Alumni Programs

When you graduate from the Miller Center Accelerator, your journey doesn’t stop there. We continue to support alumni with high-touch, custom solutions that meet your evolving needs as your enterprise grows. 

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Supporting Social Enterprises to Scale

Following the curriculum and mentorship of the core accelerator program, Alumni Solutions are designed to accompany social entrepreneurs by offering supported deep dives into a range of growth areas through various formats. Objectives may center around direct, short-term investment goals, leadership development goals, organizational capacity-building goals, or a combination.

ORGANIZATIONAL CAPACITY

Close the Gaps in Your Business

Access custom mentorship, on-demand curriculum, university research, interactive webinars, and more to improve your business, impact, and financial models.

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LEADERSHIP

Develop Leadership Skills

Hone your leadership skills through one-on-one sessions with a Leadership Coach, or join a peer-to-peer Leadership Circle to process challenges together.

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INVESTMENT READINESS

Prepare to Access Catalytic Capital

For nearly investment-ready alumni who need to develop fundraising collateral and strategy, our impact investing team can help you prepare to access funding.

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Design a Custom Engagement

Whether you need a brand new marketing plan, a deep dive on impact measurement and management, or a 1-hour mentoring call to simply practice your pitch, we have a wide range of custom opportunities that meet you where you are.

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Join Us In-Person

Each year, we invite the highest-potential social enterprise alumni to apply for our In-Residence program at Santa Clara University.

We also host a number of in-person workshops and receptions globally throughout the year. Check out our monthly newsletter or the Alumni Opportunities page to see when we are coming to a city near you!

Check out opportunities

Share Your Story

Miller Center’s “Founders of Impact” podcast delves into the remarkable journeys of Miller Center Alumni founders who are redefining success by combining business innovation with a commitment to positive social change. Interested in sharing the origins of your social enterprise, strategies, challenges, and triumphs? Reach out to mc-alumni@scu.edu and subscribe below.

 

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Frequently Asked Questions

Most of our alumni solutions are designed for sustainable, scalable social enterprises whose stage of development falls within our “sweet spot” of post-revenue startups and early growth, and whose mission is centered around women’s economic empowerment, climate resilience, or both.

In order to apply for alumni opportunities and access a continued network of support, the social entrepreneur and their enterprise must:

  • complete our annual alumni survey to update us on their growth and progress
  • meet the individual requirements of the program, evaluated during the enrollment process
  • Check out our Alumni Opportunities page on Miller Center’s Community Platform for up to date opportunities.
  • Additionally, the Alumni Newsletter is sent the second week of every month, with updates on upcoming opportunities, interest forms and application links, recorded webinars, and featured alumni in the news. Email mc-alumni@scu.edu with any questions, or to share your news with us!

Miller Center Alumni can reach out to mc-alumni@scu.edu at any time to express interest in any of these opportunities below on a rolling basis.

  • Customized Project-Based Mentoring. Customized time-bound support in key areas most often requested by our entrepreneurs. These categories represent the experience and skills represented within our mentor network. Through a Bespoke Work Plan and scoping process, Miller Center staff and mentors collaborate with the entrepreneur to clearly define their needs and determine the scope and timing of the mentored engagement (3-6 months).
  • Curriculum-Based Mentoring. Formerly offered as discreet cohorts, some structured curricula (Impact Measurement and Management, Governance, and more) are available on-demand accompanied by mentorship for the qualified social enterprise. (3-6 months)
  • Ad Hoc Single or Limited Session Mentoring. For social entrepreneurs seeking a mentor’s help with thought-leadership, brainstorming, problem-solving, or second-opinions on business-related topics, Ad Hoc Mentoring offers direct one-on-one feedback in an “ask me anything” style call. (Limited to one 1-hour session. Can extend to additional sessions if both parties are aligned.)
  • Miller Center Lewis Family Fellowship. We recruit ambitious and enterprising teams of third-year undergraduate students who prepare a research proposal, gather data on-site, and provide consultancy-style reports for you and your team over 10 months.
  • Miller Center Internship. All undergraduate or graduate student internships are for a minimum of 3 months and are paid by Miller Center.
  • Santa Clara University Faculty Research. Miller Center Scholars represent an interdisciplinary group of faculty who are actively engaged in teaching, research, and service in social entrepreneurship.

“Our mentor helped us define and nail down concrete impacts. Now I have a dashboard to track financial and social impact metrics that I can share with investors and retail clients.”

Lucy Ashman
Lucy Ashman
Founder & Botanical Alchemist, Tierra & Lava, Guatemala