I worked on multiple projects this summer, all focused on helping Blue Engine continue operations in what has been a very challenging environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Blue Engine works in public schools across New York City, and one of my primary projects was developing guidance for the organization’s leadership for when school begins in the fall. The guidance provided recommendations for each phase of reopening, and covered issues like the transition to a remote working culture, and the numerous challenges that would arise if public schools are closed for in-person learning. I also worked directly with the organization’s COO and senior director of talent and operations to help forecast potential budget scenarios in the coming year, and extensively researched government grant and loan options, as well as the impact of school budget cuts on the organization’s programs.

In order to address the multiple disruptions to the organization, I relied heavily on the frameworks and lessons I learned in management courses like Organizational Change. In developing guidance for Blue Engine leadership regarding remote working and school reopening, I was able to recommend best practices for communicating and implementing these changes, to help make the transition to the organization’s new normal. I was also able to leverage my finance skills and courses like High Performing Nonprofits in helping forecast potential budget scenarios for the organization’s coming fiscal year.

The main challenges I faced all related to the huge amount of uncertainty that the organization has had to deal with when planning for the upcoming school year. Blue Engine has employees working in New York public schools, so the big question throughout the summer was whether schools would be open for in-person learning in the fall. At the time my internship ended, there was still no consensus on whether NYC public schools would re-open, or if Blue Engine employees would be able to provide their services in-person. The organization was also grappling with the news of large cuts to school budgets in the coming school year, and the possibility of a second wave of the disease later in the fall. All these factors made resource planning and budget forecasting extremely difficult. To help tackle these challenges, I worked with organization leadership to analyze different potential scenarios, to try and understand how certain events might impact employees, the organization’s programs, and the communities the organization helps. The resulting guidance that was developed will hopefully provide the organization a playbook to tackle these problems as they arise in the coming year.

I worked with Blue Engine for nearly an entire year, first as part of the Nonprofit Board Leadership Program, and over the summer as a Social Enterprise Summer Fellow. Through this experience I was able to touch on nearly all parts of the organization, from operations, to human resources, to finance and fundraising. I also learned an incredible amount about the nonprofit ecosystem in New York City, and the city’s immense public school system. One of my main takeaways was seeing firsthand the resource constraints that nonprofits face, and how that can constrict their ability to allocate resources and make decisions. For example, deciding to pursue one grant or revenue opportunity usually means not pursing another opportunity, because there’s frequently not enough resources to pursue both. I also gained a better appreciation for the huge amount of stress and uncertainty that many nonprofits will be under in the coming year, especially those that rely on federal, state or local funding sources.