Program Overview
VISION
Volans envisions a global community of leaders where business innovation and social and environmental responsibility are integrated into their careers. Volans Year Participants and Alumni will be champions of innovative social enterprises that will pioneer and drive the new economy.
THE ISSUE
There is a segment of growing organizations in the social impact space with proven models that address social needs. However, the supply of professional management talent has not kept up with the pace of growth, unlike the supply of volunteers. In the survey “Growing Opportunity: Entrepreneurial Solutions to Insoluble Problems” put together by SustainAbility in partnership with the Skoll Foundation, one of the top 3 challenges that social entrepreneurs face is developing their organizations, with attracting talent (and the right kind of talent) as the key issue. In a survey conducted by the Guardian, the social entrepreneurship sector in the UK alone employed 40 million people, and relied on 200 million volunteers.
Without intervention, there will be a limit on the potential impact these organizations could achieve. The worst-case scenario would be organizations imploding as a result of mismanaged growth. With social entrepreneurship very much in the spotlight now, the stagnation or failure of such organizations would point towards a dim future as numerous stakeholders become disenfranchised by the promise of social entrepreneurship and innovation.
THE INTERVENTION
This intervention can be achieved by leveraging the rapidly growing interest of young professionals looking for more meaningful careers, especially in the current business climate.
Volans seeks to provide a holistic, supportive environment for these individuals to develop their capacity as leaders in this field, and importantly, allow them to envision a career path after the program. There are already a few organizations that provide project-based limited-term volunteer experiences on-the-ground with social enterprises or development agencies. However, such limited-term engagements cater primarily to participants who see those opportunities as a way to take a meaningful break in between jobs or while waiting for graduate school. Those who seek a real career transition are left on their own to find their next job at the end of such volunteer stints.
At the same time, limited-term projects that rotate volunteers into social enterprises do not provide these organizations sustained professional talent, but rather, often leave them to manage (or mismanage) ad hoc projects executed in short time periods.
THE PROGRAM
One Year. Lifelong Impact. Lifelong Change.
To build this community, we are launching Volans Year, a cutting-edge program that trains business professionals through one-year placements in high-caliber social impact organizations while enhancing their skills.
Participants work directly with social impact organizations to understand the challenges of leading and growing social innovations, while directly increasing the social impact of these organizations during their engagement.
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Volans Year is a structured one year program that:
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