We recently sat down with first-year, full-time MBA student,
Lauren Nelson, about her new position as a fellow with Social Venture Partners.
Q: Congratulations on your recent fellowship appointment with Social
Venture Partners! Can you tell us broadly what it is that SVP does?
SVP is an international engaged philanthropy organization made of
many local chapters, which helps to develop and grow the impact of local
nonprofit organizations for up to 3 years through both financial contributions
and consulting services. The Cleveland SVP chapter even helped grow Shaker
Heights’s very own Edwin’s restaurant! The volunteer consultants are known as
“partners” and “fellows” whose backgrounds include but are not limited to
finance, business consulting, marketing, entrepreneurship, engineering,
advocacy, education, healthcare, and law. Multidisciplinary teams of partners
and fellows are matched with non-profits based on their need.
SVP also puts an annual event called the Big Bang. For several
weeks leading up to the event, non-profit leaders are coached on their “pitch”
and it culminates in a big pitch competition and fundraising event. I also
happen to be doing marketing and strategy work with a former participant in
this competition called amaZEN U – you should check them out!
Q: What kind of work will you be doing as a fellow?
As a fellow I am a part of both the Education team and the
Investment team. The investment team is a committee that decides which non-profits
will be selected as SVP “investees” for each one-year cycle. As a part of the
education team I will be planning events to educate SVP partners, investees,
and the community on issues surrounding social innovation. I will also be
selected to work with one of our new investees in the actual consulting
process.
Q: What makes inspires you the most about this company and this
opportunity?
I have done work with nonprofits in the past and the worst thing
to see is the loss in potential impact when they don’t go to scale or couldn’t
manage their budget appropriately. I believe in the efforts of SVP because they
tap into a vast pool of resources from the international network and the
knowledge of a diverse group of local “partners” in order to optimize the efforts
of nonprofits.
Q: What skills do you hope to build through this experience?
I am hoping to put some of my business design and innovation
skills to use in service of the greater good. I think this will be a great time
to practice design skills like empathy and divergent thinking. I am also
excited to learn from the diverse team of partners as we work on developing
local non-profits.
Q: If you could plug one thing about SVP to the Weatherhead
community, what would it be?
Our business skills are valuable everywhere. SVP allows you to use
your business skills to contribute in any capacity that works for your
schedule. You can meet people from the diverse group of partners with whom you
might never otherwise come in contact, and even see your own suggestions
brought to life in local non profits. Also, as we all know it is extremely
important in the current political climate that we all put our money and time
where our values are. This is a great way to do that!
To learn more about Social Venture Partners, check out their
website http://www.socialventurepartners.org/
To get involved with the Cleveland chapter, reach out to Lauren at
lmn42@case.edu OR check
out the local website http://www.socialventurepartners.org/cleveland/
No comments:
Post a Comment