Social Entrepreneurship Certificate
The Social Entrepreneurship Certificate at the LBJ School of Public Affairs is an opportunity to transform your approach to social impact from the inside out, providing you with the knowledge and tools necessary to think like a social entrepreneur. Over the course of 8 months, gain insights from experts, practitioners, and peers on enhancing social impact within your organization and career.
As this is the inaugural cohort of the certificate program, there is no fee to participate. However, there is a competitive (brief) online application process.
The LBJ School’s RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service is underwriting the cost of this executive education certificate, which is based on the highly successful program originally funded and launched by Communities Foundation of Texas. This program is developed in partnership with Suzanne Smith of Social Impact Architects, a UT alum and Duke MBA, who crafted this experience specifically for working professionals.
Executive Education
Testimonials from former students in a similar certificate program:
“Suzanne is a phenomenal teacher who keeps the class engaged… we all had a shift in our preconceptions by the end of class.”
“This was a wonderful experience… it provided time to talk openly and hear about successes and failures.”
“I walked away from every session with new ideas and tools to immediately put to use.”
Program at a Glance
The Social Entrepreneurship Certificate offers a comprehensive curriculum designed to equip you with essential skills for driving social impact. Participants will develop a toolkit of best practices and skills in:
- Strategy Development
- Storytelling Techniques
- Methods for Measuring Social Impact
- Financial Models for Social Impact
- Ways to Scale
Meet the Instructors
Suzanne Smith
Founder & CEO of Social Impact Architects
Suzanne Smith has a deep belief that everyone is a change-maker. As a serial social entrepreneur, she strives to harness the powerful force of organizations, including nonprofits, foundations and socially responsible businesses, and individuals, especially students and young entrepreneurs, to maximize the potential of the social sector to create real, scalable impact.
In 2009, Suzanne founded Social Impact Architects, a registered Benefit Corporation, to reshape the business of social change. For her outstanding work as a leading thinker, she was recognized with the Next Generation Social Entrepreneur Award by the Social Enterprise Alliance. Since 2015, Social Impact Architects was recognized as one of the “Best for the World” small businesses by B Corp. Suzanne holds an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, where she was selected as the CASE (Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship) Scholar. Nationally, she was selected as a member of Peter Senge’s Society of Organizational Learning and has served on the national board of the Social Enterprise Alliance. She has advised many federal agencies on their efforts on social entrepreneurship and system change. Read more about Suzanne.
Program Details
When: 11 sessions between October 4th through May 30th | Fridays 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Where: LBJ School of Public Affairs, 2315 Red River Street, Austin TX 78712
Please note that no virtual option is available at this time. All courses will be held in person at the LBJ School.
Cost: The entire cost of this $2,500 certificate program is being underwritten by the RGK Center for Philanthropy and Community Service. There is no cost to participate in the program once selected. The application process is competitive and the total class size is expected to be around 50 participants.
Course Schedule
Class topics subject to change. Instructor details to be announced.
- Kick-off & Culture (Suzanne Smith): October 4th
- Strategy (Suzanne Smith): October 25th
- Storytelling (Suzanne Smith): November 22nd
- Design Thinking (TBA): December 20th
- Social Innovation (TBA): January 24th
- Social Impact Marketing (TBA): February 14th
- Social Impact (TBA): March 7th
- Social Enterprise (Suzanne Smith): March 28th
- Legal & Finance (Steve Birch): April 18th
- Scaling (Suzanne Smith): May 9th
- Corporate Social Responsibility (Suzanne Smith): May 30th
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the application process like?
There are 18 informational questions about you and your organization; also, a free-response section for you to share why you would like to participate in the program. Applicants have the option to include their organization’s financial statements, most recent 990, strategic plan, and/or annual report. Depending on the amount of interest, we expect to notify applicants in early September.
May more than one person from the same organization participate?
Given limited program space, the preference is for one person per organization to participate. If space is available, we will admit up to three people from the same organization.
How will you decide which participants to admit?
This inaugural program seeks to represent a wide array of experience in the social impact sector. We expect the program will have content that resonates to participants from multiple sectors and stages of their career.
How many sessions can I miss?
You can miss up to two class dates and still receive the certificate. If you miss more than two sessions, you’ll receive recognition for participating but not certification.
Other Questions? Contact the RGK Center at rgkcenter@austin.utexas.edu.