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USING BUSINESS SKILLS TO SUPPORT SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL CAUSES Spare Change
“The program provides a great opportunity to exercise some of the soft skills you need in the business world, and it teaches you how to be a better business leader,” explains Krysten Howey (MBA ’14). As part of a five-person team, Howey worked on the marketing aspects of the DCAC project and says everyone on the team was passionate about the cause — and about getting results. “Many times you feel like you have to choose between making money in the corporate world and changing the world,” she says. “This shows that you can do both. You don’t have to convince your company to change the world, but each person can take what they’ve learned at a company and use it to help someone else. It’s about giving your time to something you care about.”
The Cox MBA Nonprofit Consulting team tours the new DCAC facility, including the new Clothes Closet that supplies victims with clothes and toiletries.
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The SMU Cox School of Business has a strong history of developing leaders who create positive change. Alexandra Almaguer (MBA ’13) saw an opportunity to strengthen the campus organization Cox for Community by expanding it into a Net Impact chapter. Net Impact is an organization designed for students and business professionals who want to use their business skills to support various social and environmental causes. Almaguer and two fellow MBA students, Chris Cunningham and Alisa Livingstone, launched the Cox MBA Net Impact chapter last fall with 50 members, thereby joining a nonprofit community of 40,000 student and professional leaders in 300 chapters worldwide. “All of the nation’s leading MBA programs have a Net Impact chapter, so we knew this would make Cox more competitive,” Almaguer says. In February, they hosted an awareness week of community outreach that included building homes with Habitat
for Humanity, holding a bake sale that netted more than $1,000 for a West Dallas learning center and organizing a lunch to promote sustainability. Members also held a drawing for prizes ranging from SMU-branded items to a special “Breakfast with the Dean” event to further educate their fellow students about making a positive impact through volunteerism, conservation and environmental awareness. “SMU Cox is a school that is well positioned to give back to the community,” Almaguer points out. “And this generation is very likely to do that. Today’s students are looking for socially responsible, sustainable companies with a strong emphasis on corporate social responsibility. That’s something that is just as important these days as the company’s brand. It’s important for us to be able to give back.”
Cox MBA Net Impact members build a home with Habitat for Humanity.