Toronto – As non-profit and charitable organizations across Canada struggle to stay afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic, a team of five MBA students from the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management is offering support and advisory services through the school’s sustainability and social-impact consulting firm, NeXus Consulting Group.
A recent survey by Imagine Canada shed light on the particularly harrowing situation facing the country’s charitable sector. The survey of 1,458 leaders of charities indicates that 69% have experienced declines in revenue, more than double the number that experienced declines during the 2008/09 recession. It is estimated that charities have already laid off 37,000 full-time and 46,400 part-time staff, and nearly one in five has suspended or ceased operations. To succeed during this critical period, non-profit organizations are being forced to adapt programming to support physical distancing, redesign fundraising and philanthropy efforts, and revisit short- and long-term strategic plans.
“Despite heightened funding constraints during the COVID-19 crisis, many social impact organizations are being called on to deliver more services than ever. NeXus is uniquely positioned to support boards and management teams with practical, cost effective consulting solutions to meet the challenge,” said John Visser, chair of the NeXus advisory board.
Since its inception in 2005, NeXus has delivered tailored solutions for organizations in the not-for-profit and social enterprise sectors with a focus on economic, social, and environmental sustainability for long-term success. Every year, a diverse group of students in the second year of the Rotman Full Time MBA program is selected to join the NeXus team though a highly competitive process.
This year’s consultants, Afton Hiscox MBA ’21, Julian Torres Cabra MBA ’21, Divya Jain MBA ’21, Kunal Sajdeh MBA ’21, and Katerina Tourkot MBA’21, draw on diverse professional experiences in the private and public sectors in Canada, and internationally, to help solve the challenges facing their clients.
Offering competitively priced, fee-based consulting services, NeXus supports a broad range of client needs, including business planning and start-up assessments, market research, scaling initiatives, financial modeling, technology implementation, customer insights, and social impact measurement. As part of the Rotman School of Management, NeXus leverages direct access to the school’s world-class faculty research, cutting-edge education centers, and premium industry databases to deliver meaningful insights to its clients.
NeXus serves clients across many different industries, with current and past clients including: Royal Ontario Museum, Centre for Social Innovation, SickKids Hospital, Plan International Canada, and Evergreen Brick Works. For more information about the NeXus Consulting Group, visit http://inside.rotman.utoronto.ca/nexus/.
The Rotman School of Management is part of the University of Toronto, a global centre of research and teaching excellence at the heart of Canada’s commercial capital. Rotman is a catalyst for transformative learning, insights and public engagement, bringing together diverse views and initiatives around a defining purpose: to create value for business and society. For more information, visit www.rotman.utoronto.ca.
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For more information:
Ken McGuffin
Manager, Media Relations
Rotman School of Management
University of Toronto
Voice 416.946.3818
E-mail mcguffin@rotman.utoronto.ca