Social Enterprise Initiative

Summer Fellowship Program

Getting Started


HBS recognizes the benefits of the summer experience—both to the organization and to the summer associate. Leaders of past organizations indicate that our students have played a valuable role in tackling important business issues that utilize their analytic and strategic training. For students, the summer provides an important opportunity to apply skills and concepts of the MBA program and to learn firsthand of the rewards and complexities of working in social enterprise.

Process

Students secure a summer opportunity with a nonprofit organization, government agency, or social-value focused for-profit organization in the U.S. or abroad.

  • Organizations may reach students by posting positions through HBS Career Services
  • Students may apply for posted positions or find a job on their own

Students apply for the fellowship and must meet eligibility requirements and selection criteria for the application to be accepted. Students manage the application process, and work directly with the organization on necessary information, including a detailed sponsorship letter from the organization and the organization's IRS letter designating not for profit [501(c)(3)] status (if applicable).

Requirements

Any organization can hire an HBS student as a summer associate. For the student to apply for the Social Enterprise Summer Fellowship, the following requirements must be met:

  • The organization, located in the U.S. or abroad, must be: a government agency; a nonprofit organization with 501(c)(3) tax status (or overseas equivalent); or a for-profit organization whose mission and core activities have a direct social purpose. However, the Fellowship Committee will not approve positions with job responsibilities that are determined to be sectarian or politically partisan.
  • Projects must demonstrate the application of management skills and material covered in the MBA program
  • The employment should be for a full-time summer position lasting for ten to twelve weeks
  • The host organization is expected to pay a salary of $600-$1,000 per week
  • Note that the fellowship is primarily for students between their first and second year of the MBA program.

Note on Social Enterprise Start-ups: Applications from students starting their own social enterprise will be accepted on a limited, case-by-case basis. Please contact the Social Enterprise Initiative for more details on the information to include in your application.

Award Allocations

The goal of the fellowship award is to supplement the salaries students receive from host organizations to help support summer expenses at a level appropriate for that organization or country.

  • Students with salaries of $600/week or more from host organizations receive awards to bring a total amount to $1,500 per week.
  • Applications are accepted for review on a rolling basis and awards will be made on a funds-available basis. The Fellowship has approximately 78 open spots (exact number depends on award amount to students, which is calculated by number of weeks and weekly fellowship amount).
  • Review periods run from early-March to mid-May. Within this timeframe, later review periods will only be open if funds are still available.

Fellowship Background

Since 1982 the HBS Social Enterprise Summer Fellowship has provided supplemental funding to MBA students who choose to work in social enterprise during the summer. Sponsored by Harvard Business School, the Fellowship is funded by the School and alumni donors. The program has three principal goals:

  • To enable students to take jobs in enterprises that create social value, where their HBS training will provide significant benefits to the organization and the community it serves;
  • To expose students to the rewards and challenges of social enterprise management;
  • To enrich the HBS community and the quality of the MBA education by increasing the number of students with experience in the nonprofit and public sectors.

Past sites include ACCION, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Finance Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, International Rescue Committee, National Parks Conservation Association, New Profit Inc., Teach for America, and United Methodist Services for the Aging.