Harvard Business School and Ashoka University bring executive programme on strategic nonprofit management to India for the first time
Sonepat: Harvard Business School (HBS) Executive Education and Ashoka University’s Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy (CSIP), along with the Dasra Foundation, have successfully delivered the inaugural executive programme on Strategic Nonprofit Management in India. Designed for senior leaders from nonprofit organisations in South and Southeast Asia and Africa, the programme was spearheaded by V. Kasturi Rangan, Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing and cochair of the HBS Social Enterprise Initiative and Vikram S. Gandhi, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at HBS. The programme focused on establishing a mission and a disciplined approach to strategy, governance, and operations to help emerging leaders at the forefront of the not-for-profit sector drive meaningful social change. This five-day executive management programme was delivered from 31st- July-4th August at the Ashoka campus in Sonepat.
Commenting on the idea behind this course, Amit Chandra, Founder and Trustee, Ashoka University, said, “The Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy at Ashoka works to foster strategic philanthropy and help build capacity for social sector institutions. Our collaboration with Harvard Business School Executive Education is intended to create a unique programme that can equip senior leaders with skills to tackle the enormous challenges they confront and help drive sustained, high-impact social change across sectors. In our first offering of the programme, we were pleased to welcome participants from over 140 organisations who represent a great balance of sector, size, geography, and gender diversity.”
Inspired by HBS Executive Education’s successful Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management programme on the HBS campus in Boston, this programme was underwritten with financial support from Ashoka University and offered full scholarship for almost 60% of the participants.
V. Kasturi Rangan, faculty chair of Strategic Nonprofit Management—India said, “We have customized this course for India to address the need for planned strategy in this sector. The nonprofit sector in South and Southeast Asia is vibrant and growing, with more than three million organizations registered in India alone. We are confident that with proper focus on mission, strategy, operations, and governance, senior leaders in India’s booming nonprofit sector will have the potential to make significant progress in addressing diverse social challenges”.
The programme explored learning practices through research from HBS faculty, discussions with industry peers, and learnings from real-world case studies from successful global companies.