Newswise — First-year students from the Babson College Class of 2019 raised more than $20,000 for local social service agencies through the college’s award-winning Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship (FME) course that requires all first-year undergraduate students to start and run a business, and donate profits to charity.
In FME, students work in teams to invent, develop, launch, manage, and liquidate a business. Since 1999, all profits generated by FME businesses are donated to local community service agencies.
“Our first-year students embraced their yearlong immersion into the business world, receiving the appropriate business background and real-world context needed for all of their Babson courses – and their future career – while learning the importance of corporate social responsibility,” said Rob Major, Babson College Associate Dean and the director of the Office of Academic Services.
Student businesses have donated more than $470,000 to local charities since the start of FME program.
Classes of up to 40 students formed teams of 15, and Babson loaned up to $3,000 as startup money for each business. FME students were entirely responsible for coming up with the business ideas, the business plans, and were encouraged to think about how their businesses would meet a human need.
Student teams then partnered with local social service agencies to donate 80 hours of community service per team, while learning the value and importance of corporate social responsibility. At the end of the academic year, the FME businesses combined donated more than $20,000 in profits to charity.
Recipients of funding this year:
• Greater Boston Food Bank• Cradles to Crayons• Friends of the Homeless• Boys and Girls Club• Special Olympics• Community Servings• Habitat for Humanity• Hope and Comfort• One for Health• Emerald Necklace Conservancy• The Jimmy Fund• World Wildlife Fund• Mothers Against Drunk Driving• Polar Bears International• Luke’s Lights• National Forest Foundation
About Babson College
Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader of Entrepreneurship of All Kinds®. The top-ranked college for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value. Visit www.babson.edu
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