Making a Positive Impact Now.

Pro bono consulting team with other HBS alumni and have an impact.  Volunteering for a project is a fantastic opportunity to leverage your business management expertise to support local social enterprises in need of strategic support, as well as expand your local HBS alumni network.  With just 2-4 hrs/week of your time over 4-6 mo., you can make a positive difference. 

For more information about volunteering, visit our Alumni Volunteer Page.   Volunteer for one of these exciting projects now by using the form at the bottom of this page.

Education

#YesWeCode (Branding/Messaging) — Aims to train 100,000 low-opportunity youth to become high-level computer programmers (targeting Oakland, LA, Detroit and NYC initially).  Its current focus is to change the national conversation on computer programming education by capturing significant media attention with a strategy for broad scale visibility a la “The Hour of Code”.  It would like help in developing messaging targeting its audience of low-opportunity youth and parents/teachers/caregivers to implement their efforts.   (Oakland-BART accessible)

Amethod Public Schools (Branding/Messaging) — Is a free and public charter school network serving primarily low-income Latinos in the Oakland and Richmond communities.  Its schools are achieving strong results on key performance metrics, winning honors such as National Blue Ribbon Status, California Distinguished Schools, and a STEM Award Distinction.  As it expands, it hopes to more clearly communicate its success and distinguish itself from other charter school organizations serving the area. (Oakland)

Youth

A Home Within (Earned Revenue Model) — Promotes the emotional health of foster children by creating and supporting lasting, caring relationships.  A Draper Richards Kaplan grantee, its clinical chapters support 1,000 clients annually, but it hopes to expand its reach by leveraging its proprietary knowledge sharing platform called Fostering Relationships.  Exploring how to monetize this information and training about the emotional needs of foster youth to non-clinical communities serving vulnerable populations can enable it to better reach the 500,000 in foster care nationally.  (San Francisco)

The Conscious Kitchen (Growth Plan) – Offers a holistic approach to school meals to nourish students, while educating school communities about conscious choices through the principles of gardening, nutrition and cooking.  It rethinks school food systems based on six foundational terms:  fresh, local, organic, seasonal, and non-GMO, and zero waste.  Currently operating a successful pilot in Marin City, it seeks a sustainable and scalable method of growth to expand impact. (Marin)

Collective Impact (Mission/Strategic Plan) — Consists of several programs that serve the needs of youth and families in the Western Addition.  Together, the Ella Hill Hutch Community Center, Magic Zone, and Mo’ Magic create positive impact to the community.  After merging its services in 2011, it seeks an assessment of the community needs and an evaluation if its programs are delivering the best services to their audience.  (San Francisco)

Human Services

The Reset Foundation (Partnership Strategy) — Transforms the justice system with the goal of creating a network of residential campuses for sentenced young adults to obtain education, career, and healthy living opportunities instead of going to prison.  Co-founded by an HBS alum, the first pilot campus opened in San Francisco in 2014.   A critical part of success for Reset students is career training and placement, and to accomplish this, it needs help in creating partnership strategies with attractive employers in the Bay Area.  (San Francisco)

Niroga Institute (Marketing Strategy) — Builds transformative life and leadership skills among vulnerable populations by teaching dynamic mindfulness (yoga, breath regulation and meditation).  Through evidence-based research, Niroga has proved the positive impact of its programs, and is now looking to expand its successful in-classroom pilot program to teachers and students nationally.  It seeks a marketing strategy to articulate Niroga’s unique value proposition for national scale.  (San Francisco)

Refugee Transitions (Organization Expansion) — Assists refugees and immigrant families in becoming self-sufficient in the U.S. by providing services to help them attain language, life, job, and academic skills to succeed in their new communities.  Though it has served 1,300 newcomer in 2013, the demand for its services greatly exceed their Bay Area staffing capacity.  It needs help in prioritizing and making strategic choices to grow the agency, including examining how to improve organizational efficiencies and how to scale services.  (San Francisco)

Community Works West (Marketing Strategy) – Engages youth and adults in arts, education and restorative justice programs that heal the impact of incarceration and violence.  Grounded in the belief that art has the power to heal, it offers programs in jails and the community, youth-led advocacy efforts, and public exhibits and performances.  Winner of a Google Impact Award, it seeks help with more clearly defining its statement of identity and communicating its unique offerings so it can strengthen its position in the Restorative Justice movement.  (San Francisco)

Arts & Culture

Music for Minors (Business Plan) — Offers quality elementary music education programs in schools to nurture in children the lifelong love of music.  It envisions the innovative use of technology to deliver web-based curriculum and resources such as dynamic lesson plans, video tutorials, audio song files, etc.  to support their educators delivering music in the classrooms, and provide access to schools/music educators it has not been able to serve.  It needs help in exploring the option of a licensed music curriculum model to expand reach/impact and build revenue.  (Peninsula)

Healthcare

D-Rev (Market Assessment) – Is a product development company that designs and delivers medical devices to global markets with people living on less than $4 a day.  Featured in The New York Times and cover of the National Endowment of the Arts magazine in 2014, its Remotion Knee for amputees and Brilliance LED lights to prevent jaundice in newborns have enjoyed success in developing nations.  D-Rev would like to assess whether there is a market opportunity to deliver its low cost, quality products to communities in the United States while continuing to serve its global client base.  (San Francisco)

Environment

ImagineH2O (Strategic Plan) — Aims to inspire and empower people to solve water problems through competitions, workshops and networking with major players.   Co-founded by an HBS alum and a former Full Circle Fund grantee, it seeks to be to the water sector what the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) did for advancing innovation in the energy sector.  It wants to dramatically increase financial support from new and existing sponsors as advisors and industry experts have encouraged ImagineH2O’s growth plan, leading to a need to develop a strategic plan roadmap.  (San Francisco)

To volunteer for a future project use this form: