Today, I’m happy to share that Applied Wisdom for Nonprofits is partnering with Santa Clara University’s Miller Center for Global Impact.
This three-year partnership will focus on enhancing leadership development programming for social entrepreneurs who are addressing critical global challenges. Our mutual goal is to embed practical leadership knowledge directly into Miller Center’s proven methodology.
Together, we hope to reach some 500 social entrepreneurs, and up to 400 mentors across more than 100 countries, incorporating Applied Wisdom leadership principles into some of Miller Center’s core offerings.
Miller Center’s network of social entrepreneurs spans the globe, working on the frontlines of poverty alleviation, climate resilience, and women’s economic empowerment. During a guest workshop we hosted at last year’s Miller Center In-Residence program, we had the chance to meet some of these ambitious entrepreneurs. They discussed the management and leadership challenges involved with scaling their operations, including capacity building, distributed decision making, and employee recruitment and retention. These are exactly the types of challenges I address in my Applied Wisdom principles.
Our new agreement means that we will be serving this group of social entrepreneurs in a deeper way, supporting their leadership and giving them additional tools to achieve the impact they envision. While our training materials have reached more than 150 countries, we don’t often get to see the training in practice. This partnership with Miller Center will give us a front row seat, watching entrepreneurs adapt some of our leadership principles to their local cultural context.
The funding component of our partnership is important. In today’s challenging philanthropic environment, even successful organizations like Miller Center need diverse revenue streams to maintain and expand their programming. This partnership provides them with multi-year financial support, allowing them to plan strategically, rather than constantly fundraising for basic operations.
Perhaps most significantly, Miller Center gains the ability to offer their social entrepreneurs something unique: leadership development that’s specifically designed for mission-driven organizations.