Wharton Students Get Chance to Gain Nonprofit Board Experience

"Wharton MBA Students Bring Expertise to Philadelphia Non-Profits" - press release, The Wharton School, January 25, 2006 (program is highlighted in a post to Wharton MBA: Admissions Blog! on March 25, 2006)

“I have always been involved with the communities I live in,” says Wharton MBA student Franco Tapia, WG’06, “and when I heard about the NBLP program, I immediately thought it would be a great fit. The ability to use Wharton’s resources to help the greater Philadelphia community is something I’m proud to be a part of.”

In April 2005, Wharton’s Social Impact Management Initiative launched a unique program called the Nonprofit Board Leadership Program (NPBLP). Working with the Nonprofit Center at LaSalle University, the NPBLP selects and trains ten Wharton MBA students to serve on the Boards of Directors of nonprofit organizations in Philadelphia.

MBA students placed through the NPBLP use their high-level knowledge of such areas as accounting, finance, and marketing to make a direct impact on the business strategies of organizations in the community around them.

NPBLP’s first group of participants was selected from over 50 applicants, on the basis of their professional experience, commitment to community service, and vision for what they hope to gain from participating in the program.

Program participants will attend board meetings, serve on a board sub-committee, and receive one-on-one mentorship from a senior board member. They will also take part in quarterly development sessions, where they work with experts to find potential solutions for the challenges they face in their board positions.

"These partnerships will benefit organizations and communities that typically do not have access to MBA talent,” says Sadaf Kazmi, WG’06, the program’s student director. “The most salient difference” between the non-profit and for-profit environments, explains Gautam Mishra, WG’06, “is the dependence on external sources of funds. Consequently, these organizations sometimes have a lot less power than their corporate counterparts.

“Over the course of the next semester,” reports Mishra, who’s working with Philadelphia’s Arts & Spirituality Center, “I plan to focus on providing a framework for increased transparency in what is currently a start-up-like environment.”

This year's NPBLP participants and their organizations are:

Nicole Casciello – Alice Paul Institute
Sung-Min Chung – The Food Trust
Christopher Donohue – Empowerment Group
Bryce Goodwin – Mazzoni Center
Marina Hervy – Metropolitan Career Center
Alan Hsu – White-Williams Scholars
Gautam Mishra – Arts & Spirituality Center
Yogesh Patel – Strings for Schools
Due Quach – Philadelphia Mural Arts Program
Franco Tapia – Children's Aid Society of Pennsylvania