Overview
Leeds Social Impact Consultants is an MBA student-run, pro-bono consulting service for non-profits and social ventures in the Boulder-area.
Mission
Leeds Social Impact Consultants aims to provide consulting services to Boulder-area non-profits by recruiting CU graduate students with diverse skills and backgrounds. We believe that both the rigorous business training we are engaged in and our previous professional experience will be of value in building stronger and more successful social enterprises.
Types of Projects
LSIC seeks projects involving strategic planning, marketing, finance, business plan development, program evaluation, business model implementation, community outreach, organizational change and coalition building among others.
How it Works
LSIC maintains a database of MBAs and other graduate students with a breadth of experience in all aspects of business. Our leadership will assemble a team of 3-5 students and a faculty/alumni advisor who best match the needs of each project based on expertise and interest.
Projects generally last from 4 to 12 weeks and are selected based on client need as well as students’ availability and strengths.
Applications
Applications for organizations and social ventures are available online and are accepted on a rolling basis. LSIC initiates projects three times a year: in the fall, spring and summer.
Applications for students are available online and are accepted at any time. LSIC maintains a database of MBA students interested in serving on consulting teams.
Internships
In addition to providing consulting services to Boulder-based enterprises, LSIC also functions as an internship clearinghouse for all Leeds MBA students who seek to apply their unique skills to the social enterprise space. As a group, we look forward to connecting our talented MBA candidates with exciting social venture internships locally, nationally, and internationally.
Projects
Vertile Foundation
For its pilot project, LSIC consulted with the Vertile Foundation, whose mission is to provide a safe home and community for the youth of Carrefour, Haiti that offers vocational training and promotes personal growth. In a community where resources are scarce, the Vertile Foundation is committed to teaching Haitian youth to become self-sustaining individuals and leaders in their community.
To further capitalize on its faithful following and strong momentum, the Vertile Foundation approached LSIC for help in developing actionable business and marketing plans to streamline operations, enhance fundraising efforts, and guide its first-year development strategy. Following successful completion of this pilot project in May 2011, LSIC continues to work with the Vertile Foundation in development of strategies for launching the Vertile House in Haiti and creating long-term revenue opportunities that will sustain the safe home by relying less on philanthropic support.
Request for Services
RFS Info Sheet
Fields
Our classmates have educational and work experience in finance, accounting, marketing, and management in a broad array of industries, both corporate and non-profit. We will consider proposals from all fields of non-profit service and social enterprise.
Skills
We are open to projects that require the advanced skill sets we have been developing as MBA students. Some examples include business plan development, program evaluation, coalition building, and business model implementation.
Scope
At a maximum, we envision groups of 3-4 students devoting approximately 5-8 hours per week over the course of a few months. Consider that as a gauge for the scope of the project. We also encourage you to submit smaller-scale projects.
Timeframe
We would like to embark on a pilot project during the spring semester of 2011, with a tentative start date of March 1. This project would last for a maximum of 6 weeks, though depending on the team’s schedule, could continue into the summer. We will also accept applications on a rolling basis for future semester projects.
Apply
What we need:
- Details about your organization – mission, major activities, goals, focus, staff bios
- Provide links to websites, articles, etc. that you feel are relevant
- A detailed description of the project including:
- The problem to be addressed
- How the project will help achieve the organization’s mission
- Project duration
- Skills and expertise required
- Project coordinator contact information and bio
- Plan for measuring results
- Other documentation
- Tax-exempt verification
- For-profit ventures please provide details on the social aspects of your business
- Latest annual report and financial statement if available
- List of officers and board members
Submit
Please submit all materials via e-mail to lsic@colorado.edu. Clearly label all files and save them as .pdf or Microsoft Office (.doc, .xls, .ppt, etc).
Student Applications
Application
Application Info Sheet
We believe that all Leeds students have the qualifications and skills needed to work with area non-profits. It’s simply a matter of finding the right project.
Please write a statement describing your skills, experience and areas of interest that would be relevant to potential projects. We would also like to hear about why you would like to be part of this group. Keep the statement under 2 pages.
Also submit a resume that best highlights what you describe in your statement. We may forward these resumes to the organizations we work with. Finally, please submit all requested materials to lsic@colorado.edu.
Commitment
We are all obviously limited in the time we can commit to outside work during the semester. With that in mind, we will structure projects so that you can expect roughly 5-8 hours of work per week for approximately 2 months. You are of course allowed to offer more of your time or extend projects if you would like to.
There is no commitment in applying. We will contact you if we have a project that suits your skill set. If you accept a project, we ask that you fully commit to seeing it through as this consulting group’s success relies on you.
We will keep your application on file, and will contact you when we have a project you might be interested in.
