Kash Patel ’15 worked with mentor Christopher Shyer ’87 and the Historic House Trust (HHT), on an earned revenue research study that is part of a larger pilot program called The Anarchist Guide for Historic House Museums. The Edward I. Koch Fellow for the Latimer House earned revenue research study is a project-specific fellowship that will support the implementation of a pilot program to test these innovative ideas in historic house museum management. Through this project, HHT aspires to transform Latimer Historic House Museum into a financially self-supporting center of social history, explorative experience and common identity. Kash helped research what is being done at other similar nonprofits, identified innovative, culturally-interesting ideas that connected the historic property to today's surrounding community, and helped create recommendations that suggested new ideas to test and consider.

Luke Sandler ’14 worked with mentor Claude Arpels ’98 and the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) on their organizational change. With 33 leading instrumentalists performing solo to large ensembles, ICE functions as performer, presenter and educator, advancing the music of our time by developing innovative new works and new strategies for audience engagement. Their unusual organization structure needed to be re-evaluated based on the growth and development strategy of the board. Based on conversations with the board, ICE members and research, Luke developed a new organizational structure for the company, initiated the search for a new COO, and worked with the board to ensure a smooth transition and growth plan.

Mark Flynn EMBA’14 worked with mentor Mimi Boublik ’90 and the Jericho Project, a nonprofit that provides housing, employment, and other critical programming to homeless adults and children in New York City. Mark developed a study to assess the needs of veterans returning from assignments overseas and recommended a service portfolio that will help Jericho meet the evolving challenges of their veteran residents.

Stephanie Bloom ’15 worked with mentor Shari Levine ’87 at Literacy Inc., a nonprofit focused on providing a network of support for young readers in low-income neighborhoods in NYC. Stephanie worked to develop a new online presence, from the website structure to the use of social media. The proposal was developed after analyzing the presence of other nonprofits in the literacy space, meeting with members of the board and speaking with experts in the field.

Morgan Handsman ’15 worked with mentor Brian O’Neil at the Museum of Biblical Art (MOBiA), a museum that celebrates and interprets art inspired by the Bible and its cultural legacy in Judeo- Christian traditions through exhibitions, education, and scholarship. Morgan worked with the executive director to optimize the staffing model by examining the organization’s financials and performing cost-benefit analyses. She developed job descriptions and a process to staff the organization sufficiently. The ED will discuss the proposal with the board at its next meeting.

Michelle Dervan EMBA’14 worked with mentor Ilene Lainer at New York Collaborates for Autism. Michelle developed a fundraising strategy to involve local corporations in Autism Speaks Walk events. Currently the majority of funds raised from the walk events come from individual and team donations, thus she analyzed the opportunity to increase funds from corporate sources and provided a set of recommendations on how to develop multi-faceted fundraising relationships with specific large-scale corporations located in the community.

Mariana Diaz Munoz ’15 worked alongside with mentor Paula Campos, member of the advisory board of Orfanato Ninos de Cristo, an orphanage in the Dominican Republic that serves over 200 children. Mariana focused on developing an organizational and fundraising strategy to decrease the organization’s dependence on small, one-time donations. As part of the project, Mariana worked with the organization to revise its mission, define its financial needs, develop an annual budget, and a fundraising plan. Mariana also helped create a marketing and branding strategy to raise awareness of the orphanage and strengthen donor relations.

Jessica Hammerman ’14 worked with mentor and SEP advisory board member Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, a nonprofit organization that provides research and counsel on charitable giving, develops philanthropic programs and offers complete program, administrative and management services for foundations and trusts. Jessica researched the organizational structure of foundations to provide insights into effective management structures and practices in differing foundation cultures.

Gustavo Pinto Guimarães ’15 worked with mentor Sebastian Stubbe ’01 at Seeds of Peace, an organization that helps teenagers from regions of conflict learn the skills of making peace. The project involved working with graduates from the program in order to place them in influential places in their communities. The goal of the project is to allow alumni to continue to act as agents of change and promote peace.

Hugh Le ’14 worked with mentor Bruce Usher, executive in residence and co-director of the Social Enterprise Program. Hugh assisted the SEP with an internal project focusing on how SEP engages alumni interested in serving on a nonprofit organization’s board of directors. Hugh assessed the current demand from alumni and nonprofit organizations, and provided strategic recommendations to SEP. Hugh focused on creating a plan for engaging interested alumni in nonprofit board service.

Emily Rosenfield Magid ’14 worked with mentor Naomi Usher and Soho Rep, an innovative contemporary theater in New York City. Emily provided the organization with recommendations for how to smooth fluctuation in demand for tickets. To generate her findings, Emily analyzed internal sources of data, such as historical ticket sales, benchmarked pricing strategies at comparable theaters, and conducted informational meetings with several industry experts.

Aakrit Kumar ’14 worked with mentor Jon Friedland ’97 and Streetwise Partners, an organization that helps low-income individuals overcome employment barriers by providing job skills training, career coaching and job search assistance. Aakrit revised Streetwise Partners’ corporate marketing materials and outreach efforts to incorporate findings from a recent volunteer data survey and from internal reporting metrics.

Wanessa Ferreira ’15 worked with mentor and Social Enterprise Program advisory board member Mark Zurack and Teach for America NY (TFA NY). The goal was to identify and propose action plans to improve engagement of three key groups: (1) TFA NY Young Professional Committee’s members, (2) TFA Corps Members alumni living in NY and (3) corporate donors interested in volunteering opportunities offered by TFA NY to their employees. Based on research and internal and external interviews, Wanessa developed a board report card for the Young Professional Committee that was implemented in March 2014. The project contributed to a national task force focused on improving TFA alumni engagement in all regions.

Rama Gabbita EMBA’14 worked with mentor Ayesha Vera-Yu ’03 at Advancement for Rural Kids. The project was to identify, create and communicate a "Dollars@Work" metric that accurately captured and translated ARK's operational successes in supporting communities in the developing world. The project identified the current use of resources – human capital, time and effort sinks — and streamlined operations to increase the ROI for each activity.

Nicole Abbott '13 worked with mentor and Social Enterprise Program advisory board member Melissa Raso '96 and All Souls School, an early childhood school that welcomes children, aged 2 1/2-5 years old, of all racial, religion, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. Nicole worked with the school to build financial models based on a literature review and peer school evaluation. Nicole also created a market map of the current landscape of peer schools. Based on the evaluation and board response, she developed a plan and timeline for implementation of a new financial system.

Susannah Stayter EMBA’13 worked with Tess Mateo ’97 and the American Composer's Orchestra. The ACO is currently examining their competitive set locally and nationally. The orchestra’s intent is to review their current mission statement and offerings to ensure they are on target and relevant. Susannah’s work focused on collecting and analyzing information about current competitors’ audience and funding, particularly in regards to their mission and activities. She also worked to identify organizations and/or trends that might be off the ACO’s radar. The final deliverable was a set of recommendations to the board on ways to most effectively carry out the mission of serving contemporary American music and the living American composer.

Amanda Wood ’14 worked with her mentor Gerry Byrne at The Bob Woodruff Foundation (BWF), a nonprofit that provides resources and support to injured service members, veterans and their families. Amanda analyzed BWF's current fundraising sources and the impact of BWF's current donations on other organizations. Based on the results, Amanda provided recommendations for strengthening the organization’s revenue and impact in the future.Akshai J. Patel ’13 worked with Julie Wong ’03 and Bronx Charter School for the Arts (BCSA) to evaluate a charter management organizational structure as the school considers the best format for operation. Akshai researched the way other charter schools have created or joined CMO structures by engaging leaders at the highest performing networks and developed a strategy for finding the right one for BCSA.

Adam Kulik ’14 worked with mentor Christian Lee ’07 at BronxWorks, an organization that fosters social and economic development in the Bronx. Adam worked closely with the executive director and Director of donor relations to examine the organization’s current sources of private fundraising and to analyze the impact of special events on donor giving and retention. The company’s current fundraising efforts were benchmarked against similar organizations, and recommendations for improving access to private capital were presented to the board of directors.

David Sheng EMBA’14 worked with mentor Tess Mateo ’97 at Carnegie Hall. The objective of the project was to determine the relative value of a new targeting program called the Global Crescendo Council. David assessed the competitive landscape of existing programs and developed a questionnaire to gauge interest from potential donors and participants to inform the organization’s long-term objective to develop a new membership program.

Louise Sheldon ’14 worked with Social Enterprise Program advisory board member Debbie Perelman ’00 to optimize development of the Children’s Museum of the Arts’ gift shop. Louise identified and researched competing children’s museum stores to prepare a “best practice” analysis with regard to gift shop product mix, marketing, management, and e-commerce program. The project included field studies as well as interviews with industry professionals.

Chance Moreland ’13 worked with mentor Michael Boublik ’90 and the Children's Museum of Manhattan, an institution dedicated to enriching the lives of children throughout New York City. Chance helped the museum optimize its marketing practices to ensure that new social media tools were being used to their full capability.

Jeff Burbank EMBA’13 worked with mentor Scott Li and F.C. Harlem, a community organization that delivers soccer-based, youth development programs addressing academic enrichment, character and leadership development, and healthy lifestyles. Jeff worked with members of the board of directors to identify the strategic plan for F.C. Harlem and he recommended new fundraising strategies to fund plans to expand its soccer leagues and after-school enrichment programs.

Jennifer Dyck-Sprout ’14 worked with mentor Misha Zabotin ’88 at the French American School of New York (FASNY) to assist the board with initiating a capital campaign for the school’s new facilities.

Daphne Patterson ’14 began working with mentor Judy Vredenburgh, president and CEO, of Girls Inc. Daphne researched fundraising models of other organizations, synthesized findings of focus group conversations, conducted interviews, and offered recommendations about the design and implementation of Girls Inc.’s new fundraising strategy.

Karen Sohn ’14 worked with her mentor Chris Shyer ’87 and GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network, to restructure the chapter network. Karen conducted a best practice analysis and made recommendations to coincide with other work GLSEN was currently undertaking.

Caitlin Mahoney ’14 worked with mentor Pam Minetti ’81 and Graham Windham, a child welfare agency that improves the lives of youth and families through programs that provide a strong foundation to thrive in school and beyond. Together with the Human Resources team, Caitlin developed a recruitment strategy that documented an improved process, projected talent needs and estimated costs related to recruiting.

Sheila Lalani ’14 worked with Handcrafting Justice mentor Aimee Munsell ’99 to purchase products from its producers up-front in order to provide a guaranteed revenue stream for artisans in need. As product demand varies, occasionally these artisans are forced to write off its old inventory. This project determined the best practices in inventory liquidation and helped the nonprofit establish and easily manage a liquidation process.

Sara Levin ’13 worked with mentor and Social Enterprise Program advisory board member Mimi Boublik ’90 and the Jericho Project, an organization that helps homeless men and women move off the streets by providing housing, comprehensive counseling services and aftercare. Sara conducted a feasibility analysis related to the acceptance of donated properties from financial institutions.

Tyler Brown EMBA’14 worked with mentor Shari Levine ’87 from Literacy Inc. to help the organization develop a way to measure program success, with the aim of using these metrics to better solicit funds from individual and corporate donors. Tyler worked with Literacy Inc. to develop a program aimed at improving the organization’s solicitation of recurring donations from individual and corporate donors. The project included developing scalable procedures for donor targeting, ongoing donor communication, and performance evaluation.

Thiago Kapulskis ’13 worked with Jon Bernstein ’08 to do a strategic analysis of Minds Matter in order to unify the vision, mission and best practices of its chapters. The deliverable consisted of a SWOT analysis of all chapters and a strategic report of the organization.

Tim Bernal ’14 worked with mentor and board member Matt Kirk ’08 for Operation Homefront: Tri-State (OHTS), a nonprofit that provides a comprehensive suite of emergency support to families of service members and wounded warriors in the Tri-State area. After expanding into Connecticut in 2011, the organization was interested in expanding funding from corporate and individual donors. Tim analyzed both national and market-specific donation trends to formulate a strategy to increase effectiveness and efficiency of fundraising within the Connecticut market.

Masha Tarasyuk ’14 worked with mentor Jason Wright and Jessica Pliska, the founder and executive director of the Opportunity Network, a nonprofit career and college prep program for high achieving and underserved NYC high school students. Masha worked directly with the Jessica Pliska to develop a growth strategy for the organization with the goal of expanding the reach of the program without sacrificing the tailored individual attention the program brings to its participants and its current success rate.

Marnie Florin ’14 worked with PEACE Mexico and mentor Lauren Decker ’09 on fundraising for the nonprofit. She was the project manager for 12 grants and responsible for researching, writing, assembling and ultimately submitting the applications. She also did marketing and recruiting for PEACE's summer internship program.

Rodrigo Morales EMBA’14 worked with the Qualitas for Life organization and both Qualitas for Life and Social Enterprise Program advisory board member Gregorio Schneider ’96 to develop a fundraising strategy. Rodrigo and Mr. Schneider identified and met with potential donors for Qualitas to raise funds. They also solicited feedback from these meetings to develop a sustainable fundraising strategy. Nattavadee Temkasem ’13 worked with mentor and Social Enterprise Program advisory board member Professor Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, a nonprofit organization that provides research and counsel on charitable giving, develops philanthropic programs and offers complete program, administrative and management services for foundations and trusts. Nattavadee worked on researching nonprofit operating reserves best practices, and preparing orientation materials for new board members.

Ashley LeMaire EMBA’14 worked with mentor Katie Wright at SafeMinds to restructure its organizational decision making based on past project achievements and strategic vision surrounding volunteer commitment, fundraising, sponsor backing, research/information dissemination, and impact measurement.

Laura Tabat ’14 worked with mentor Jon Friedland ’97 and Streetwise Partners, an organization that helps low-income individuals overcome employment barriers by providing job skills training, career coaching and job search assistance. Laura conducted market research related to the development of a volunteer engagement plan.

Matt Rutter EMBA’13 worked with mentor Professor Ray Horton at Community Resource Exchange (CRE). Matt constructed a financial model to assess the revenues and expenses of the organization. His model helped demonstrate the drivers’ that informed bill rates and promoted economic sustainability. In addition, Matt reviewed CRE’s program strategy to assess the organization’s ability to generate positive cash flow.

Gopi Sukhavasi EMBA’13 worked with mentor Jonah Zimiles ’08, at the Children’s Institute (TCI). In September, 2012, TCI began a new adult day program for individuals with special needs. Gopi helped TCI develop a 10-year strategic and financial plan to help the institute integrate the new adult day program.

Jo-Anne Suriel EMBA’14 worked with mentor Fred Gilde ’97 and executive director JJ Lind of The Civilians, a New York-based theater company, to create an original work derived from investigations into the world beyond the theater. Jo-Anne performed an analysis of various business structures for the company to consider for its strategic plan and also assisted in the creation of 3-year financial projections and scenario planning.

Tom Banks EMBA’14 and Ashleigh Ranney EMBA’14 worked with The Crisis Ministries of Mercer County and chairman of the board, Fred van Sickle, executive vice president for Columbia University Development and Alumni Relations, to analyze the demographics of the current client base, assess the need for the Crisis Ministries’ services within Mercer County, and evaluate the current facilities in use. Tom and Ashleigh conducted a scenario analysis and developed a long term facilities strategy based on these findings, consistent with the organization’s overall strategy. The Crisis Ministries of Mercer County provides practical, innovative, and caring programs addressing Hunger Prevention, Homelessness Prevention and Workforce Training to those in need.

Grace Pittenger ’14 worked with mentor Dave Sasscer ’97 to develop a plan for Visionary Media to focus fundraising efforts towards projects with the highest likelihood of successful completion. Grace researched the successful fundraising tools at comparable nonprofit organizations and developed branding strategy to better improve Visionary Media recognition in the market place, including new access to social media outlets.

Vidula Menon ’14 worked with mentor Lisa Canoura Reid ’00 at The Greater New York YMCA. With recent declines in occupancy rates and revenue growth in the lucrative YMCA guest room business, Vidula sought to generate volume through a focused effort on social media marketing strategy, internal and external benchmarking, and infrastructural assessments and improvement plans.

Irmke Bonte ’12 worked with mentor Ayesha Vera Yu ’03 at Advancement for Rural Kids (ARK). As ARK sought to expand its organization to more communities in the Philippines, and to Tanzania or Colombia, Irmke analyzed potential new organization structure and resources the organization might need in order to expand.

Jayne Shelton ’12 and mentor Melissa Cheong ’09 worked on a project for Agora Partnerships to help strengthen the board practices. Jayne created a board member self-assessment form to rate the overall skills of the board. The results of the assessment could be used to form subcommittees or task groups. The assessment could also be used as an application to screen potential board members.

Ana Paula Gonzalez ’13 worked with mentor Christian Lee ’07 a board member at BronxWorks, an organization that fosters social and economic development in the Bronx. Ana worked closely with her mentor, along with the CEO and CFO of BronxWorks, to develop a tool that would allow the Finance and Accounting Department to better convey the cash status of the organization. Ann developed a method to record and track past information and present on the cash flows to the board in a meaningful way.

Julia Werb ’13 worked with Carnegie Hall and mentor Tess Mateo ’97 to develop a strategy for a new patron group called the Global Crescendo Council (GCC). Carnegie Hall has historically had problems losing donors after they leave the young patrons group and before they transition into the full patron program. Carnegie Hall plans to create a group for mid to senior level career executives. In her project, Julia created a project plan with steps to determine the needs of the group through execution. Julia also developed a preliminary strategy for the overall structure of the GCC including: dues, organization structure, recruiting ideas, and global partnership recommendations. Lastly, she drafted a survey to send to prospective members to evaluate the proposal.

Brae Holdridge ’13 began working with the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, and mentor Michael Boublik ’90, just as the museum was beginning to think about moving to a new, larger building. Brae was tasked with researching the various sources of capital that could be available for this endeavor. Brae researched Mission-Related Investing, Program-Related Investing, Community Development Financial Institutions, Community Development Entities, bonds and potential funding from the corporate sector. Brae presented her findings to the executive director of the Museum and one of its board members. Her research is currently being used by outside advisors hired by the Museum.

Betsy Mell ’13 worked with Allan Levine ’95 and Citizen Schools, an organization that partners with middle schools to expand the learning day for children in low-income communities. Betsy developed a strategy for engaging members of the Columbia community, including students and alumni, to teach semester-long apprenticeships to middle school students.

Eric Metelka’13 worked with Brian Ricklin to help Creative Arts Workshops (CAW 4 Kids) improve their marketing materials. Eric analyzed their data and created visually-compelling charts. He used these charts, along with qualitative anecdotes, to design a four-page pamphlet that highlighted CAW's impact, recognition, and gorgeous art. Secondly, he helped CAW with their big fundraising gala for the year, by helping the organization recruit volunteers, prepare for and conduct the event. He then designed a pamphlet that was used to help raise funds for the Gala.

Michael Buchenholz ’13 worked with mentor Vivan Kuan at the CUE Art Foundation. Cue Arts is an arts organization dedicated to promoting culture by supporting the creativity of under- recognized artists by offering comprehensive arts education programming for artists and students, and interdisciplinary arts events for public audiences.

Working with Friends of the Children, an early intervention program for New York City youth, Mark Santangelo ’13 sought to improve the organization’s financial reporting processes. Mark’s involvement included assisting with cash flow forecasting, helping to create a monthly financial report for use by the board, and assisting the executive director on how best to operate moving forward.

Sarah Qian ’12 joined Girls Inc., an empowerment program for young women, to develop a new fundraising model and action plan for the organization. With mentor Judy Vredenburgh, Sarah worked to research corporations with strong women’s networks in order to potentially align with them, and also analyzed the approaches taken by similar nonprofits. Finally, she proposed next steps for transforming the fundraising strategy.

Marisa Holman ’13 worked with Tess Mateo ’97, board member of the United Nations - Girl Up Campaign, a national nonprofit UN campaign empowering young American women to develop programs geared at reaching out to young girls in impoverished nations. Marisa helped the year-old campaign formalize its business plan for 2013. She worked with the board members to identify their goals, establish action items and identify metrics to measure the success of those initiatives.

Jitender Chopra ’12 worked with mentor Pam Minetti ’81 and Graham-Windham , a social service agency. Jitender attended executive board meetings on an ongoing basis to understand, analyze and propose recommendations against the strategic challenges faced by the organization. Jitender worked to develop an Excel-based model to help improve organizational performance. The model captures and automatically generates measurable performance metrics for senior management and board member's review.

Working with Graham-Windham and mentor Pam Minetti ’81, John Anderson ’13 developed a marketing strategy for foster parent recruitment, and analyzed the organization’s existing recruitment process for inefficiencies. This worked required research with Graham-Windham’s community partners, and analysis of recruitment methods in order to hopefully expedite the process as a whole.

Rebecca (Becca) Kaufman ’13 worked with Sylvia Kier ’80 and the Iyengar Yoga Institute. She completed a market survey of the New York City yoga market, including Brooklyn, and helped the Institute update a spreadsheet documenting competitors' offerings. The Iyengar Yoga Institute was interested in expanding to Brooklyn so was interested in where expansion may be possible and what opportunity exists in the market. Becca also had a chance to attend a board meeting at the Iyengar Yoga Institute.

Jennifer Lynch ’12 and mentor Mimi Boublick ’90 worked with Jericho Project, an organization that helps homeless men and women move off the streets by providing housing, comprehensive counseling services and aftercare. Jennifer worked on assisting an outside consulting agency with a piece of their strategic plan for the organization.

Andrew Padilla ’13 worked with Literacy Inc. and mentor Shari Levine ’87 to research potential funding sources for this teen literacy program. Andrew focused on marketing research and fundraising strategies and, more specifically, worked to obtain lists of corporate donors to similar nonprofits and of key people in corporate donor organizations.

Working with Chymeka Olfonse, executive director of MindsMatter, and John Bernstein ’08, chairman of the board, Lindsay Norcott ’12 helped to research and draft a three-year strategic plan for MindsMatter. MindsMatter has grown to nine chapters across the United States on an almost exclusively volunteer-led effort. Lindsay solicited feedback from chapter leaders on three pillars of the organization: chapter growth, high quality programming, and staffing. By conducting over 25 interviews, Lindsay listened to the unique concerns and ambitions of individual chapters, compiled this feedback into areas of consensus, and made recommendations to the board for moving the organization forward.

Jason Simeral ’12 worked with Sue Memberg ’92 a board member at Mosholu Montefiore Center, a community based organization in the Bronx. Jason worked with a committee of board members and MMCC staff to develop fundraising goals, arrange event logistics and solicit donors.

While working with NY Foundation for the Arts and mentor Whitney Stevens ’90, Josie Chiles ’13 developed a sustainable, integrated marketing plan. She focused on social media and digital channels for Artspire, a NYFA online community for artists and arts organizations. Josie’s efforts on behalf of the NYFA helped build the organization’s credibility in the learning and development space.

Albert Lim ’13 worked with Matt Kirk ’08, treasurer of the board, and Alison La Ferlita, chapter president, of Operation Homefront Tri-State, a nonprofit that provides emergency financial and other assistance to the families of our service members and wounded warriors. Albert analyzed Operation Homefront Tri-State’s current revenue and fundraising sources and provided recommendations for growing the nonprofit’s revenue base going forward.

Elisa Kerr Joia ’13 worked with Qualitas of Life Foundation, an organization aimed at providing financial education to the hispanic community in New York. Elisa helped Qualitas in its growth strategy, by proposing actions to increase its outreach and its average classroom size and attract more people to its courses. Actions were based on external benchmarks of other financial education organizations and the space in New York, interview with Qualitas' current partners and assessment of the organization itself.

Lanna Chan ’13 worked with Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors and CEO Melissa Berman on two key projects. In one of her projects, Lanna measured the effectiveness of philanthropy thoughtware by determining appropriate metrics to target various audiences. Additionally, she drafted an article discussing the rise, evolution, impact, and future opportunities of the global giving culture around the world.

Alexia Sadun ’13 paired with Soho Rep, an innovative contemporary theater in New York City. Alexia worked with mentor Naomi Usher to identify and engage new individual donors, and provide recommendations on how to engage these new prospects. She did a field study and research on Soho Rep’s current major donor and audience list, donor lists from other arts organizations as well as donor lists from local service organizations in Tribeca.

Tom Brasberger ’12 worked with George Polsky, the founder and director of StreetSquash, to explore governance issues related to a possible expansion of the program. StreetSquash is a Harlem-based urban youth enrichment program that combines academic tutoring, squash instruction, college preparation, community service and mentoring. Tom researched and presented best practices with regards to governance of expansion programs focusing on brand image, consistency of mission, funding sources, staff, and board of directors participation.

Edward Rayner ’13 worked with Streetwise Partners, a workforce development and career self-sufficiency organization for low-income individuals. Edward worked with Jon Friedland ’97, a board member of Streetwise Partners, and Tracey Allard, the organization’s executive director, to support the program’s expansion into Boston. He identified and researched organizations to source participants and mentors for the program and connected with those organizations in preparation of the 2012 launch.

Karen Goldfeder ’12 worked with the Westside YMCA and Lisa Canoura-Reid ’00 to assess cost of different program activities at the organization. Karen’s recommendations will help the YMCA staff and board assess allocation of appropriate resources and pricing decisions of the programs.

Gillian Andres ’11 worked with Judy Vredenburgh , president and CEO of Girls Inc., a national nonprofit youth organization providing educational programs to millions of American girls, particularly those in high-risk, underserved areas. Gillian helped to develop a new organizational chart — from the brainstorming of program needs to the physical development of the document. She also developed a system to track cash flow and manage financial data for the Girls Inc. national offices.

Benjamin Bahr ’12 worked with the Child Center of New York and board member Dick Jay and executive director Sandra Hagan—which provides support to at-risk children and youth. Benjamin assessed the viability of a new tutoring project that would test for learning disabilities and develop programs for youth with learning disabilities. He conducted market analysis to assess current market offerings, demand, and potential schools with which to partner, and he developed a business plan for the project, should it prove a viable option.

Ryan Bell ’12 worked with Bob Houck, executive director, and Joan Rosenthal, board member of the Friends of the Children (FotC), an early intervention program in West Harlem that systematically screens and takes-on children in Harlem who are at the greatest risk of dropping out of school, becoming involved with gangs, and experiencing teen parenthood. Ryan analyzed FotC’s strategic plan at both the organizational level and within fund development, and he developed a strategy to create a junior board.

Jonathan Bonaiuto ’11 worked with Michael Boublik ’90, a board member at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM), and Andy Ackerman, the executive director of CMOM. Jonathan conducted a feasibility study of converting CMOM’s existing space, if the museum moved to a larger space, to a preschool. He calculated potential revenue streams and costs associated with running a preschool and conducted a local market assessment and preliminary analysis into the health and safety regulations required.

Guilia Christianson ’11 worked with SEP advisory board member Lise Strickler ’86, who also serves on the board of Environmental Advocates of New York (EANY), which dedicates itself to the protection of New York State’s environment and the health of all New Yorkers. Guilia focused on EANY’s strategy, assessing potential outreach and engagement opportunities for high net worth individuals who can provide both financial and political support. She evaluated target markets and strategic messaging to highlight issues relevant to EANY’s mission. Guilia then created a report of her research, analysis, and recommendations that she delivered to the board.

Mark Foresi ’11 and Christopher Reynolds ’12 worked with Creative Arts Workshop for Kids (CAW) and its executive director and board member Brian Ricklin. CAW is an endeavor that uses the visual and performing arts to teach life skills to children and teens while enriching their communities. Christopher researched potential sponsors and developed a recruitment strategy to expand into architecture curriculum. Mark created a strategy to recruit new board members.

Laura Hahn ’10 worked with Ronnie Planalp ’86, member of the SEP advisory board and of the Film Society of Lincoln Center (FSLC) board. Laura worked with the head of marketing and development on a variety of initiatives, including researching and developing a corporate sponsorship strategy.

Kristen Keating ’12 worked with Mary Jane Brock, board member of the Big Apple Circus, analyzing funding and development challenges and opportunities. Kristen analyzed the organization’s current text-to-donate campaign and studied benchmarks of similar campaigns and potential vendors for the texting service, ultimately providing recommendations of how to proceed. She also aggregated and analyzed programming metrics to provide to potential grantmakers and conducted a macro-level analysis of the Clown Care program, which provides matching funds from hospital partners. Kristen looked at the current income-tracking system and provided recommendations to streamline data and better manage its finances.

Lori Kelehan ’12 worked with Wendy Hillard, founder and board member of The Wendy Hillard Foundation. Lori developed a strategic plan to support the expansion of new and existing programs and identified existing and project costs to support growth targets. She reviewed and evaluated the foundation’s existing cost structure and assessed the impact and risk of discontinued city and state funding.

Nathan Littlefield ’11 worked with the Kristin Krebs-Dick ’99 and the Riverside Park Fund, an organization devoted to the preservation of the city’s four miles of park land along the Hudson River. Nathan developed a strategy to drive regular monetary giving from existing and potential corporate sponsors and raised awareness that the Fund aims to deepen its relationships with select corporate sponsors. He worked with senior corporate giving leaders to better understand their expectations from long-term nonprofit partnerships and identified best practices from development leaders at non-competitive nonprofits for securing corporate funding.

Matt Magenheim ’11 worked with Debbie Perelman ’00, a founding board member for Child Mind Institute, which is committed to finding more effective treatments for childhood psychiatric and learning disorders, building the science of healthy brain development, and empowering children and their families with the information they need to get help, hope, and answers. Matt developed a financial model to project the organization’s budget and calculate overall clinician compensation.

Israel Martinez ’11 worked with Jon Friedland ’97, board member for Streetwise Partners, which works with low-income individuals to overcome employment barriers, obtain better jobs, and achieve economic self-sufficiency by creating deep mentoring relationships with volunteer business professionals. Israel used research results to develop marketing materials to better recruit target participants. He analyzed and explored current and potential referral partners.

Daniel Merns ’12 worked with Lisa Canoura-Reid ’00, who serves on the board of the West Side YMCA, the largest freestanding branch of the YMCA. Daniel analyzed current membership statistics to identify a target audience and developed a strategy, including tangible growth objectives, to grow membership to the WSY. He analyzed other YMCA and gym membership attraction and retention strategies, identified actionable strategies WSY can take to increase membership, and projected an attainable growth goal.

Ariela Nathusius ’11 worked with Tess Mateo ’97, board member at the Global Summit of Women, and former NBLP participant Olivia Albrecht ’11, to launch the event: “Building Leaders: Revolutionizing the Future.” The event convened Columbia University’s brightest to take charge of the dialogue and brainstorm the vision of the future with inspiring experts from academia, business, government, and civil society. Participants discussed innovative solutions to global problems — ranging from rural agriculture to capital market access; from competitive investments for Fortune500 companies to financial regulation; and from the use of innovative media tools to alternative energy technology.

Melissa O’Connor ’12 worked with Alison Lindland ’08, a board member for Brooklyn Kindergarten Society (BKS), to create a robust database to better understand past attendees and hosts at its annual Yuletide Ball, a fundraising event used to build awareness about the organization. and in order to further. Melissa organized this information into a database and analyzed to identify how to diversify the funding base.

Stephanie Palmeri ’11 worked with Sylvia Kier ’80, board member of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New York (IYAGNY). Stephanie utilized an online survey to determine members’ interest in involvement opportunities with the Association, especially potential board members. She conducted a competitive analysis of the market landscape for yoga organizations in New York (brand identity, pricing, online presence, number of classes, etc.) and determined opportunities for expansion.

Lisa Segal ’11 worked with Mimi Wohabe-Boublik ’90, a board member for Jericho Project. Lisa researched expansion efforts of other organizations specializing in supportive housing initiatives and worked with McKinsey consultants that were granted by the Robin Hood Foundation to Jericho to develop a strategic plan for Jericho to expand either geographically, in servicing offerings, or a combination of both.

Sandeep Wasan ’11 worked with Jay Ireland, a board member for the Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation, and Lorraine Egan, its executive director. Sandeep looked at opportunities to increase sales through its Broadway tickets program, which supports most of the foundation’s operational costs. He produced a report on market conditions that preclude DRCF from increasing sales and developed recommendations to increase ticket sales.

Reza Watts ’11 worked with George Polsky, founder and a board member of Street Squash, a Harlem-based urban youth enrichment program that combines academic tutoring, squash instruction, college preparation, community service, and mentoring. Street Squash was looking to develop a leadership program with a fellowship for the training of future executive directors at Urban Squash locations nationwide through an apprenticeship and an academic component provided by constultants, academic institutions, etc. Reza canvassed current executive directors to better understand essential skills for success, selected appropriate location(s) for the apprenticeship, and suggested an academic curriculum to be followed by the candidates.

Megan Barker White ’10 worked with Sue Memberg ’92 who is on the board of Mosholu Montefiore Community Center (MMCC). There, Barker White developed a fundraising plan that included recommendations for fundraising, targets and timeframe. She assessed MMCC’s current fundraising strategies, performed a benchmarking study of comparable organizations’ fundraising plans and researched four key donor groups, developing key messages for each segment based on the overall strategy.

Max Chen ’10 worked with Chester Lee ’74 at the Chinese American Planning Council. Chen worked with the Council as it sought to assist residents of Chinatown to obtain jobs beyond their neighborhood. He researched employers and job training programs and created a document with recommendations on how best to proceed.

Elizabeth Condo ’10 worked with Michael Boublik ’90, a board member at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM), and Andy Ackerman, the executive director of CMOM. Condo helped CMOM develop and refine its corporate sponsorship marketing materials for its early childhood health initiative, a new program to fight child obesity targeting children under 5 years old. In addition, Condo helped CMOM develop a prospective sponsor list for the initiative.

Dan Gennaoui ’11 worked with Chris Stadler ’91 who is on the board of Jumpstart, an organization that brings college students and community volunteers to pre-schools in low-income areas for a year of mentoring and tutoring. Gennaoui helped Jumpstart create a growth model—which has already been adopted by the organization—to project costs associated with an increase in volunteers.

Josh Grossman ’11 worked with Ken Shubin Stein, an adjunct professor at Columbia Business School who founded Crutches for Kids, an organization that collects gently used crutches and sends them around the world to areas affected by conflict and natural disaster. Grossman assisted the organization with website development and worked with the founder to create marketing materials and explore strategic partnerships.

Laura Hahn ’10 and Caity McLaughlin ’11 worked with Cecily Carson, member of the SEP advisory board and the Museum of Arts and Design(MAD) board, and Liz Samurovich, AVP of marketing at MAD. They developed a marketing plan for the Theatre at MAD, which is one of multiple alternative-use spaces located at the Museum. In the course of their research, Hahn and McLaughlin looked at the competitive landscape for screening rooms and theatres in New York City, generated outreach strategies and made strategic recommendations for advertising and marketing of the space. They found the Theatre at MAD to be an exciting potential source of revenue for the Museum.

Manisha Kathuria ’10 worked with former SEP advisory board member Joyce Roche ’72, who was president and CEO of GirlsInc., a national nonprofit youth organization providing educational programs to millions of American girls, particularly those in high-risk, underserved areas. Kathuria worked on a financial analysis project for the board, benchmarking the sources of revenue growth of Girls Inc. vis-à-vis Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. She analyzed the various sources of revenue growth and conducted primary research through interviews to study the various growth drivers and trends over the past decade for both organizations. Finally, she tied in the results of her analysis to the various sources of fundraising and fundraising strategies deployed by nonprofits and made relevant recommendations for Girls Inc. going forward.

Michael Kremen ’10 worked with Julianne Wagner and the board of Figure Skating in Harlem to evaluate the feasibility of building a new skating center for the organization. The nonprofit provides girls aged 6 to18 with vital educational and skating opportunities that build self-worth and promote physical wellbeing and academic achievement. Kremen helped the group understand the economics of ice skating rinks. He conducted research on the development costs and ongoing operating needs of rinks in the New York and New Jersey area.

Patrick McGrath ’11 worked with Bob Houk, executive director and board member of the Friends of the Children (FotC) in Harlem. There, McGrath utilized his experience as an accountant to help the organization understand the new Form 990 and what is required to complete the tax filing process given the new parameters. In addition, McGrath undertook research to explore how charity ranking organizations assign their rankings and assessed the strengths and weaknesses of FotC in order to make recommendations to help increase their ranking.

Marielle Nagy ’10 worked with Marie Amerasinghe, who serves on the board of the Chege Orphanage, an organization that provides food, shelter, medical care, caregivers and education to children who have been orphaned by AIDS in Nakuru, Kenya. The final project deliverable was to create a business plan that will be used as the board launches its first grant-writing campaign for the orphanage. The desired grant funds will be used to expand the orphanage so that it can serve more children.

Michelle Nathan ’10 worked with Lisa Canoura-Reid ’00, who is on the board of the West Side YMCA, the largest freestanding branch of the YMCA. Nathan worked on a project to assess the progress of the participants at the West Side YMCA’s Teen Center. After interviewing staff members and researching studies, Nathan helped the board decide on a metric (high school graduation rates) that also aligned to the goals of the organization. She submitted a research proposal to the New York City Department of Education. This proposal has spurred a relationship with the school system so that the West Side YMCA can collect the graduation statistics of their teen participants.

Sara Neff ’10 worked with the Kristin Krebs-Dick ’99 and the Riverside Park Fund, an organization devoted to the preservation of the city’s four miles of park land along the Hudson River. There, Neff created many deliverables surrounding corporate volunteerism, including in-depth interviews with other park funds and corporations and recommendations for a communications strategy targeting volunteers.

Nao Ohtsuki ’10 worked with board member Sylvia Kier ’80, of the Iyengar Yoga Association of Greater New York (IYAGNY). Ohtsuki worked to help IYAGNY understand the market in terms of location, revenue stream and availability of financial information online. She conducted a benchmarking study, which led to a set of recommendations of best practices for creating an annual report, and performed a competitive analysis of yoga studios in the New York City market.

Daniel Pittman ’10 worked with SEP advisory board member Lise Strickler ’86 who is on the board of Environmental Advocates of New York (EANY). EANY is an organization that dedicates itself to the protection of New York State’s environment and the health of all New Yorkers. Pittman’s project focused on analyzing best practices of governance at similar organizations. He conducted surveys and interviews as well looked at the practices of two organizations in other states.

Melanie Shanley ’11 worked with mentor Lulu Wang ’83 and WYNC, New York’s public radio broadcaster. There, Shanley performed revenue analysis of iPhone and BlackBerry applications for WNYC and WQXR.

Claire Steinglass ’11 worked with Creative Arts Workshop for Kids (CAW), an endeavor that utilizes the visual and performing arts to teach life skills to children and teens while enriching their communities. Focusing on the technology arts programs, Steinglass conducted market research to identify comparable for-profit and nonprofit organizations that leverage technology arts programs for children. She also met with members of the Columbia Teachers College who might potentially be interested in partnering with CAW on relevant technology arts projects.

Elizabeth Wills ’10 worked with Brendan Touhey, executive director of Peace Players International (PPI), an innovative global organization that uses sports to unite and educate young people in divided communities. Wills developed a business plan for PPI’s Technical Assistance Program (TAP), a fee-for-service consulting program. Through TAP, PPI intends to become a consultant for existing and developing youth sports programs throughout the world.

Neha Gupta ’09 worked with SEP advisory board member Joyce Roche ’72, who is president of Girls Inc., a national nonprofit youth organization providing educational programs to millions of American girls, particularly those in high-risk, underserved areas. Gupta worked on a project which focuses on how Girls Inc. can harness the power of social networking for marketing and fundraising. She interviewed board members for their insights, and conducted research to analyze whether other nonprofits or for-profits similar to Girls Inc. are leveraging social networking sites, and if so what they are doing.

Joanne Greenstein ’09 helped the greening initiatives of Manhattan’s Jewish Community Center (JCC). The initiative has several components and Greenstein focused on ways to engage the staff and community in more environmentally friendly behaviors. She researched best practices in offices and gyms to see which of those practices could be implemented at the JCC. She then worked with marketing to see how these changes could be adopted. Joanne also researched practices that young families can adopt to be more environmentally conscientious while at the JCC and outside in their daily lives.

Rochelle Dalton ’09 worked with Diana Taylor ’80, who is on the board of The After School Corporation (TASC). Taylor is also a member of the Columbia Business School board of overseers, and the SEP advisory board. Over the past 10 years, TASC has been instrumental in promoting policy initiatives that support the development of after school and out of school programs in New York City and nationwide. In this capacity, they have provided a number of intermediary functions (e.g. funding, training, higher education) to the community based organizations with which they partner. Dalton worked on developing a financial model that would enable TASC to quantify the impact and value it has added to the after school/ OST space through its role as a funding intermediary. In particular, she analyzed historical funding data to identify the cost savings that TASC has realized for its partners in the public and/or private sector.

Lindsey Dratch ’09 worked with Mary Jane Brock, a board member of the Big Apple Circus. Dratch worked with the Circus to draft a business plan for their new Circus archive website- circopedia.org. The website is intended to help the public better understand and appreciate circus as an artistic, cultural and uniquely global phenomenon. Lindsey investigated operational issues such as options for how the site should be managed going forward and what revenue will be needed to maintain its development.

Daniel Petroff ’09 worked with Tess Mateo ’97, on a project to help the American Composers Orchestra (ACO), an organization where Tess is a board member. ACO performs at Carnegie Hall, and is celebrating its 32nd anniversary this year. Petroff worked on a project exploring and evaluating new potential sources of revenue for the organization, specifically in the public sector. Once individuals and groups were identified, he worked to develop an outreach strategy.

Guarav Podar ’09 worked with Shari Levine ’86, a member of the board of Literacy Inc. (LINC), an organization providing reading resources through Community Literacy Networks (CLNs) in high need neighborhoods in the five New York City boroughs. These networks support reading partner programs and literacy events at community sites across the year, providing valuable hours of out-of-classroom reading time to thousands of young children. Podar’s project focused on analyzing and evaluating CLNs, according to specific metrics. Podar also drafted a case study focusing on the necessary steps to set up a successful CLN, by working closely with and interviewing responsible staff members.

Lisa King ’09 worked with Stan Buchesky ’02, who is on the board of Equality Charter School, which upon opening in fall 2009, needs additional philanthropic funds for the start-up and ongoing operations to supplement funding it receives for being a public school. King developed a fundraising strategic plan for the board. This fundraising strategic plan included research and analysis of fundraising best practices among other charter schools; a segmentation analysis of potential donors (from large institutions to Bronx-area businesses to individuals); and recommendations for Equality Charter School fundraising, including: targets, timeline, marketing suggestions, ideas for fundraising events, etc.

Natasha Oppenheim ’09 worked with alumna Deborah Jackson ’80 who is on the board of Legal Momentum, the nation's oldest legal advocacy organization dedicated to advancing the rights of women and girls. Oppenheim researched the structure and composition of boards in similar organizations.

Gavin Weiss ’09 worked with SEP advisory board member Cecily Carson, also on the board of The Doe Fund. Weiss conducted research on approaching donors regarding estate planning and planned giving. Her deliverable was a report on best practices in this area.

Mason Beard ’09 worked with SEP advisory board chairman Bill Lambert ’72, who is also on the board of the NY Civil Liberties Union. Beard worked with the investment committee of the board to provide performance analysis for one of NYCLU’s investment funds. The committee is also focusing on bear market investment ideas for money they plan to invest this year. Beard also worked with NYCLU staff on a database marketing project.

Bryant Dieffenbacher ’10 worked with Columbia Business School board of overseer member Mike Overlock ’73, who is on the board of Urban Education Exchange. Dieffenbacher worked on various projects for this small nonprofit including: assisting with an accounting project; helping to streamline their books and finances; and helping with the design and implementation of their new online platform for delivery of their curriculum. Dieffenbacher also gave feedback regarding the organization’s business plan, which is being modified.

Gabrielle Breslow ’10 worked with the Child Center of NY, by examining the current state of board involvement in the organization. She met with and interviewed board members, and prepared a report to summarize levels of engagement. Breslow also worked with their Director of Development to conduct a benchmarking study of creative fundraising techniques that can be applied to the Child Center.

Emily Essner ’09 worked with Marcia Santoni ’87, a board member for Pathways to Housing. Essner is conducting a board assessment and recommendation. The objective of this project is to survey and analyze each board member’s views on the desired strategic priorities for Pathways to Housing. She used a strategic plan as a basis for many of the assessment questions and focused on development, as this is a demonstrated area of need and interest for both the board and the organization. Based on board member interviews, she made recommendations to incorporate this feedback into specific plans for Pathways to Housing.

Michael Heuberger ’09 worked with Gia Machlin ’91, who is on the board of The Blue Card, an organization that provides direct financial assistance to needy Jewish survivors of Nazi persecution and their families in the US. Hueberger was involved in the "Long-Term Strategic Planning Project" that the board has initiated. He interviewed all board members regarding their perspective as to where the organization should head. The final deliverable was a summary of the key takeaways from these interviews provided for the executive director and the long-term strategic planning sub-committee.

Amanda Cahn ’10 worked with William Goodloe ’00, who leads Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO), an organization that prepares young people of color to lead by example in their families, communities and careers through mentorship opportunities. Cahn worked with one of SEO’s main initiatives, the Scholars Program, which aspires to get high school students of color into top colleges through assistance with school work, college and financial aid research and college applications. Cahn’s project involved researching the math achievement gap among minorities and what strategies might be used in closing this gap.

Kathleen Fregeau ’09 and Jeff Turkanis ’10 worked with Creative Arts Workshop for Kids (CAW), an endeavor that utilizes the visual and performing arts to teach life skills to children and teens while enriching their communities. The organization runs after-school, Saturday and Summer programs that aim to empower youth from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to improve their leadership and public speaking skills, build self-confidence and deepen the relationship between art and community. Fregeau and Turkanis created a business plan to identify local businesses and organizations that could benefit from the artwork of CAW or the services of its participants. Likewise, CAW could benefit from such entities through the creation of potential internships for CAW participants, funding for CAW, or other business-specific discounts/benefits.

Anna Thoman ’09 worked with Zev Greenfield ’04 and Orpheus Orchestra on a project addressing the following questions: What factors should Orpheus consider in structuring its future relationship with Carnegie Hall?

Alix Goelet '08 worked with Social Enterprise Program advisory board member Lise Strickler '86, who is also on the board of Environmental Advocates of New York (EANY). EANY serves the people of New York as an effective and aggressive watchdog and advocates on nearly every important state environmental issue. Goelet worked on an analysis of funds raised by board members, individuals and foundations. She benchmarked that information against other nonprofits.

Paul Gorbaty ’08 worked with Professor Ray Horton, who is on the board of directors of Community Resource Exchange (CRE), a nonprofit consulting group that provides strategic advice and technical services to more than 350 community-based organizations fighting poverty and HIV/AIDS. While working with a senior manager at CRE, Gorbaty’s project focused on streamlining the process of tracking when grants for foundations that CRE currently has partnered with, as well as improving their methodology of cost allocation.

Nicolas Lam ’09 worked with Mary Jane Brock, a board member of Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Lam engaged in researching and analyzing programs for young donors in other New York City cultural/historical institutions. He also researched and analyzed policies at select corporations to gain insight to what they do to encourage and support “good citizenship.”

Brian Lavery ’08 worked with Project Renewal, an organization with a mission to renew the lives of homeless men and women in New York City. Lavery embarked on an assessment of operational effectiveness, via a survey of stakeholders both internal (staff) and external (board members, donors, New York City government liaisons).

Helen Rhim ’08 worked with Tess Mateo ’97, on a project that benefits American Composers Orchestra (ACO), an organization where Tess is a board member. ACO performs at Carnegie Hall and was celebrating its 31st Anniversary. Rhim explored and evaluated new potential sources of revenue for the organization.

Angie Lessuise ’08 worked with Shari Levine ’86, a member of the board of Literacy Inc. (LINC), an organization envisioning that every child should be reading well by age 8 and that the strengths and resources of every community can be coordinated to provide encouraging voices and a language-rich atmosphere to support early readers. Lessuise identified target corporate foundations that could provide funding to LINC, by researching the foundations’ missions, objectives, restrictions and board members, then developing a strategic action plan.

Giselle Leung ’08 worked with Social Enterprise Program advisory board member Diana Taylor ’80, also a board member of amfAR, an organization dedicated to ending the global AIDS epidemic through innovative research. Leung researched and analyzed organizational structures that might fit best with hypothetical strategic goals of the organization.

Casson Masters ’08 worked with Deborah Jackson ’80, who serves on the board of Project Sunshine, an organization that provides customized recreational, educational and social programs to children facing medical challenges and their families by leveraging the time, skills and resources of a diverse group of dedicated volunteers. Masters helped Project Sunshine examine and prioritize the various growth efforts of the organization.

Stacey McKeever ’08 worked with Mark Zurack, who serves on the board of Alzheimer’s Association. McKeever researched the relationships between local chapters and national organizations, with a focus on fundraising. She also researched board development opportunities and best practices. Zurack is also an adjunct professor and executive in residence at Columbia Business School, as well as a Social Enterprise Program advisory board member.

Betsy Poirier ’08 worked with Dan Cain ’72, member of the board of overseers, who is also chairman of the board of the Norman Rockwell Museum. Poirier worked on an analysis of online sales and the development of an Internet marketing plan for the museum.

Andrea Burgess worked with Professor Ray Horton, who is on the board of directors of Community Resource Exchange (CRE), a nonprofit consulting group that provides strategic advice and technical services to over 350 community-based organizations fighting poverty and HIV/AIDS. Working with senior management at CRE, Burgess' project focused on competitive intelligence. She created a survey investigating the structure and characteristics of the boards of nonprofit consulting organizations.

Wan-Lae Cheng worked with Linda Frankenbach '79, who is on the board of the Women's Campaign Forum (WCF), an organization dedicated to ensuring that women become leaders in politics. Cheng worked with WCF's board to determine a strategy for approaching corporations for fundraising.

Michael Costa worked with the Bronx YMCA, and with their executive director, Liz Toledo. Costa engaged in a review of the board which included an investigation of interpersonal and group dynamics with final recommendations delivered in formal presentations.

Nicola Drago is embarked on a strategic plan aimed to explore and suggest feasible measures to better leverage the American-Italian Cancer Foundation's unique fundraising potential. Daniele Bodini '72 is the board member with whom Nicola worked, and is also a member of the Columbia Business School board of overseers.

Dan Epstein worked with Tess Mateo '97, on a project that will help American Composers Orchestra (ACO), an organization where Tess is a board member. ACO performs at Carnegie Hall, and is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year. Epstein helped ACO gain a better understanding of how to recruit young professionals to become patrons and donors of performing arts organizations. He presented his findings to the board.

Nikolaos Kakavoulis worked with Sandra Hagan, the executive director of Child Center of New York (formerly the Queens Child Guidance Center). Kakavoulis worked closely with some board members to develop strategies to stimulate increased participation of board members.

Manya Rubinstein worked with Joyce Roche '72, president and CEO of Girls Inc, a national nonprofit youth organization which provides educational programs to American girls, particularly those in high-risk, underserved areas. Rubinstein worked on a project concerning board evaluation, which includes developing more effective methods of communication. Roche is also a member of the advisory board of the Social Enterprise Program.

Catherine Morison and Emily Robertson Vestal worked with alumnus Sallie Krawcheck '92 who is on the board of Carnegie Hall. Morison and Robertson Vestal collaborated with senior staff members at Carnegie Hall to look at governance issues and board development initiatives. Krawcheck is also a member of Columbia Business School's board of overseers.