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MBA Essay

Decent Essays

Throughout my career in the social sector I’ve worked with a variety of for-profit companies and over the last few years I’ve noticed interesting trends. Our corporate partners are changing how they structure and evaluate philanthropic partnerships and fewer and fewer organizations are opting to give through traditional methods. One-time event sponsorship and foundation giving seems to be losing ground to newer, more innovative community investment strategies. This shift has encouraged many non-profits, including ours, to pioneer new ways for companies to give back. Similarly, I’ve seen how lessons from the corporate sphere can enhance non-profit performance. I find corporate-non-profit cross-pollination fascinating, but I wanted to dig …show more content…

This insight would allow me to create effective, impactful corporate responsibility strategies.

After college, I moved to Portland, Oregon and looked for ways to continue developing my skills and fostering my passion for social responsibility. I started at Impact NW as an AmeriCorps member, where I served two terms helping run the AKA Science program. In my role, I managed hundreds of volunteers, wrote curriculum, and trained instructors; but most importantly, I learned how to work with corporate partners. Our program (which consisted of myself and one paid staff member) served thousands of students each year, and required volunteers to help in a variety of capacities. It didn’t take me long to realize the importance of finding meaningful, long-term partners. Companies were happy to giveback to our community and in return we gave them a chance to provide an engaging experience for their employees. Every committed corporate team we cultivated also meant a decrease in the time and resources we needed for recruiting. We also encouraged volunteers to share their skills and as a result volunteers would provide us with amazing insights. One group of volunteers from Nike helped streamline some of our processes by sharing ideas from their work in lean manufacturing. These experiences sparked something for me and I realized that my strengths and passion could align.

After I completed my final AmeriCorps term, Impact NW offered me a job. I was promoted again

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