Building Nonprofit Capabilities to Continue Growing After Starting with COVID-Driven Demand

This paper summarizes the Spring 2023 results of students enrolled in an MBA Capstone at Molloy University’s School of Business. During an immersive 7-week semester, students in this online synchronous class worked in teams to address needs presented by the Founder and Executive Director of Elite Community Foundation (ECF), a young nonprofit organization based in Laurelton (Queens County), New York. The start-up organization had high demand for its services and programs during the COVID-19 pandemic which coincided with its start. With the worst of COVID behind us, ECF turned to Capstone for help building capabilities to help it grow strategically. Challenges and opportunities were aggregated into two projects: (1) fundraising ideas, opportunities, and pitches; and, (2) a social media strategy with tactics. Teams delivered recommendations in a business report and presentation at the end of the semester. Recommendations were grounded in academic and industry research, and featured implementation plans, projected results, potential risks and mitigation efforts, and more. Students pursuing degrees at Molloy’s School of Business are required to complete a Capstone course in their final semester or year. The course pedagogy involves the flipped classroom with community engagement to deliver an experiential learning opportunity.