Last year, Neighborhood Business Initiative, a student-run consulting service at the Kellogg School of Management, provided high-level strategic assistance and support to 34 nonprofits and mission-driven businesses. Starting in June, we'll begin seeking partner organizations for the 2007-08 academic year.

What can we do for your organization?
We have worked on a variety of projects, and our experience has shown us that the most successful projects have been based on well-defined, strategic questions of high importance to the organization. Some examples include:

• Our nonprofit is considering a new revenue generating arm. Is it economically viable?
• Our organization is seeking new strategic partnerships. How can we make that happen?
• How do we redirect our fundraising efforts to target more corporate donors?
• We have limited visibility in Chicago . How could we better market our organization to the public?

As a consulting service, we are unsuited to implement fundraising plans, build donor lists, or other execution-oriented tasks. However, we will work with you to make sure that our recommendations are actionable for your organization.

What you can expect from us: •  An experienced and professional team : Your team will be comprised of 5-7 students with 4-5 years of diverse work experience, quality business training, and access to cutting-edge faculty and professionals. Team members commit to 3-5 hours per week to the project. •  Quality deliverables : In addition to regular updates and a mid-point progress report, most projects culminate with a detailed presentation of data and actionable recommendations. You and your project leader will determine the best format for the final product. •  Confidentiality : We recognize that we may access private materials through the course of the project. We value your trust and will maintain confidentiality during the project and beyond.

What we need from you: •  Organization contact person : The contact person should expect to spend 1-2 hours a week communicating with an NBI representative throughout the course of the project. In the ideal case, the contact person will be empowered to make strategic decisions for the organization. •  Clear project scope / expectations : We will work with you to define a project that is both feasible for the project team and high impact for your organization. •  Timely access to information : Given that the project is limited to only 10 weeks, any delay in information transfer will impact the quality of our work. We will work with you over the summer to identify likely information needs so that your organization will have time to collect materials in advance.

How do we get started?
Drop us an email or give us a call and let us know you're interested. We'll work with you over the summer to design a project that will meet your needs and fit within the time constraints of the program. In the fall, your project will be handed over to a Project Leader, who will lead the project.

Other Kellogg Resources for Non-Profits

• Currently, the Center for Nonprofit Management discusses ways that nonprofits can be involved with Kellogg students from their Web site.
• Non profits can also submit project proposals here so that Kellogg students can consider these proposals for various class projects.

Important Dates for Fall 2007 projects
•  Sourcing of projects for Fall begins: June 2007
•  Final projects selected: August, 2007
•  Projects kick-off: September, 2007
•  Projects completed: early December, 2007