The Lindenwood University Plaster College of Business and Entrepreneurship has put their passion for nonprofit work into action and their students are benefitting from it!
Nonprofit Administration Professor Dr. Julie Turner who has been sharing her passion for nonprofit work with students since 2007, was recently chosen to receive the support of the Porter Prize Fund for her Social Enterprise Advisory project.
The Social Enterprise Advisory project is intended to provide undergraduate and graduate students from all degree types interested in nonprofit work with hands-on experiential learning. This project will engage a combination of the expansion of existing coursework in social entrepreneurship, immersion in field placements, and networking among relevant stakeholders.
“I was allowed to create what’s called the Social Enterprise Advisory. So what that allowed us to do was provide students with a paid internship, called a fellowship, where they go to work for a nonprofit organization that was developing a really innovative social enterprise model,” Turner said “…for those not familiar with what that means, that means it’s a business or product that benefits the nonprofit, and then gets nonprofits a little bit out of reliance on some of the traditional revenue streams but it also really helps clients or those served by the nonprofit to really address gainful skills and to create some sustainability, so it’s just a very exciting concept.”
This past year, two students were selected as recipients for the Social Enterprise Advisory. These students received a stipend to do their internship and take a certification course through a global social entrepreneur organization. In taking this course, these students are now part of a massive global network of other social entrepreneurs all over the world, giving the students potential connections and insights on networking or employment opportunities.
Lindenwood Graduate student, Dulgunn Bayarsaikhan was one of these two students and shared how this hands-on experience helped advance her studies in nonprofit.
“It [Social Enterprise Advisory] was a really great experience. It was like a win, win situation so I could learn more about how it’s like working like in the nonprofit industry because I did have no experience except this one, so it was a really great opportunity to start my future career,” Bayarsaikhan said.
As part of Bayarsaikhan’s project, she worked directly with the nonprofit organization, Brace For Impact 46, where they imported raw coffee beans from Haiti, sold them in St. Louis, and sent the proceeds back to families and children in Haiti.
The most exciting aspect of this fellowship program is that it allows the Plaster College of Business and Entrepreneurship to do more within their social entrepreneurship field by providing students with a variety of hands-on experiences, allowing the college to build out classes.
When Lindenwood students are given the opportunity to participate in hands-on engaged learning, they can then go out into the world and have confidence in their knowledge and abilities.
To learn more about the Plaster College of Business and Entrepreneurship and its nonprofit programs, visit Nonprofit Administration Department | Lindenwood University.
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