Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/58912
We, as well as all of the student participants, are commit- ted to the NPBLP's three primary goals: to engage Whar- ton MBAs in the nonprofit community, to instill in them a lifelong interest in community service, and to enrich their leadership development. So far, we believe the program has achieved its objectives while letting students experience the joys and difficulties of serving on a nonprofit's board of direc- tors. More important, participating students have developed a new set of business skills to serve them well once they embark on their careers. Setting the Parameters Before launching the NPBLP, we studied similar programs at schools around the U.S. to learn how they were orga- nized. We knew we had to answer five key questions: n How should the program be administered? At many schools, the board fellowship program is administered by a univer- sity center or initiative, but we wanted the NPBLP to be a student-run organization. Wharton has a strong tradition of encouraging students to initiate and drive their own pro- grams with the support of the MBA administration, and we wanted to keep the NPBLP within that tradition. We also had limited funding, which meant we would be unable to pay for a support staff to develop and maintain relationships with local nonprofits. Therefore, we reached out to several local organizations, including the Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University. The Nonprofit Center operates BoardCorps, a program that trains individuals to be effective nonprofit board members and then matches them with appropriate organizations. We saw that this program could serve as a model for us, and we knew that we could take advantage of LaSalle's strong com- munity presence in Philadelphia. In addition, the Nonprofit Center was willing to work with our student group to create a new model at a reduced consulting rate and with a quick turnaround time. n How should the program be funded? Many student groups work with Wharton External Affairs to solicit funding from individuals and corporations, but we weren't sure donors would be interested in such a new program. Instead, for the first year of the program, we secured a small amount of seed funding through the Wharton Graduate Association, which administers all MBA clubs and activities. n Should the program be extracurricular or for-credit? Most similar programs around the country are extracurricular, although some are tied to academic activities. We decided against a for-credit program. We didn't want boards to have to define consultant-like projects for participating students or prepare 38 BizEd SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2006 formal, detailed evaluations of their work, because we were afraid such requirements would limit the number of boards willing to take on students. We also felt an extracurricular pro- gram would offer students and nonprofits more flexibility. n How long should the program be, and who should participate? For our first year, we decided to start with only ten students who would serve on selected boards from September through May. Since most Wharton MBA students participate in summer internships outside of Philadelphia, this timeline allowed us accommodate their travel schedules, particularly for those who took internship positions abroad. We also decided to open the program to second-year MBA students only, although students were recruited dur- ing their first year. This gave students an opportunity to determine whether they realistically could make the substan- tial time commitment required. n What role should NPBLP students play on their boards? We decided that Wharton program participants should function as "visiting board members," rather than full members. That meant they would be able to serve on committees, participate Models for Nonprofit Board Programs Before launching Wharton's Nonprofit Board Leadership Program (NPBLP), we studied similar programs at other top schools. Research was conducted by the Social Impact Management Initiative, an umbrella organization run by Wharton MBA students. While the programs mentioned here represent just a sampling of such programs, we found considerable diversity among them, particularly in the three general areas of administration, cohort size, and for-credit or not-for-credit status. n Size and duration: The Haas Board Fellows Program at the University of California-Berkeley involves about 50 students over an eight-month period. The Board Fellows Program at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business also runs for eight months and involves more than 80 students and 60 organizations. Most programs are smaller. About 30 students par- ticipate in the programs at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, the Fuqua School at Duke University, the Kel- logg School at Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan. Georgetown University's McDonough School pairs ten students with ten organizations in its Board Fel-