2024

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

HBS Community Partners of Connecticut

Community Partner’s (“CP”) mission is to enable HBS alumni to promote excellence in nonprofit leadership in CT through pro bono consulting, education, grant awards, and related initiatives that provide a rewarding opportunity to work together to benefit our community. We recognize that our success depends on the efforts and contributions of our volunteers. We want to express our appreciation to the 55 volunteers who helped to make 2024 another successful year.

ALUMNI VOLUNTEERS

Apply your business skills and career experience to help local nonprofits tackle their management challenges and opportunities.

Nonprofit Partners

Explore our advisory offerings, both several month consulting projects and single evening brainstorming sessions, tailored to your organization's needs.

consulting-overview

Lee Barnes Memorial Scholarship for Nonprofit Leaders - 2024 Recipients

For 20 years, CP has invited applications and granted scholarships to one or more CT nonprofit leaders to attend the Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management (SPNM) executive education program. This Executive Education course is an HBS Social Enterprise Initiative program that allows senior executives to examine their missions and develop strategies for the new global economy. It is an intensive six-day program taught by the HBS faculty. Over 150 nonprofit leaders worldwide, representing a wide range of nonprofit sectors, make up the student body. Over 33 of our state’s recognized best nonprofit leaders have attended this program and unanimously report that SPNM was the most “outstanding executive education experience of their entire careers.”

The 2024 Lee Barnes Memorial Scholarship for Nonprofit Leaders Recipients were Nancy Coughlin of Person to Person in lower Fairfield County, and Sarah Fox of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness in Hartford.

Person to Person (P2P), with a history of over 50 years, serves over 25,000 individuals annually with a range of programs including food, clothing, financial assistance and coaching, camping and scholarships. Nancy writes: “My mind is still on overdrive from my week in Boston. I am eager to put the skills I learned into use at P2P. There was a balance of peer and classroom learning. The HBS SPNM staff were outstanding. I feel grateful to have spent time and learned from them. Our living/learning groups may well be the greatest gifts of the program. I now have colleagues in Australia, Rwanda, Canada, the US and UK to call upon for their expertise.”

The Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH) leads the charge in preventing and ending homelessness across Connecticut. Through strategic partnerships with local communities, advocacy efforts, and extensive support to our partners, CCEH is transforming the landscape for those experiencing homelessness. Sarah writes: “My experience at SPNM will have a lasting impact on our work at CCEH. Being able to step away, be surrounded by amazing leaders, and learn from HBS’s frameworks and practical applications for nonprofits was an outstanding experience. What I learned during the program is influencing CCEH efforts to prevent and solve homelessness.”

HBS Community Partners plans to invite scholarship applications for the 2025 SPNM program in February. Please direct your questions to our Awards Committee Chair, James Rulmyr ’78 ([email protected]).

How We Help

CONSULTING

The demand for CP consulting services throughout CT continued to be strong: we completed 8 projects. Clients included agencies focused on empowering those in need with nutrition, housing, mental health, immigration, and self-sufficiency; providing crisis and supportive services for victims of domestic violence; preserving endangered species; and delivering fresh meat, vegetables, bread, canned goods, and boxed foods to food pantries. 2025 begins with 8 projects either underway or about to begin.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming sessions are two hours and designed to address a tactical challenge. Two agencies requested brainstorming sessions in 2024.

Working Sessions

In 2024, we held working sessions for three clients seeking to build board consensus on strategic issues; answer strategic questions on growth; identify how best to support and serve members and residents; and develop strategic plans.

Robert Whitby Turbo Award

The 2024 Robert Whitby Turbo Award was granted to Generation S.O.S. A secondary award was granted to the Fairfield Museum and History Center. The Turbo Award aims to catalyze or turbocharge” a local nonprofit by launching a new initiative or improving an existing program. It is open to all Connecticut nonprofits. We are thankful for the generous support of DR Bank, which enables us to make this $ 20,000 grant.

Case Method Approach

Community Partners pioneered a new approach for our pro bono consulting in 2024 that mirrors the case studies at the heart of the HBS pedagogy. The client was the Greenwich Center for Hope and Renewal, who provides high quality mental health care. Alumni volunteers were given a case document describing a management situation and asked to (1) submit a set of recommendations and (2) participate in a 90-minute Zoom “classroom” discussion. The client received all of the written recommendations and the video recording of the Zoom classroom discussion.

Lee Barnes Memorial SPNM AWARD

CP awarded the 2024 Lee Barnes Memorial Scholarship for Nonprofit Leaders to 2 Connecticut nonprofit leaders: Nancy Coughlin of Person to Person in lower Fairfield County, and Sarah Fox of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness in Hartford.

OUR IMPACT

In 2024, 55 HBS alumni volunteers made significant contributions to strengthen the nonprofit community, sharing their business skills with leaders of local organizations. We worked for a total of 5000 hours of Pro Bono consulting and workshops, creating an estimated value of  $2.3 million

impact

5000

HOURS

Pro Bono consulting and brainstorming projects .

100%

CLIENTS

Report Projects had impact with 66% reporting Significant or Highly Significant Impact

16

PROJECTS

Benefited from our pro bono consulting services.

55

VOLUNTEERS

Volunteered for pro bono consulting and Skills Gap Initiative activities.

Testimonials