By Paul Connolly, SOM’91

The Winter 2007 issue of the PSE Newsletter has two feature articles from alumni who are in the field of nonprofit consulting, a popular next step for SOM graduates. Paul Connolly gives us the perspective of a seasoned professional, while Kate Greene talks about the experience of staffing a project as a senior associate. –Eds.

My role in consulting to philanthropies and nonprofits has been an experience of great learning and continuous growth. In addition to recounting the unique experiences that led me to my current position, I would like to share some of the insights I have gained from working in this dynamic field, and some notable developments I have observed in the nonprofit arena.

At college, I studied city and regional planning and provided direct services to nonprofit organizations on a voluntary basis. After graduation, I worked for the New York City government in the department that designed and constructed public facilities such as jails, libraries and courthouses. After three years, my role had expanded greatly, but I desired a greater challenge.

Yale SOM attracted me due to its multi-sector approach to management. In the process of completing my MPPM, my interest in nonprofit management developed, especially after taking the course in “Strategic Management of Nonprofit Organizations” taught by Sharon Oster and Stan Garstka. After graduating from SOM in 1991, I worked as an independent consultant to nonprofit organizations for a few years until one of my clients offered me a position. I spent the next three and a half years at the Nonprofit Facilities Fund (now called Nonprofit Finance Fund), a community development financial institution that provides facility-related loans and management assistance to nonprofits.

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By Kate Greene, SOM’06

Earlier this year, Community Servings, a Boston-based nonprofit serving meals to the critically ill, contacted my nonprofit consulting firm, TDC, for help with a prospective earned income venture. In the midst of building a new facility that would double its capacity to make meals, the senior staff wanted to know if there was a viable market for selling meals wholesale to other nonprofits, such as charter schools and senior centers.

This was an exciting project for me to take on—the chance to work with an entrepreneurial human services organization to develop a business plan. At SOM, I had worked on similar projects through the Yale-Goldman Sachs business planning competition and learned about earned income ventures through Sharon Oster’s Strategic Management of Nonprofits course, but I could now apply these skills as a professional, post-MBA consultant.

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By Fawzia Ahmed, SOM’07

This year, I had the privilege of composing one of the school’s first social enterprise cases, on Achievement First (AF), a New Haven-based charter school management organization with schools in New Haven and New York.

My unexpected foray into case-writing began with an e-mail from Sharon Oster while I was a summer intern at AF, providing support to the organization’s leadership team on budget and strategic issues. In designing the capstone course for the new core curriculum, Integrated Leadership Perspectives, Professor Oster was including a module on nonprofit organizations. She had chosen Achievement First as her case, and wanted me to write it. Writing the case presented a great opportunity for me to probe deeper into a fascinating organization and to crystallize my thoughts on school reform issues, such as replicating high performing schools, political and funding challenges, and expansion that I had been thinking about all summer. My response to Prof. Oster’s e-mail was an enthusiastic yes.

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By Nadia Gomes, SOM’07

Mary Ellen Iskenderian, SOM’86, was named President and CEO of Women’s World Banking this past September. Heading up a global non-profit organization, Ms. Iskenderian oversees its inspiring mission of supporting economic development for low-income women by providing access to finance, knowledge, and markets.

With over 20 years of experience in development finance and the creation of global financial systems, Ms. Iskenderian previously held several leadership positions with the International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group and the world’s largest investor in emerging markets.

As microfinance continues to gain attention from both private and social sector interests worldwide, the Yale School of Management was pleased to host Ms. Iskenderian as the keynote speaker at the 2nd annual Future of Philanthropy Conference on November 10th, 2006. Nadia Gomes had the opportunity to interview Ms. Iskenderian following her keynote address and delve a little deeper into a field that will certainly play a pivotal role in the future of social enterprise.

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By Sharon Oster, Frederic D. Wolfe Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship and Director of the Program on Social Enterprise

Since Yale SOM began, we have always had opportunities for students to work with outside organizations while still in school. In theory, these workshop experiences, as we sometimes term them, are a win-win venture. Students gain the benefits of learning how to apply their new-found skills in real world settings while helping deserving organizations, often in the nonprofit or small business setting, while those same organizations get the benefit of pro bono work by a bright group of soon-to-be expensive MBA students. The lure of this value proposition both for students and for community organizations has led SOM, along with many other MBA programs, to offer these opportunities.

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