Current Projects
Brainstorming Sessions
Brainstorming sessions are 90-min meetings focused on solving a specific issue or generating ideas involving 4-8 HBS alumni with targeted skills and interests who can help the nonprofit organization.
Wednesday, May 8 - Virtual
11:00am - 12:30pm Pacific
Kapwa Kultural Center
The mission of Kapwa Kultural Center (KKC) is to provide culturally affirming programming for Filipino/a/x youth that combines leadership skills, workforce preparedness, entrepreneurial mentorship, and ethnic studies to support positive cultural identity formation and mental wellbeing.
In 2020, the California Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission (MHSOAC) funded KKC to open a boba cafe in San Mateo County. The café will hire and train youth from Northern San Mateo County and serve as an inclusive intergenerational gathering space that will feature culturally-affirming activities and wellness workshops for Filipina/x/o folks, as well as the broader community.
KKC seeks input from HBS Community Partner volunteers to ensure that their earned income plans include best practices in implementation.
Thursday, May 9 - Virtual
12:00pm - 1:30pm Pacific
Kradle2
Founded in 2022 Kradle2 offers 529 plans for philanthropy. The organization works with employers to provide employer matching to legacy giving with a future insurance gift. The organization has worked on over $100 in legacy giving impact.
Kradle2 wants to move from a nice to have for employers to a must have, and would like to know how to most effectively sign up HR and CSR leaders to offer legacy giving as an employee benefit.
Friday, May 17- Virtual
1:00pm - 2:30pm Pacific
Mind Share Partners
Mind Share Partners helps employers create mentally healthy workplaces through consulting, training, and national movement building. Their approach hinges on changing company culture through an equity lens in order to combat challenges like anxiety, burnout, and depression.
Pre-pandemic, mental health was a niche topic. Post-pandemic, and as a first mover in this area, Mind Share Partners wants to maintain their place at the forefront of this movement. They are seeking support in how to evolve their messaging and approach.
How can Mind Share Partners’s messaging and approach stay relevant and appealing to business leaders?
Wednesday, May 22 - Virtual
11:30am - 1:00pm Pacific
Ability Path
Ability Path provides a lifetime of support services for children, adults, and seniors with developmental disabilities and their families in the greater Bay Area. The organization serves more than 1,000 individuals and families daily through educational, therapeutic, vocational, and family support services that increase social and economic well-being.
As a new initiative, AbilityPath seeks to create a Social Enterprise via “pop up” art galleries, to celebrate and highlight the incredible work of the many artists they serve in their program. They plan to partner/ collaborate with other nonprofits in the Bay Area.
What are the risks and opportunities, and how can they construct a robust business plan for their art gallery pop up?
Consulting Projects
Consulting Projects are three-four month strategic consulting engagements with a group of 3-5 alumni who conducts a deep dive to tackle a broad challenge or opportunity. Meeting dates and formats are decided by the team throughout the engagement.
Kickoff: February / March
Duration: 4 month consulting project
Format: Remote client; team decision on team meeting format
California Data Collaborative
The California Data Collaborative (CaDC) is a coalition of water supply agencies building the foundation for data-informed water management. The CaDC brings together staff from water supply agencies to share knowledge and best practices around software and data, identify common needs, cooperatively develop tools, and inform policy. They have an annual conference called the California Water Data Summit and supplement this with public workshops, webinars, and internal committees.
The CaDC needs help with:
Developing a 2-year operational plan to clarify its organizational objectives, delivery model, potential partners and resources for its 3 programs, which are: Association Membership,SAS product, Consulting Services
Assessing organizational constraints/issues (resources, skills, capabilities)
Identifying key areas of uncertainty and process for management
Kickoff: February / March
Duration: 4 month consulting project
Format: Hybrid; Client located in Milpitas, flexible with remote work; team decision on team meeting format
Child Advocates of Silicon valley
Founded in 1986, Child Advocates of Silicon Valley serves children aged birth to 21 years old who are placed in the Santa Clara County Dependency Court System (commonly referred to as foster care) for having experienced trauma in the form of abuse, neglect and/or abandonment.
Currently, the program department is responsible for a variety of different functions, such as extensive volunteer supervision, event planning, community partner relations, and data management and reporting. The diverse set of required skills can lead to inefficiencies and at times ineffective service delivery. Child Advocates is seeking help with:
Assessing the current structure of our program department to identify inefficiencies and areas for improvement;
Creating a recommended restructure of our program department;
Creating a plan/timeline for how to successfully implement the suggested restructure.
Kickoff: February / March
Duration: 4 month consulting project
Format: client located in San Francisco
Community Forward SF
Community Forward SF is a collection of vital programs that ensures neighbors experiencing homelessness have effective services designed for their unique needs. Currently, 96% of the organization's budget is reliant on government contracts. While they have a robust plan in place to raise money from private donors, they have also identified four distinct potential earned income streams: 1) property management, 2) women’s services, 3) behavioral health services, and 4) consulting / training nonprofit staff
They would like to see the feasibility, profitability, and general landscape of these earned income streams in the context of their larger fiscal landscape
Kickoff: February / March
Duration: 4 month consulting project
Format: client located in San Francisco
La Cocina
La Cocina is a woman-founded food incubator whose mission is to cultivate low-income food entrepreneurs as they grow and formalize their food business. For 18+ years, they have focused on providing resources to women from communities of color and immigrant communities.
La Cocina provides affordable commercial kitchen space, industry-specific assistance in areas such as marketing and operations, and access to market opportunities through delivery programs, events, catering opportunities and many more.
La Cocina is seeking help in evaluating their revenue programs, so that they can proactively and strategically grow as an organization. The project entails:
A market study (ie. local consumer market, corporate and workforce trends)
Identification of target market by La cocina’s revenue programs
SWOT analysis of their revenue programs
Recommendations for adjusting revenue programs
Kickoff: February / March
Duration: 4 month consulting project
Format: remote with client; team decision on team meeting format
Pacific Links
For over 20 years, Pacific Links has been at the forefront of delivering innovative, evidence-based solutions to enhance education and prevent human trafficking in Vietnam, Asia, and Europe. In 2019, Pacific Links Foundation launched Matera Alliance, Inc., a wholly-owned for-profit social enterprise subsidiary. Matera offers workforce development solutions, including Factory Awareness to Counter Trafficking (FACT) training for companies and their employees in the supply chain to safeguard against trafficking.
Pacific Links needs help in developing a comprehensive marketing strategy and plan for their FACT program described above. The plan would include a competitive analysis, business opportunities, and tailored outreach strategies for diverse partners and investors.
Kickoff: February / March
Duration: 4 month consulting project
Format: remote with client; team decision on team meeting format
Rise Against Hunger
Rise Against Hunger is an international humanitarian organization that addresses hunger by targeting last-mile communities and within hunger pockets designated serious or higher by the Global Hunger Index. In 2022, the organization served more than 4.4M people from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America & Caribbean.
With more than 200K volunteers, only 2% of the contributions to the organization are from household and individual giving. Rise Against Hunger seeks support in evaluating their volunteer experience and identifying strategies for improving the potential of lifelong support and donations from those who participate.
Kickoff: February / March
Duration: 4 month consulting project
Format: Client located in San Jose, CA
The Tech Interactive
The Tech Interactive, formerly known as The Tech Museum of Innovation, is dedicated to nurturing the next generation of problem solvers through STEM education resources, exhibits, and programs. All of The Tech’s extensive educational programs focus on reaching youth in communities that have been historically underserved and underrepresented in STEM. The organization has experimented with different STEM career programming models for the last 2 years.
The Tech Interactive is looking for evidence-based recommendations for where they should lean in (and what they might cut), with a recommended process for how they should continue to make directional decisions as they continue to develop their STEM career pathways programming.
Kickoff: February / March
Duration: 4 month consulting project
Format: remote with client; client located in Oakland and abroad; team decision on team meeting format
Tiba
Tiba Foundation supports locally led initiatives that build robust community health, knowledge, and capacity to improve access and quality of life in rural Kenya. Recently, Tiba has co-developed a program empowering women: the Boda Girls Program, a unique initiative training women as motorcycle taxi drivers and women's advocates.
Due to the pressing need for safe and affordable transportation for rural women, the significant impact Boda Girls Program has made in the lives of women and girls, and the growing number of requests to develop Boda Girls programs in other communities, Tiba wants to scale Boda Girls further. Tiba needs help in formulating a business plan and a map for scaling Boda Girls over the next 5 years.
Kickoff: February / March
Duration: 4 month consulting project
Format: client located in Redwood City, CA
Upward Scholars
Upward Scholars promotes economic mobility and access to quality career pathways for adult immigrants by helping them continue their education in community college, get higher-paying jobs, and serve as role models and advocates for their children and our community.
Upward Scholars needs help in redefining/reimagining their current business models and crystallize needed resources to support their ability to scale and magnify their impact.