B-School Starts Program To Encourage Non-Profits

The Business School has established a fellowship program to encourage its students to week employment in the non-profit-sector, the first such service in the school's history.

The Non-profit Management Fellowships program will supplement the salaries of a small group of selected students who take summer jobs with foundations, hospitals, community service, and other non-profit organizations.

School officials stressed yesterday that the move reflects no new tread towards encouraging non-profit work, saying the school has long supported non-profit management.

"We're trying to get people exposed to the idea that we think there's a value to community service." Nathaniel Foote, an organizer of the program, said yesterday. The fellowships should offer an alternative to the Business School's traditional emphasis on private sector employment, he added.

The organizers of the program have raised more than $10,000 to fund the fellows, who will be chosen in about three weeks. The R. School concessions board allocated $4,000 to the program, while the organizers raised the rest through a campus drive during January.

The organizers hope to secure funding in the future from large foundations and corporations that show interest in supporting the fellowships. Several foundations are considering contributing. Foote said, but be expects the program needs a successful year behind it before donors start contributing funds.

Members of the organizing committee yesterday praised the fellowship program because it may make students aware of the opportunities for employment in non-profit management.

"This is a new territory for the school," said Winn Pries, director of the B-school's office of carcer development. He added the program may increase students' career options by allowing them to work in jobs that they otherwise would not have considered.

"There's a tendency when you first arrive here to feel that everyone has worked for Proctor and Gamble or will work for Proctor and Gamble or one of the large corporations. Foote said, adding. "It's important to have something on campus saying it's respectable, to work for non-profits."