Berkeley Board Fellows Professional Development Workshop for Board Members

Event: Berkeley Board Fellows Professional Development Workshop
Date: Thursday, February 6th, 2014
Location: Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley

How does a board lead fundraising efforts? What are best practices of board governance? What are some effective marketing strategies for nonprofit organizations? How can a nonprofit organization use LinkedIn effectively? These were among some of the many questions discussed at the Board Fellows Organization training on Thursday, February 6th. We had 54 board members attend the workshop.

Our development coaches led discussion groups focused on building dynamic boards and strengthening one’s skill as a board member. The specific topics of discussion were fundraising, board governance/board development, marketing: telling your story/branding, strategy, and LinkedIn for Good (see presentation below). Board members were encouraged to ask questions to dig deeper into key challenges and gauge the strengths and challenges of their board and learn best practices from others.

The development coaches included:

• Colin Boyle – Deputy Director, UCSF Global Health Sciences

• Lynne La Marca Heinrich– Senior Consultant and Principal, Marts & Lundy

• Bob Miller – Entrepreneur, Experienced Board Chair

• Allison Sparks – Program Officer, Stuart Foundation

• Irvenia Waters – Leadership Development Consultant, Strategic Perspectives Consulting

• Nora Silver – Adjunct Professor and Director, Center for Nonprofit & Public Leadership

• Paul Jansen – Adjunct Professor, Haas and Director Emeritus, McKinsey & Company

Board members engage in discussion with our development coaches and one another:

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Berkeley Board Fellows is an experiential learning program for MBA alumni, MBA students and other graduate students created to develop the next generation of nonprofit board leadership. Learn more about the benefits of the program and how to apply at the Berkeley Board Fellows website.

Alison Dorsey of LinkedIn for Good led this presentation on using the site for board development:

Artists as Social Entrepreneurs – 3 exemplary leaders

[This post was written by Laura Callanan, Haas Scholar in Residence at the Center for Nonprofit and Public Leadership. Among her initiatives at Haas, she is leading research into the trends in social sector leadership.]

As defined by Ashoka, social entrepreneurs are individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems. They are ambitious and persistent, tackling major social issues and offering new ideas for wide-scale change.

I gave a keynote at the SoCap13 conference titled The Surprise Social Entrepreneur.  My talk explores the 5 defining characteristics of the social entrepreneur as set out by the late Duke University professor Greg Dees:

• Socially driven – Advancing a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private wealth)
• Growth oriented – Recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission
• Innovative – Engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning
• Resourceful – Acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand
• Accountable – Exhibiting heightened accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created

Students Engage in Hands-on Case Analysis with Impact Investors

Event: Case Studies in Impact Investing: How to Think Like an Investor
Date: Thursday, January 30, 2014
Location: Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley

This Impact Speaker Series event was co-sponsored with the Haas Impact Investing Network (HIIN), and highlighted a variety of approaches to impact investing. Guest speakers represented impact investors striving to balance both financial and social returns, foundations making program related investments and emerging market investors. Guests immersed themselves in an interactive session and put themselves in the investors’ shoes by reviewing real case studies.

Six guest speakers from the following companies joined us:

New Island Capital Management, Inc. is a San Francisco-based investment advisor. New Island’s mandate and resources place it among a handful of institutional-scale, 100% mission-focused investment advisors.

Unitus was started with the strategy of leveraging business principles and market mechanisms in order to have a long-term, sustainable and widespread impact on reducing global poverty.

David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s approach to business and community participation guides the Packard Foundation’s philanthropy: They invest in leaders and institutions, collaborate with them to identify the most effective solutions, and give them freedom and support to best reach their goals.

Morgan Stanley’s Global Sustainable Finance (GSF) group drives Morgan Stanley’s sustainability strategy. GSF supports investors and clients in the development of long-term sustainable business models and investment products capable of achieving financial, social and environmental returns.

Omidyar Network is a philanthropic investment firm. Omidiyar creates opportunity for people to improve their lives by investing in market-based efforts that catalyze economics and social change.

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