Deborah Richardson with Bob Davis (MBA ’92 ) and Bill Schwendler (MBA ’66) of the HBS Club of Atlanta. Photo by Ann States

Although she had nearly thirty years of on-the-job experience, Deborah Richardson still was thrilled to be selected for a weeklong HBS Executive Education course for nonprofit leaders in July 2003.

“I had many ‘eureka’ moments when I was there,” recalls Richardson, the founding executive director of the Juvenile Justice Fund in Atlanta, which provides resources and services for youth and their families who are involved with the juvenile justice system. “I was able to come back and, with my case studies and notes as a guide, retool our strategic plan and restructure our budget. We have just completed phase one of a three-part impact evaluation study and as a result, are making critical decisions around some sacred cows.”

Such an impact is just what HBS alumni clubs hope for when they select local nonprofit leaders to receive scholarships to attend one of the two social enterprise courses offered by HBS Executive Education every summer. The program with the broadest content and largest number of scholarship recipients is Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management (SPNM). It helps nonprofit executives sharpen leadership skills and better understand and apply core management concepts to improve organizational effectiveness.

Richardson attended a more targeted program titled Performance Measurement for Effective Management of Nonprofit Organizations, which is designed to boost organizational accountability and performance measurement.

Of the approximately 140 nonprofit executives who attend the SPNM program each year, more than 30 arrive with the financial help of HBS clubs, which typically cover the full program fee for tuition, room and board, and travel expenses. Says Stacey Childress (MBA ’00), executive director of the Social Enterprise Initiative, “The sponsorships add an important mix of participants to the SPNM program, allowing us to reach nonprofit CEOs who otherwise might not know about or be able to attend the program.”

Bob Davis (MBA ’92), president of the HBS Club of Atlanta, says the club’s scholarship program ultimately helps the local community. “The nonprofit executives we send to HBS have dedicated their lives to serving people,” observes Davis. “Our scholarships are a great investment in them and in the community.” Richardson was one of four nonprofit CEOs selected by the Atlanta club to attend the 2003 summer programs.

The HBS Club of Buffalo, New York, granted its first two executive education scholarships this year. “This program is really great because it benefits the local community,” says Richard (“Bing”) Sherrill (MBA ’62), treasurer of the Buffalo club.

The HBS Club of Philadelphia regarded the SPNM program as so successful that it decided to expand its support for nonprofit executive training. “We’ve sent four people to the SPNM program in the last two years, and they all raved about it,” says Asuka Nakahara (MBA ’80), a member of the club’s social enterprise initiative committee. “They came back saying that it would be nice if there was some way to keep it going.”

The club agreed and has developed a half-day conference for forty Philadelphia-area nonprofit leaders. At the first event, set for October, HBS professor emeritus Stephen A. Greyser, former faculty cochair of the SPNM program, will lead a case discussion. Past participants in the SPNM program will also share what they learned.

Over time, the HBS clubs’ scholarship programs likely will have a major impact on their communities. The Atlanta club, for example, has sent nearly thirty people to the SPNM program since 1997.

“Having a core group of nonprofit leaders with this level of training in one community is outstanding,” says Richardson. “Few of us grow up thinking that we will become nonprofit professionals, and even fewer of us are specifically trained for it. The course at Harvard blends the best practices of business, government, leadership, and philanthropy into a practical curriculum that can be immediately applied in our day-to-day work lives.”

— Margie Kelley

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