Social Impact 101: ESG Education and Nonprofit Consulting

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: One of the reasons why I decided to pursue my MBA was so that I could work in Sustainability and during my MBA I engaged in various activities that provided me with the skills to be a Leader in Sustainability. As the VP of Education for Net Impact, I created and executed a series of Social Impact 101s where we discussed ESG, Social Impact, Impact Measurement, and Impact Investing. Additionally, I also wanted to have some real-world impact, so I became a volunteer consultant with an Environmental Nonprofit, and chose to do my capstone consulting a Nonprofit from Ethiopia called Project Mercy, which provides integrated holistic services for community development. This concludes my leadership in sustainability at UCLA Anderson as a student.

2. IMPORTANCE: The social impact 101s were important to provide an educational platform to Net Impact and increase the awareness of MBA students in topics that are becoming increasingly important for leaders as ESG becomes a pillar of decision-making in companies pursuing a triple bottom line. As a consultant for an LA-based environmental nonprofit, which creates artistic cultural spaces for environmental action, I helped them reshape their executive leadership and provided marketing and branding strategy. The merchandising strategy provided them with a new revenue stream, which allowed them to have more impact. The last piece of the puzzle was my work with Project Mercy as a part of my MBA Capstone project. As a nonprofit, Project Mercy depends on grants, and to acquire these grants, it needs to communicate its impact model succinctly. I created the Theory of Change for Project Mercy which was very well received by the client and will help them get more grants and help other nonprofits replicate their impact in their local communities.

3. COLLABORATIONS:

Net Impact Leadership
The first Social Impact 101 – Introduction to Social Impact and ESG had two professors from UCLA Anderson as speakers, Prof. Gayle Northrop and Prof. Valentin Haddad. It was a fireside chat, and I was moderating the discussion with the two speakers.
The second 101 held in Winter 2024 featured Sienna Jackson, an alumni from Anderson’s class of 2023. Sienna is the CEO and Co-founder of Zoran Creative Strategy, an ESG & Social Impact consultancy that offers social impact strategy, impact measurement, and campaign management solutions for clients seeking to grow their triple bottom line. Her company is located in the Greater Los Angeles Area. The Center for Impact has also provided us references for speakers, and some logistical support for the events.
For the third Social Impact 101, which will talk about Impact Investing, we are welcoming Jamie Nichols from Avivar Capital to provide introductory concepts and principles about Impact Investing. While the first two versions were in-person, this event will happen online, to increase accessibility for FEMBAs and EMBAs.

Consulting for Nonprofits
Seed Consulting Group is an environmental nonprofit that provides consulting services to environmental nonprofits that are registered 501(c)(3) organizations. The projects have historically been pro-bono, but Seed is looking to generate some revenue to support the org by taking on low-bono projects. Seed CG has various chapters across the country including Los Angeles, Orange County, and their East Coast chapter. In the spring quarter of 2023, I worked as a volunteer consultant for Seed’s LA Chapter.
My client was Replant the Forest Festival (RTFF), which creates cultural spaces to take climate action. They bring music, especially indigenous music, to their tree plantation/land restoration projects. While I was working with them, I participated in one of their willow planting events at the Santa Monica Mountains. More than 700 willows were planted that day on the riverbed and most of them have been flourishing from their recent status update.
My second consulting stint was a part of my Capstone Project, Global Social Impact Consulting in East Africa. Led by Professor Gayle Northrop, our team has worked with Project Mercy for five months. Project Mercy was started by Marta and Deme in the 1970s and is currently managed and led by their son, Bete Demeke, who previously worked at IBM for 30 years in the United States. Project Mercy operates in multiple townships in Ethiopia and provides an integrated set of services in Yetebon. These services can be divided into 5 pillars Education, Health, Nutrition, Nutrition, Infrastructure, and Empowerment. Project Mercy has also provided interventions in other communities to break the cycle of poverty among households. My team included Kimberly Sern (FTMBA 24), Nina Leal (FTMBA 24), Rita Aboujaoude (FTMBA 24), and Joao Silviera (FTMBA 24).

4. YOUR ROLE WELL DEFINED:

Net Impact Leadership

As the Director and then VP of Education for Net Impact, UCLA Anderson Chapter, my role has been to organize the Social Impact 101s, including planning, sourcing the speakers, curating content, taking care of the logistics (room booking, food order, gifts to speakers, marketing the event), and moderating the event. To increase collaboration between aligned clubs, I have also provided access to the Energy and CleanTech Association and Entrepreneur Association. I also created a resource bank for our club members with insightful articles, green job boards, nonprofit companies, etc.

Consulting for Nonprofits
As a consultant for Replant the Forest Festival, I helped them restructure their executive leadership roles, eliminating role redundancies, and providing a scalable organizational structure. The client adopted >80% of the recommendations into their executive board. In the second half of the project, I provided strategic recommendations to the client on their marketing and brand management strategy, while using merchandising as a sustainable business model.
Working with Project Mercy, I was solely responsible for creating the Theory of Change, and had significant contributions to the Final Report. Apart from these, our team also created the Logic Model and Impact Measurement Strategy, which was taken care of by my team members.

5. OPTIONAL NEXT STEPS
I would love to get hands-on experience in Sustainability and come back to Campus to share my learnings through club events or class lectures.