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Name: Caroline Boyd
Organization: The Center for Financial Services Innovation
Function: Research
Description: I spent the summer at the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), an affiliate of ShoreBank, the country's largest community development and environmental bank. CFSI works with banks, credit unions, and other financial services companies to identify business opportunities within and develop appropriate products for financially underserved markets in the United States. I worked in CFSI's research division on a number of projects, including analyses of the remittance, prepaid card, and short-term loan markets. My major deliverable consisted of a study of how companies can use mobile phone-based financial services to profitably serve un- and underbanked consumers.
Best part: Participating in CFSI's first annual Underbanked Financial Services Forum, which drew four hundred industry leaders.
How it fits into my career path: Because my background is in international microfinance, my internship at CFSI provided me with a unique opportunity to learn more about the issues facing the retail financial services industry in the U.S.
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Name: Zanna Gilbert
Organization: First Book Marketplace
Function: Partnership development and data management
Description: First Book is an international nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. In 2004, First Book launched a for-profit business venture, the First Book Marketplace, to provide new books at deeply discounted prices for nonprofit organizations and government entities that predominantly serve children from low-income families. I had three main projects during the course of my internship: expanding the customer base by creating new strategic partnerships with chambers of commerce; developing the Marketplace's first ever inventory management system, analyzing sales data to track business performance and improve financial reporting; and writing grant proposals to five community foundations in order to assure cash flow for targeted marketing and sales in selected cities.
Best part: It was great to work with fun, interesting, and dedicated people who love their jobs. The executive director and I worked closely together and were able to easily implement new ideas without a lot of red tape and bureaucratic hurdles. He took a great interest in my career and continues to provide me with advice, professional resources, and networking opportunities.
How it fits into my career path: Ultimately, I want to run a nonprofit's for-profit social enterprise venture.
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Name: Lizzy Repass
Organization: CARE
Function: Marketing
Description: Thanks to a wonderful alumna, Christina Wooldridge SOM '05, I spent my summer at CARE, an international humanitarian organization. My internship was jointly between the economic development and the major gifts fundraising departments of CARE, the international humanitarian organization. I created a marketing plan to attract more donors to give to CARE's microfinance and other economic development programs. To start my project, I interviewed many CARE major gifts fundraisers to learn what they needed in order to raise money for economic development programs. Next, I got the necessary information to the fundraising staff. Finally, I created ways to package the economic development work, depending on what the donors want to accomplish with their philanthropy. This involved determining messages, talking points, suggested programs to fund, materials and other tools needed, impact data needed, and typical donor profiles. My learning and my contribution to CARE were possible only because of the Internship Fund, which allowed me to live in Atlanta for the summer and support myself. Thank you!
Best Part: The best parts were that I worked with wonderful people, including great bosses, and was able to do a project that will have a real impact.
How it fits into my career path: My internship confirmed that I like working at non-profit organizations, particularly international development organizations, and in marketing.
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Name: Erica Thomas
Organization: Market New Haven, Inc.
Function: Marketing
Description: Market New Haven (MNH), a non-profit marketing agency, is funded by local businesses, Yale and the City of New Haven. I joined MNH as the group was preparing for the local press launch of its "New Haven: Your City of Summer" marketing campaign. After the event, I helped to prepare and deliver media packets to MNH's funders and marketing partners, and I wrote and edited articles for publication in a New Haven Register insert featuring MNH's Free Concerts on the Green and Friday Flicks series. Once the Register section was completed, I spent much of the remaining weeks preparing for the concerts and film series, including managing the VIP guest list, coordinating radio contests and communicating with the series' sponsors. In addition, I supported the staff of the Pilot Pen Tennis Tournament (which shares office space and several staff members with MNH) in the lead-up to July's "J-Block Party" (a local media event to promote the return of Connecticut-raised tennis star James Blake) and the August tournament. My final projects included preliminary planning for a fall marketing campaign for local arts organizations and participating in discussions about downtown promotional programs for the upcoming holiday season.
Best part: The Free Concerts on the Green were a huge success - after a record-tying 30,000 people attended the first concert (Kenny Rogers - the first country act to play the New Haven Green), buzz kept building for the duration of the concert series and the final concert (The Temptations) drew a record-breaking crowd of 40,000.
How it fits into my career path: I came to SOM with a desire to work in the non-profit sector, and I quickly became intrigued by marketing as the year progressed. This internship proved an excellent way to combine those interests.
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Name: Edward Hui
Organization: Teach For America (Philadelphia Institute)
Function: Consulting, Program evaluation and Analysis
Description: Teach For America is the national corps of recent college graduates who commit two years to teach in urban and rural public schools and become lifelong leaders in ensuring educational excellence for all children. The foundation of Teach For America's program is its five summer teacher training institutes, of which Philadelphia is one. I worked as the Director of Data Management whose primary responsibility was to develop and implement systems for collecting and analyzing data around key aspects of the daily functioning of the institute. This included providing analysis and recommendations on how to improve the residential operations for 700+ people as well as proposing programmatic changes to increase the effectiveness of the teacher training.
Best part: Getting a broad, cross-cutting perspective on work that directly impacted the lives of 4000 children. Most of the jobs at the institute are focused (necessarily so) on the specifics of teaching; my job was unique in that it afforded me the opportunity to see the successes and challenges across all ten of the summer schools. Also, the institute management team was incredibly thankful to have someone with a more analytical vantage point to pick apart aspects of their program.
How it fits into my career path: I've worked previously with Teach For America and it was gratifying to return to them after a year of business school and offer them a different set of skills. It was fantastic to flex my analytical brain in a very service, people-oriented nonprofit.
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