Rhodes Fellowship Course in Social Entrepreneurship at Northfield Mount Hermon
This yearlong class, started in 2015 thanks to the generosity of William R. Rhodes ’53, is the cornerstone of NMH’s social entrepreneurship program. It is offered to eight to 10 selected junior “fellows” who start by sharing their own stories and hearing from and interacting with social entrepreneurs from a variety of fields.
Recent visitors include:
- Jessica Jackley, founder of pioneering microloan organization Kiva
- Sam Calagione ’88, founder of Dogfish Head,
proponent of “off-centered leadership” - Peter Barbey ’76, owner of The Village Voice
- Alisa Del Tufo, founder of the Threshold Collaborative
- Kate Hayes ’06, head of direct impact at Echoing Green
- Tanmay Rao, a recent graduate at Lawrenceville School, now scaling up his tutoring organization
- Dorothy Stoneman, a Macarthur “genius grant” fellow and founder of
Youthbuild - Skye Cornell, vice president of programs at Wholesome Wave
- Harriet Warshaw, executive director of The Conversation Project
In the second unit of the course, students form teams to practice developing and proposing a social enterprise connected to the local community in Greenfield. This practice phase helps students work through the intricacies of learning about community needs and founding an organization.
Later, students create new teams and build their own social enterprises, using experiences and knowledge gained from the rest of the course. A team of volunteers with varied backgrounds and expertise advises students. Proposals must be approved in principle and for funding by a board that considers the organization’s sustainability, financial plan, intended impact, and efficacy. The board also examines the need for the organization, potential competitors, the larger ecosystem in which the new organization will operate, and how students intend to measure their organization’s impact.
Throughout the year, students build critical skills including communication, reflection, and perseverance.
This yearlong class, started in 2015 thanks to the generosity of William R. Rhodes ’53, is the cornerstone of NMH’s social entrepreneurship program. It is offered to eight to 10 selected junior “fellows” who start by sharing their own stories and hearing from and interacting with social entrepreneurs from a variety of fields.
Recent visitors include:
- Jessica Jackley, founder of pioneering microloan organization Kiva
- Sam Calagione ’88, founder of Dogfish Head,
proponent of “off-centered leadership” - Peter Barbey ’76, owner of The Village Voice
- Alisa Del Tufo, founder of the Threshold Collaborative
- Kate Hayes ’06, head of direct impact at Echoing Green
- Tanmay Rao, a recent graduate at Lawrenceville School, now scaling up his tutoring organization
- Dorothy Stoneman, a Macarthur “genius grant” fellow and founder of
Youthbuild - Skye Cornell, vice president of programs at Wholesome Wave
- Harriet Warshaw, executive director of The Conversation Project
In the second unit of the course, students form teams to practice developing and proposing a social enterprise connected to the local community in Greenfield. This practice phase helps students work through the intricacies of learning about community needs and founding an organization.
Later, students create new teams and build their own social enterprises, using experiences and knowledge gained from the rest of the course. A team of volunteers with varied backgrounds and expertise advises students. Proposals must be approved in principle and for funding by a board that considers the organization’s sustainability, financial plan, intended impact, and efficacy. The board also examines the need for the organization, potential competitors, the larger ecosystem in which the new organization will operate, and how students intend to measure their organization’s impact.
Throughout the year, students build critical skills including communication, reflection, and perseverance.