Country: United States

Organization: New Sector Alliance

Idea: The status of bottom line-driven corporate leaders as the chief models of professional success has not been a permanent fact of American society, but has developed over the last several decades. Currently, the large majority of promising students aspire toward this type of bottom line achievement not because they think it is right, but because it is what is expected of them. We work to undo this circumstance of society and to develop leaders who look beyond this expectation. Through our program, students complete high-level volunteer projects which demand significant personal investment in a community cause. After they leave our program, participants make career decisions deeply informed by the investments they have made in the community.

How do you do it: First, we recruit and train university students and professional consultants to help nonprofits identify and capitalize on strategic opportunities to better serve their communities. Students, consultants and nonprofit managers work in teams to bring their unique skills and perspectives to a given challenge. Second, we build partnerships with universities to ensure academic credit and support. Third, we maintain long-term relationships with nonprofits to ensure top management involvement in all projects. By actively linking the social, academic and business sectors to shape students and professionals at the same time, New Sector equips and inspires its participants to make decisions that are informed by the interests of their community.

Innovation: Our model provides a unique platform for the type of highly engaged, hands-on volunteer experiences that are most likely to shape the personal ambitions of young people. Because we enable young people to invest their brains, as well as their hearts and bodies, in the strategic vision of a community-based organization, New Sector inspires a strong attachment to both the client organization and to the community in which the organization operates. By helping them understand that they can be agents of social change - by making the community vision partially their own - we inspire participants toward lifelong involvement in the social sector and toward more socially conscious decision making within their businesses and communities.

Impact: During a New Sector engagement, students receive ongoing mentorship and support from professional consultant coaches and advisors. By working together with the staff of nonprofit organizations, these students and professional consultants develop a greater understanding of the challenges that exist in the community in which the nonprofit organization operates, as well as their responsibility to confront these challenges. Further, the universities we work with draw students from across the nation and around the globe. As they return home or move on to new geographies, our graduates bring this awareness and sense of duty with them, enabling them to think more clearly about the social and ethical ramifications of their future decisions.

Ethical Action: While our program does not attempt to teach right from wrong, we seek to inspire participants to act according to what they feel is right. New Sector participant Neil Cantor says it best: "My experience with New Sector impacted my life without a doubt.... [It] was one of those 'Aha!' moments. It made abstract things concrete. I saw what it was like to be able to do something good at a grassroots, hands-on level.... [I worked with] dynamic leaders who were inspirational and motivational. They thought they were going to change the world and were smart and organized about how they were doing it. I wanted to be like them!" In June of 2003, Neil incorporated is own nonprofit to address pressing technological issues in the developing world.

Replication: Because the institutions with whom we partner (universities and global consulting firms) already do business in virtually all markets that we could potentially enter, the infrastructure for our expansion is already in place. In order to use this infrastructure to expand our program, we are working to formalize relationships with partners and link up with clients in these additional geographic areas.

Sustainability: In September 2004 New Sector Alliance began charging modest fees to its clients for the consulting services we provide. Through our pilot program we have found not only that these fees support the long-term financial independence of our model, but that they encourage a higher level of self-investment by all program participants. What's more is that because each program site operates as its own self-sustaining business unit, expansion does not put financial stress on the organization.

Position in the Ethics Mosaic of Solutions:

Factor: Ignorance of consequences

Principle: Revealing common ideals, principles, and language