Net Impact Yale University
About us
While Yale’s School of Management has one of the leading Net Impact chapters in the country, Yale College was, until recently, lacking on any outlet for social enterprise. We created Yale Undergraduate Net Impact with the mission of exposing Yale students to social entrepreneurship. Yale College's chapter of Net Impact was founded in Fall 2012, and is the first undergraduate club with the mission of exposing Yale students to social entrepreneurship: - We provide resources for students to learn how to use their interest in business for social change. - We work to increase social sector campus recruitment, provide volunteer opportunities with local social entrepreneurs and establish opportunities for students to start their own social enterprises. - We want to expose students to the intersection of the private and public sectors. Our chapter has dedicated members whose interests span energy, healthcare, technology, international development, and more. Together, we work together to bring social entrepreneurship to Yale College.
Programs
One of our major programs was a Speaker Series, co-hosted with the Yale School of Management Net Impact chapter. Once a month, we brought in a graduate student mentor to our general meeting to help members develop important professional skills. Past examples include a resume workshop and a networking workshop. Our consulting team works for local clients, providing advice on various projects, ranging from curriculum development to marketing. In the past, our clients have included Hour of Truth, TV Santa Barbara, Lotus Alliance, and the Compost Plant. Projects usually last either one or two semesters. Through the presence of this consulting service, we aim to educate students on the importance of working for companies with social impact. This social entrepreneurship endeavor works to help these organizations increase their impact and lower their costs. Net Impact partners with Undergraduate Career Services (UCS) to help bring social enterprise career opportunities to Yale Students. Because the Yale recruiting scene is dominated by finance and consulting, we wanted to provide students with alternate career paths with an impact. We hosted Yale College's first ever social enterprise career fair in February 2013, allowing students to meet employers in an on-campus recruiting event. Some recruiters that came included Ashoka, City Year, and KIPP Charter Schools. In addition, we designed Yale Undergraduate Career Service's first social enterprise resources page and are partnering to organize student panels to discuss summer jobs and internships in this field. Our special events team organizes a huge variety of events on campus, all with the mission of exposing Yale students to social enterprise. Some discussions events we hosted include The Future of Social Enterprise, Think Social, and Scaling Impact. The purpose of such discussions is for students to engage with challenges in the field. We also organize several campus-wide campaigns, such as the "Make an Impact" campaign and the Color Run, which raised awareness about social enterprise. Our goal is to stimulate a social enterprise discussion on campus, getting students excited about innovation and social impact.