The Powerful Program Linking B Schools and Nonprofits
Led by SI member David Finegold, the Golub Capital Nonprofit Board Fellows Network is grooming a new generation of business talent to support nonprofits.
David Finegold at the network’s first national gathering last year, held at the Kellogg School of Management.
David Finegold has had a varied and impactful career. Researcher at the RAND Corporation. Highly regarded business professor and educational innovator. College president.
And now, a couple of years after finishing as president of Chatham University, the SI member has taken on a new role — connecting America’s leading business schools with nonprofit organizations.
Specifically, Finegold is leading the Golub Capital Nonprofit Board Fellows Network, an innovative initiative that prepares MBA students at prestigious B schools around the country to become effective board members of nonprofit organizations. (The network includes board fellows programs at 19 top-ranked business schools, including four in cities where SI has chapters — Wharton in Philadelphia, NYU Stern and Columbia in New York, and Carnegie Mellon Tepper in Pittsburgh.)
The network is a quadruple win; good for students, good for nonprofits, good for business schools, and good for the community. It’s also an endeavor that’s perfectly aligned with the Satell Institute’s vision of Corporate Social Responsibility — the business and nonprofit sectors working together to strengthen each other and improve communities.
In this interview Finegold — a founding member of SI’s Pittsburgh chapter — discusses the Board Fellows Network; why nonprofits are a uniquely American strength; and the power of the Satell Institute’s mission.
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Golub Capital is…
…a leading direct lender and credit asset manager. They were one of the first firms focused on this specialization, and they’ve been very successful at it for several decades.
Golub Capital’s approach to corporate philanthropy…
…has focused on trying to tap into the great resources of the nation's leading business schools to enhance the ability of nonprofits to carry out their missions. Golub Capital began by funding Social Impact Labs at Stanford, Chicago Booth, and Kellogg School of Management, each experimenting with a different approach to building nonprofit capacity.
The Kellogg Lab was the inaugural member of the Board Fellows program. While all three Golub Capital initiatives were doing exciting work, we decided the one that really had the chance to scale nationally was Board Fellows.
The research we did showed a number of other business schools have programs like this, but most are pretty small, and often student-led. We thought that, with an injection of resources and the support of a network, we could really grow that to the next level.
Over the last two years…
…we’ve gone from the one program at Kellogg School of Management to 11 named programs. And there are another eight top business schools who are affiliates of the network, sharing all of the information and resources. And I've had conversations just in the last couple of months with another three of the top 25 schools who are exploring joining the network.
Before long we hope to have close to 90 percent of the top business schools taking part in this network.
The network’s first conference attracted 125 people, including students, faculty, and nonprofit leaders.
The way the program works is…
…students, when they're starting their MBAs, apply, and if they're accepted into their school's program, then they're matched with a local nonprofit. They serve as a non-voting member of the nonprofit’s board and on the board committee(s) that are relevant to the pro bono strategic consulting project they deliver to the nonprofit.
For the students…
…this is a chance to see how a board works in a really in-depth, long-term way. They get to see how a mission-driven organization is led from the top, and they deliver a high-impact project for the nonprofit. It’s one of the best learning experiences in their MBA, and it can really influence their future career trajectory.
For the nonprofits…
…you know, almost no nonprofits have any R&D budget. The Board Fellows projects allow them to think strategically, two and three years out. What are their next projects going to be, and how can they tap new talent? They get a future pipeline of board members, volunteers, ambassadors, and, hopefully, donors for their organization.
The program has such great trajectory that…
... within a couple of years, we’re going to have a thousand or more Golub Capital Board Fellows a year graduating from these top schools, all having had this common experience. We really hope over time that people will recognize what this means, particularly when they’re thinking about their next director or a new CFO — someone who really has great skills.
Our research has also shown that when students go through this program they're more likely to join a nonprofit board after graduation than their MBA alumni peers; do so significantly earlier in their career; feel better prepared to serve on the board; and move into leadership positions more quickly.
Business schools…
… love the program. First, with the advent of AI, there’s an even greater emphasis on experiential learning. And this is a very strong form of experiential learning because it's board experience married with having to deliver a high-stakes project.
The other thing is, the business schools and the universities as a whole all want to be strong corporate citizens; they want to strengthen their local communities. They're looking for really meaningful ways to do it and the Board Fellows Network helps them build long-term, win-win partnerships with nonprofits to make this happen.
I got interested in Corporate Social Responsibility…
…because I'm a believer that one of the distinctive strengths of the U.S. is the breadth and scale of our nonprofit community.
And on the corporate side, I once worked at the Center for Effective Organizations at the University of Southern California. It was built around the principle that the best companies long-term are ones that win not just for their shareholders and owners, but for the wider stakeholders that they serve — their employees, their customers, and their community.
I first got connected to the Satell Institute…
…when I was the president at Chatham University in Pittsburgh and Satell first came up with the idea to expand here.
One of the things I really love about Pittsburgh is the spirit of partnership to better the city as a whole. I thought, with that spirit of collaboration, plus the strong foundation community in Pittsburgh, Satell was a natural fit. I wanted to do everything I could to support bringing Satell to Pittsburgh.
What I really love about Satell…
… is how much it aligns with how I’ve always thought about things. It’s possible to do good and do well at the same time, right?
Dr. David Finegold will be a featured speaker at the Satell Institute’s first National Conference in May.
