If there’s one criticism that I often hear about the non-profit world, it’s that they’re plagued by inefficiency. It’s certainly not true across the board, but taking the profit motives out of an organization can certainly create efficiency issues. Additionally, things like organizational structure, egos, and political agendas can disrupt for-profits and non-profits alike. Root Cause is a Cambridge, MA based non-profit strategy consulting service that “envisions a world in which the public, private, and nonprofit sectors work together to invest and re-invest in the most efficient, effective, and sustainable solutions to social problems.” In other words, they want to find the absolute best way to solve the world’s social problems, and then work with social innovators and social impact investors to make things happen.
Beyond consulting, Root Cause has 5 other initiatives: Knowledge Sharing, Social Impact Research, InnerCity Entrepreneurs, Social Innovation Forum, and Public Innovators. Each of these initiatives is focused on achieving Root Cause’s values:
- Focus above all else on the social problem being addressed, regardless of organizational structure (government, for-profit, nonprofit), ego, or political agenda.
- Take a rigorous, thoughtful, and creative approach to work that integrates a broad range of perspectives.
- Strive to integrate practice, applied research, and public policy.
- Take an entrepreneurial, goal-oriented approach to work, with a commitment to integrity, diversity in all forms, and learning by listening, acting, and on-going self improvement.
- Collaborate to support new and existing systems, institutions, and infrastructures in order to provide all types of organizations with access to the information, capital, and tools they need to develop enduring solutions to social problems.
It’s a refreshing approach that sounds like it has the potential to truly change the way non-profit work is done. If you agree, you’ll probably want to check out Root Cause’s Internships page as well as their internship postings on Idealist. The internship currently posted on their Internships page has passed the application deadline, but there’s a new posting on Idealist for a Public Innovators Intern. The application deadline is June 8th at 5 PM Eastern Time, so send them a cover letter and resume fast! The application instructions are a bit complex, so be sure to check the full description out so that you do it right. By the way, the internship is unpaid.
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Tags: Cambridge, consulting, innovation, Internships, non-profit, research, unpaid
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