Delivering Expert Goodness

Join scores of HBS alumni who are making an impact here and now participating in consulting projects, brainstorming sessions and nonprofit boards.

For over 30 years, HBS Community Partners has mobilized thousands of Harvard Business School alumni living in Northern California to help hundreds of nonprofit organizations – from the Exploratorium, to #YesWeCode, to the San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation.  Alumni offer their business management talent to social impact organizations in need of help with areas such as strategic planning, marketing, scaling growth, revenue diversification, and business planning.  By volunteering, you can make a positive impact in our community, as well as meet other alumni who want to make a difference.  Join the movement

Our Mission

Harvard Business School Community Partners inspires and empowers HBS alumni to make a positive social impact in their community. We do this by offering alumni opportunities to leverage their skills and experience to help nonprofit organizations succeed.

Our Vision

We aspire that all HBS alumni will find ways to contribute their expertise to Bay Area nonprofits to strengthen our community. Check out our latest Impact Report, to see the progress that Community Partners and our committed alumni have made in helping build capacity among nonprofits serving the entire spectrum of Bay Area life.

Expert Goodness domains

  • Pro Bono Consulting

    3 – 5 HBS alumni team up to tackle a significant strategic issue. Deep dives last 3-4 months, Sprints last 4-5 weeks.

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  • Brainstorming Sessions

    Two-hour sessions with 4 – 8 HBS alumni, focused on solving a tactical challenge from a nonprofit. Like an HBS class!

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  • Scholarships

    We give full scholarships to Bay Area nonprofit leaders to attend an HBS executive program in Boston.

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  • Events and workshops

    Looking to join a nonprofit board? Or wish to have greater social impact? Attend our events and workshops.

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Expert Goodness By the Numbers

298

Alumni

Make an impact through HBS Community Partners annually, dedicating 10,000+ hours

40

Nonprofits

Benefit from Community Partners services each year

2.5

Million

In consulting and advisory services value is delivered annually

4

Scholarships

Granted to local nonprofit leaders to attend an HBS Exec Ed program each summer

  • The outcome of the project was more than we hoped for. Given the opportunity, any organization would be well served to engage in the HBS Community program

    Mervyn Regan, President, The Dipsea Race Foundation

  • The outcomes of the brainstorm gave me excellent next steps – already started mapping some things with our associate director later that afternoon. We were able to validate some of our own assumptions, hear fresh and new ideas, and zero in on a particular organizational inefficiency that continues to cause challenge. Thank you and the HBS Community Partners program for again moving our organization forward in meaningful ways.

    Sonja Palmer – Executive Director, Music for Minors

  • We were thrilled and deeply grateful to have HBS Community Partners’ strategic input and business acumen to assist No Bully to advance our mission of bringing schools solutions to bullying. We enjoyed every minute working with our entire HBS Community Partners team, who were lovely to work with on both a personal and professional level. Thank you so very much for this opportunity

    Therese Wilson, COO, No Bully

  • This is a tremendous service you offer and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We learned a tremendous amount and were blown away by the group’s energy, passion, and enthusiasm for our work and our mission to work with people in reentry, their families, and supporters.

    Katherine Katcher — Founder and Executive Director, Root & Rebound

  • The work we did with HBS alumni helped focus our organization on the important work of branding and story-telling and we have made it an internal priority! Thank you for organizing such a great group of people to help us out.

    Maggee VanSpeybroeck, Executive Director, Cypress String Quartet

  • I cannot tell you how energizing it is to have so many smart people in one room who have nothing but innovation and thoughtful creativity on their minds. Each alumnus added a different, practical perspective and were all keenly engaged in the topic at hand.

    Anne Marie Noonan, Founder & President The Avalon Academy

  • The HBS team exceeded our expectations in every way. Its work developing a dynamic positioning statement for us, and locating local agencies interested in working with us to execute initial logo design and usage guidelines, will have a major impact on our small non-profit organization.

    Parker Monroe, Executive Director, New Century Chamber Orchestra

  • Working with Harvard Community Partners was an incredible gift to our whole organization. We learned a new vocabulary and a new process for approaching planning. The CP team opened our eyes to possibilities that we never would have considered otherwise. It is hard to imagine a more considerate, generous and thoughtful team.

    Simone Marean, Executive Director, Girls Leadership Institute

  • Thank you each and all for guiding us to this exciting moment where we have the opportunity (and impetus and catalyst) to work towards cohesion and clarity so that we may become the organization that we can be– and make the impact that we will all be proud of! I am truly energized and strengthened by our engagement. Thank you for sharing your time and talent with us!

    Fay Zenoff, Executive Director, National Council on Alcoholism and Other Drug Addictions - Bay Are

  • The team that you composed for us was excellent and the work that they presented was so on-point, applicable and thoughtfully prepared. I could not be more impressed and grateful. Thank you, so very much!

    Margi English, Executive Director, St. Vincent de Paul Society of San Francisco