Student consultants at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business often find their target audience staring at them in the mirror when they do market research for nonprofit organizations.
ChangeTheWorld.org, a pro bono consulting program launched at the school’s Center for Social Value Creation in 2006, reports an increased interest among nonprofit organizations in the Millennial Generation as the population segment grows up and goes to college. “Nonprofit organizations want to unleash the potential of this generation, and they are coming straight to the source for insights at the Smith School and other partner universities,” said Pammi Bhullar, program manager at the Center for Social Value Creation and ChangeTheWorld.org. “Essentially, they are asking college students to gather market intelligence on themselves.”