Nonprofit-Related Activities at Harvard
Below is a preliminary list of student groups or activities taking place around Harvard which relate to the nonprofit sector or nonprofit studies.

As a part of its Student Engagement Initiative, the Hauser Center is looking to expand this list to being representative of the University at-large. If you know of a Harvard Student Activity which should be added to this list, please email: Laura_Johnston@harvard.edu.

Harvard John F. Kennedy School of Government (HKS)

Social Enterprise in Action (SEIA) - A professional interest council at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, SEIA aims to build awareness around social enterprise and provide students with the skills needed to lead socially responsible ventures by putting on lectures, workshops and networking events. SEIA seeks to help for-profit organizations think about ways to be socially responsible in their business practices, both philanthropically and operationally, and help non-profits organizations adopt best practice principles to help their organizations become sustainable. In addition, SEIA looks to the public sector to devise innovative incentives and strategies to encourage public/private partnerships and increase cross-sector collaboration.
www.hks.harvard.edu/kssgorg/SEIA

The Saguaro Seminar: Civic Engagement in America - The Saguaro Seminar develops tools and strategies for increased civic engagement in America. After three years of periodic meetings among a diverse group of leaders that included government workers, religious leaders, labor union activists, high-tech and business executives, elected officials and street workers, the Seminar published “Better Together” in 2000, highlighting promising strategies for civic re-engagement (www.bettertogether.org). The Saguaro Seminar has been developing metrics for social capital measurement, beginning with the Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey, in which 30,000 Americans were polled on their levels of civic engagement. From the Benchmark Survey, the Seminar undertook follow-up research on the connection between diversity and social capital.
www.hks.harvard.edu/saguaro

Harvard Business School (HBS)

Business and Environment Club - The mission of the Business and Environment Club is to educate future business leaders on the important relationship between business and the environment through exposure to careers, industries, organizations, leaders, and business models. Our members view the environment as a key element of current business operations and future business growth. The Business and Environment Club is ideally positioned to serve as a vehicle for identifying, understanding, and promoting innovative sustainability practices and environmental market opportunities within the business community.
http://www.studentclubs.hbs.edu/benv/index.htm

HBS Volunteers - The mission of the Volunteers is to inspire, organize, and facilitate community volunteer programs for members of the Harvard Business School community.
www.hbs.edu/mba/studentlife/clubs/volunteers.html

International Business and Development Club - The International Business and Development Club aims to advance the understanding of international business and development issues and to promote international career opportunities among members of the HBS community. The Club works with for-profit and nonprofit organizations with a mandate for international development. Upcoming activities include regular debate forums, talks by prominent speakers in politics and business, and treks to visit key development institutions. The Club also organizes regular socials with the Kennedy School of Government, Tufts: Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Harvard Law School, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. www.hbs.edu/mba/studentlife/clubs/internationalbusinessanddevt.html

Social Enterprise Board Fellows - The Board Fellows Program matches Harvard MBA candidates with the boards of directors of nonprofit organizations for eight month engagements. Fellows attend board sessions and relevant committee meetings while completing a strategic project for the board under the mentorship of the executive director or a current board member. Board Fellows work with the board to refine and develop the project scope, target key deliverables, conduct necessary analysis, and ultimately prepare recommendations for review.
www.socialenterpriseclub.com/boardfellows

Social Enterprise Club - The Social Enterprise Club (SEC) at Harvard Business School is a forum to develop and support career social entrepreneurs and public servants as well as socially responsible business professionals. Throughout the year, the group organizes many opportunities for students to meet and create connections with organizational leaders, other students, alumni, faculty, and administration engaged in social enterprise. It sponsors an annual Social Enterprise Conference, speaker engagements, a social enterprise business plan contest, alumni and nonprofit networking events, and other activities to educate and inform students of career options in social enterprise. The club also operates active affinity groups across a variety of issue areas and social impact practice areas--e.g. Education, Public Health, International Development, Arts Management, Corporate Social Responsibility, nonprofit Board engagement, and Effective Philanthropy. The club works with the Social Enterprise Initiative to support outreach to admitted students from social enterprise backgrounds and students pursuing careers and summer jobs in the social sector. With over 350 student members, the Social Enterprise Club is one of the largest and most active clubs on campus.
www.socialenterpriseclub.com

Volunteer Consulting Organization (VCO) - A student-run club which organizes and trains teams of students interested in offering consulting services to area nonprofit organizations. Interested nonprofits apply for assistance with specific projects and students bid on projects in which they are interested. Local consulting firms offer training and the VCO Team Excellence Award is given at the end of the year to the team exemplifying the club’s mission and who offer true value through their consulting assignments, helping our non-profit partners to better fulfill their own missions. Most participants are first-year HBS students; although, other Harvard graduate students can participate as well. www.hbs.edu/mba/studentlife/clubs/volunteerconsulting.html


Harvard Law School (HLS)

Advocates for Human Rights - For six years, the HLS Advocates have been working closely with the Harvard Human Rights Program in order to engage Harvard students directly in concrete advocacy projects both abroad and at home. As first-year students, it is often difficult to find meaningful, hands-on experience before your first summer internship. The amazing clinical opportunities that the Human Rights Program offers, unfortunately, are only available to second and third-year students. However, as members of the HLS Advocates for Human Rights, you can begin working with Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) partners and community organizations your first semester no matter what level of previous experience you possess! Hands-on experience is not all that the HLS Advocates has to offer. We are at the heart of a growing and vibrant human rights community together with the Human Rights Program and the Harvard Human Rights Journal. www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/advocates

Child and Youth Advocates - Child and Youth Advocates (CYA) brings together students interested in a wide variety of children's issues, including child welfare, juvenile justice, and education. They aim to heighten awareness and encourage discussion of these issues at HLS, facilitate student involvement with children and youth in Cambridge and Boston, and advocate for children's rights in various contexts. CYA organizes and coordinates volunteer activities with several children's organizations in the Boston area. Volunteers may help with one-time events or get involved on an ongoing basis. Through the Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) program, students advocate for the best interests of abused and neglected children involved in juvenile court proceedings. Serving as an educational advocate, tutoring a child in Cambridge public schools, or participating in conferences, panels or brown-bag lunch discussions with faculty are other ways in which students can become involved. CYA also works closely with HLS' Child Advocacy Program, which provides even more opportunities for students to engage in children's issues. In addition, students may find support to start their own projects. www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/cya

Religion, Conflict, and Peace Student Discussion Group @ PON – The Religion, Conflict, and Peace Student Discussion Group is composed of students from the Boston area who are interested in the broad topic of the role of religion in politics -- particularly in conflict regions throughout the world. The group has been meeting for six years to discuss cutting-edge topics on the intersection of religion, conflict, and peacemaking. Recognizing the many opportunities across Harvard's campus to hear formal lectures and speeches on this pressing topic, the student discussion group aims to create an intimate space for students, professors, visiting lecturers, and researchers to meet. This setting provides student members with a unique opportunity to learn from not only our speakers’ scholarly endeavors, but also their personal experiences and reflections on the topic. In addition to hosting events, the group has maintained a listserv to disseminate information to members regarding local events, conferences, or lectures related to the groups’ interests. We encourage all local students who share personal, professional, and intellectual interest in the broad topic to attend!
http://www.pon.harvard.edu/category/students/student-discussion-groups/

Student Public Interest Network - The Student Public Interest Network helps students connect with each other and with faculty and alumni who work in public interest. Public interest is defined broadly to include traditional nonprofits as well as government and international work. SPIN holds regular events focusing on community building and informal peer advising. SPIN also provides support for students who choose not to work at firms with our fly-out week parties, L-STAR funding program, and summer email lists. www.law.harvard.edu/students/orgs/spin

Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH)


For a listing of all Harvard School of Public Health Student Associations go to: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/administrative-offices/student-affairs/student-organizations/


Harvard Divinity School (HDS)


For a listing of all Harvard Divinity School Student Associations go to: http://www.hds.harvard.edu/osl/studentorgs.html

HDS Innocence Project Engagement Group - The Innocence Project is a national organization that works to reform the criminal justice system to prevent wrongful convictions and to exonerate the wrongly convicted using DNA testing. The Innocence Project's unique combination of science, law, and social justice has created a cohesive and powerful program for individual freedom and policy reform. The HDS Innocence Project Engagement Group will explore issues including religious life in prison, capital punishment, prisoner reentry, forensic science, and peace and reconciliation processes.
http://www.hds.harvard.edu/osl/studentorgs.html

Harvard Graduate School of Education (GSE)

Due to the length of the academic programs at GSE, Student Activities change year- per-year. The most current list of GSE student groups can be found at: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=hgse_osa&pageid=icb.page75097

Harvard College, Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS)

For a listing of all Harvard College Student Associations go to: http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k35461&pageid=icb.page195191

Phillips Brooks House Association - PBHA is a student-run, staff supported public service/social action organization at Harvard College providing a variety of services to the Greater Boston community. PBHA is often called “the best course at Harvard.” For more than a century PBHA programs have provided vital experiences for generations of leaders in service and activism, simultaneously developing real, meaningful community partnerships. The mission of PBHA is a joint one of social service and social action. We address this mission in myriad ways, from intensive summer youth programs to transitional assistance for the homeless. Over 1,600 volunteers participate in over 70 PBHA programs each year. Our programs work in various areas including adult education, advocacy and activism, afterschool, elderly, health, housing and homelessness, in-school, mentoring, teen, and summer camps. With professional staff support and advice, PBHA is a unique manifestation of college students’ idealism, energy, and initiative.
http://pbha.org/

Harvard Undergraduate Global Health Forum - HUGH Forum aims to provide the Harvard undergraduate community with a comprehensive view of global health issues alongside opportunities to actively address them through field work. HUGH Forum will (1) raise awareness in the Harvard undergraduate community of pressing global health challenges by using meetings as a forum to discuss these issues and disseminating information on pertinent world health topics; (2) provide undergraduates with an expert opinion on confronting global health challenges by hosting dinners, presentations, panel discussions, and conferences with notable experts in the field, both from Harvard faculty and NGOs; (3) engage students in global health field projects abroad under the umbrella of large NGOs, thereby realizing the volunteer potential of an informed Harvard student body; (4) connect undergraduates with the goals and programs of the Harvard Initiative for Global Health (HIGH) to aid in the training of future leaders in world health.
http://isites.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k35461&pageid=icb.page195191

Harvard College Global Health and AIDS Coalition - The Harvard College Global Health and AIDS Coalition (HCGHAC) believes that health should be a fundamental human right. Towards this end, HCGHAC strives to challenge and expand the role of both the university and individual students in addressing global health and development needs. Through collaboration with various parties, HCGHAC aims to: 1) Engage students in a growing movement for global health through education and awareness activities 2) Effect policy change through advocacy and activism, both on and off campus 3) Address local and global health needs through direct service and fundraising Through its initiatives, HCGHAC strives to build momentum for a social movement that seeks social justice, especially in pursuing health as a human right. HCGHAC hopes this movement will instill a lasting commitment to global health among members of the Harvard community, and empower these current and future leaders to carry out this commitment in their personal and professional lives.
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/hac/

Harvard College Global Hunger Initiative - The Harvard College Global Hunger Initiative works to address the underlying causes of the global food crisis by brainstorming and developing new agricultural models that can alleviate the recent food shortage, advance education, improve agricultural technologies, increase economic opportunity, and tackle the root challenges in agricultural sustainability. We advocate for policies that increase emergency aid to those affected by the hunger crisis, as well as long-term developmental programs in affected countries. We aim to have an agenda of both action and advocacy, bridging students from the undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools, as well as community members in Cambridge and Allston to alleviate global hunger. We are committed to helping families in poor communities improve their lives and achieve lasting victories over poverty. We pursue our mission with both compassion and commitment. With action as our priority, the Harvard College Global Hunger Initiative will focus on brainstorming and crafting actionable responses to challenges in agriculture, by focusing mainly on: (i) technology and innovation, (ii) public and economic policy, (iii) environment and its disproportionate effects on agricultural communities, (iv) education and the empowerment of women, and (v) access to clean and safe drinking water, which is often coupled with the scarcity of food. The Harvard College Global Hunger Initiative will do more than raise consciousness, it will provide substantive ways to engage students in brainstorming, developing, and testing models. Current solutions to alleviating the global food crisis has shown to be frail in recent years. We need creativity, novel thinking, and the bridging of disciplines to create sustainable models to tackle agricultural challenges.
Email: globalhungerinitiative@gmail.com

Global Initiative for Women's Empowerment - The mission of GIVE is to create a diverse, international network for organizations promoting women’s empowerment. Through this network, we aim to connect the Harvard student community to global initiatives for women including, but not limited to, women's health, political rights, economic empowerment, and ending domestic violence. GIVE aims to achieve this goal in three ways. First, GIVE will form and maintain, both online and in print, a searchable database of internationally-located non-governmental organizations (NGOs) actively working for the advancement of women and able to accept student interns. Second, GIVE will form and maintain an online and in-print journal of field reports from Harvard students who have worked for community empowerment abroad. Third, GIVE will work closely with selected NGOs dedicated to women’s empowerment, to facilitate funding search, grant writing, volunteer recruitment, website development, creation of internet-based document libraries, and effective use of available technology to increase NGO visibility. This student-NGO partnership will be a sustainable program to connect Harvard students to international work for women’s empowerment.
http://www.harvardgive.org

Cambridge Microfinance Initiative - The mission of the Cambridge Microfinance Initiative is, in a phrase, to help people help themselves. We give business training to hardworking people who are trying to make ends meet, and help them get small loans to start or expand their small businesses. We help them plan and execute their own business ideas so that they can realize their dreams of financial success and independence.
http://www.thecmi.org

Environmental Action Committee - The Harvard College Environmental Action Committee seeks to help achieve a sustainable world and protect the environment for its human and non-human inhabitants. To this end, the EAC aims to raise the consciousness of Harvard’s students to the effect of their own actions on the environment and to their status as stewards of this planet’s resources. We advocate specific changes at the campus, local, national, and international levels. Furthermore, we serve as a forum for discussion and a source of information on environmental issues. Finally, we seek to enrich our members through fun and fulfilling experiences. The Environmental Action Committee is divided into several subcommittees that function more or less independently, and deal with distinct issues - this is where the real action takes place. Weekly board meetings are open to anyone interested in guiding the organization toward the future, and frequent committee-wide events bring everyone together for a common cause or interest. Subcommittees include Earth Day, Environmental Justice, Sustainable Allston, Green Campus, and Enviro-Ed.
http://www.greencrimson.com