A handful of local nonprofits will soon benefit from the expertise of NYU business school students—and get some spending money to boot. New York University’s Stern School of Business recently announced the establishment of its student-run Social Venture Fund, the first of its kind in the United States. This spring, the fund, started with capital from the Blue Ridge Foundation and donations from Stewart Satter, CEO of Consumer Testing Laboratories and a Stern graduate, will issue grants of up to $100,000 to as many as 20 nonprofits. NYU students will select grantees on their own and then use their business skills to help them launch innovative social programs. Students also have to figure out how to sustain the fund since the current capital will run out in two years. The fund is a fresh example of business schools’ growing involvement with the nonprofit sector. Almost all major business schools now provide courses on nonprofit management and many schools have pro bono consulting programs to engage students with nonprofits. The Stern fund’s first round of funding will focus on educational organizations. [04/04/05]

Applications are due April 11. For more information, go to website: www.stern.nyu.edu/
studentsocialventurefund.

-X. Rong