"The Social Ventures Foundation is a very young organization, with a small staff and a startup atmosphere, so I was fortunate to gain experience with multiple projects and responsibilities. A major portion of my work was relationship building, in order to promote the Foundation’s work, build official partnerships and secure financial support. To do this I researched potential partners, created communications materials and key documents, contributed to meetings and collaborated on strategy planning. This work contributed to the building of relationships with United Nations affiliated networks, a partnership with the Global Business School Network (of which Columbia Business School is a member), and a collaboration with the United Nations in Costa Rica. I also had ownership of a project establishing criteria to identify qualifying postsecondary institutions to the Foundation’s United States based EPIC Social Entrepreneurship Fellowship Program. I created a system to identify institutions using data on a school’s location in a Small Business Administration Low Income Community and percentage of enrolled Pell Grant recipients.

My SIPA education provided me useful knowledge about social enterprise, the United Nations system, impact investing and sustainable development that proved to be vital in this position. I also used the project planning skills I gained in the Development Practice course, and my learnings from Sarah Holloway’s Non Profit Financial Management course to meaningfully portray the Foundation to potential partners and donors.

The beginning of this position was challenging because my roles and responsibilities were quite fluid and continually evolving. In the end, this proved to be an advantage because I was able to contribute in many different ways and use my judgement to choose the best use of my time. I learned that it is helpful to have a clear plan and deliverables, but that often the most interesting and fulfilling work can come when those go out the door!

I learned this summer how much I enjoy working in a startup environment, where decisions can be made quickly and each team member has varied work. It feels productive to see fast moving progress and be involved in major steps of the organization’s growth. I also clarified for myself that I prefer programmatic work to fundraising work, and that I work well helping keep others on track to complete projects. Additionally, I’m excited by the social enterprise space and bringing together entities from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to increase impact and reach. I hope to find a role following SIPA where I am involved in innovation and partnership building."