2020 SIIF Fellow Stories: James Alvarez & Ashoka Africa
By James Alvarez
Editors note: This blog shares the experience of one of our 2020 SIIF Fellows in their impact internship. The Social Impact Internship Fund (SIIF) at McCombs supports MBAs who secure summer internships focused on social or environmental impact with organizations that otherwise would not be able to afford MBA salaries. The SIIF was established in 2016 through the joint efforts of Graduate Business Council and Net Impact. This award is entirely student-run and is made possible by donations from the McCombs community — students, faculty, staff, and alumni. To donate, click here.
I spent 2 months working with Ashoka, an international nonprofit that provides social entrepreneurs with a global support network and the necessary financial backing to implement proven grassroots solutions for the world’s most pressing societal and environmental challenges.
My work focused on the Africa Diamond — composed of the 4 regional offices across the continent (Southern, East, West, and Sahel). And while the entire team flexes and shifts in their roles to provide support for more 400 social entrepreneurs across Africa, one of the most critical areas of focus for the team (this year in particular!) is cultivating relationships and funding partnerships with industry-leading companies and philanthropic organizations.
I spent most of my time this summer focusing directly on these partnership development efforts — sourcing and vetting potential partner organizations based on alignment with Ashoka Africa’s mission and areas of impact, testing new approaches for targeted outreach to key stakeholders at prospects and tracking results, and writing proposals.
These day-to-day efforts culminated with the launch of a redefined approach for sourcing, vetting, and engaging with Ashoka Africa’s funnel of prospective funding organizations. To support this revised process for managing Ashoka Africa’s partnership pipeline, I also spearheaded efforts to increase individual ownership and accountability for partnership and fundraising activities by updating the regional team’s Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) and increasing visibility into progress by managing the team’s migration of prospecting efforts over to Salesforce.
The internship offered phenomenal visibility into the inner workings at one of the world’s leading nonprofits and I simultaneously gained a much deeper understanding of the impact funding landscape. I’m incredibly grateful for the unique and challenging learning experience this summer hitting the ground running while collaborating remotely with a team an ocean away. This opportunity has proven invaluable as I consider my life after my time at McCombs and it wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the SIIF.
