2025

THE YEAR IN REVIEW

HBS Community Partners of Connecticut

Community Partner’s (“CP”) mission is to enable HBS alumni to promote excellence in nonprofit leadership in CT through pro bono consulting, education, grant awards, and related initiatives that provide a rewarding opportunity to work together to benefit our community. We recognize that our success depends on the efforts and contributions of our volunteers. We want to express our appreciation to the 58 volunteers who helped to make 2025 another successful year.

ALUMNI VOLUNTEERS

Apply your business skills and career experience to help local nonprofits tackle their management challenges and opportunities.

Nonprofit Partners

Explore our advisory offerings, both several month consulting projects and single evening brainstorming sessions, tailored to your organization's needs.

consulting-overview

Lee Barnes Memorial Scholarship for Nonprofit Leaders

For 20 years, CP has invited applications and granted scholarships to one or more CT nonprofit leaders to attend the Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management (SPNM) executive education program. This Executive Education course is an HBS Social Enterprise Initiative program that allows senior executives to examine their missions and develop strategies for the new global economy. It is an intensive six-day program taught by the HBS faculty. Over 150 nonprofit leaders worldwide, representing a wide range of nonprofit sectors, make up the student body. Over 27 of our state’s recognized best nonprofit leaders have attended this program and unanimously report that SPNM was the most “outstanding executive education experience of their entire careers.” This year we launched
a bi-monthly roundtable where past SPNM attendees reconnect, exchange ideas, and share both
challenges and best-practice solutions.

The 2025 Lee Barnes Memorial Scholarship for Nonprofit Leaders Recipients were Ilaria Filippi, LMFT, Executive Director of Clifford Beers Community Care Center in New Haven, and Monica Maccera Filipu, CEO of the Children’s Learning Center.


The Clifford Beers Community Care Center is a nationally recognized provider of trauma-informed mental health care for children, adolescents, and adults. They serve as the safety net for children and families in the greater New Haven area who cannot afford or gain access to private mental health care. The whole-family, trauma-informed, integrated model of care is designed to reduce chronic stress and build healthy and supportive connections.

Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County (CLC) is committed to providing early childhood education for all families, with direct services and programs focused on health, nutrition & family support for children 6 weeks to 5 years of age. As the second largest early childhood education provider in Connecticut, CLC has been a leader in developing and implementing high-quality and affordable early childhood education and care programs since 1902. The nonprofit agency is accredited by the
National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and has eight locations in Stamford.

HBS Community Partners plans to invite scholarship applications for the 2026 SPNM program in February. Please direct your questions to our Awards Committee  [email protected].

consulting-overview

Robert Whitby Turbo Award

The Robert Whitby Turbo Award was granted with the generous support of our lead sponsor DR Bank. The Turbo Award aims to catalyze or “turbocharge” a local nonprofit by launching a new initiative or improving an existing program. It is open to all Connecticut nonprofits.

We are thrilled to announce Generation S.O.S. as the winner of the 2024 Robert Whitby Turbo Award. This award helped S.O.S. create the Video Library Program featuring teen and young adult speakers of all socioeconomic backgrounds from across the country, sharing their stories about how they struggled with and overcame their challenges with mental health, social pressures, and substance abuse.

Congratulations also go to the Fairfield Museum and History Center, our runner-up, which will receive a special recognition prize for its inspiring contributions to preserving and sharing local history. This award helped Fairfield Museum and History Center’s new program to provide free hands-on educational field trips for Bridgeport students in grades 6-8.

DR Bank is a Connecticut state-chartered and FDIC member bank that offers a comprehensive suite of products and services, including fintech sponsor banking, commercial lending, commercial cash management, and digital banking throughout the region.

How We Help

CONSULTING

The demand for CP traditional consulting services throughout CT continued to be strong: we completed 15 consulting projects. Clients included agencies focused on empowering those in need with nutrition, housing, mental health, immigration, and self-sufficiency; providing crisis and supportive services for victims of domestic violence; preserving endangered species; and delivering fresh meat, vegetables, bread, canned goods, and boxed foods to food pantries. 2026 begins with 7 projects either underway or about to begin.

Brainstorming

Brainstorming sessions are ninety minutes long and designed to address a tactical challenge. Two agencies requested brainstorming sessions in 2025.

Working Sessions

In 2025, we held working sessions for three clients seeking to build board consensus on strategic issues, answer strategic questions on growth, identify

Robert Whitby Turbo Award

The 2024 Robert Whitby Turbo Award was granted to Generation S.O.S. A secondary award was granted to the Fairfield Museum and History Center. The Turbo Award aims to catalyze or turbocharge” a local nonprofit by launching a new initiative or improving an existing program. It is open to all Connecticut nonprofits. We are thankful for the generous support of DR Bank, which enables us to make this $ 20,000 grant.

Case Method Approach

In June 2025, HBS Community Partners (HBSCP) completed its second successful pilot of a new consulting format inspired by the Harvard Business School case method. This approach mirrors the dynamic classroom discussions at the heart of HBS pedagogy and continues to prove its value for both alumni participants and nonprofit clients. The client was the Andrew Shaw Memorial Trust (ASMT), which oversees scouting in Darien, Connecticut. In the face of nationwide declines in scouting participation, ASMT sought strategic guidance tailored to its local context. Four HBSCP team members created the case materials, and an additional 14 alumni joined the project to submit written recommendations and participate in the Zoom session.

Lee Barnes Memorial SPNM AWARD

CP awarded the 2025 Lee Barnes Memorial Scholarship for Nonprofit Leaders Recipients were Ilaria Filippi, LMFT, Executive Director of Clifford Beers Community Care Center in New Haven, and Monica Maccera Filipu, CEO of the Children's Learning Center.

OUR IMPACT

In 2025, 58 HBS alumni volunteers made significant contributions to strengthen the nonprofit community, sharing their business skills with leaders of local organizations. We worked for a total of 5000 hours of Pro Bono consulting and workshops, creating an estimated value of  $2.3 million. Out of the 20 clients benefited from our work, 100% said the projects had an impact, with 82% reporting significant or highly significant impact.  All of them said they would recommend CP to their non-profit friends.

impact

5000

HOURS

Pro Bono consulting and brainstorming projects .

100%

CLIENTS

Report Projects had impact with 82% reporting Significant or Highly Significant Impact

20

PROJECTS

Benefited from our pro bono consulting services.

58

VOLUNTEERS

Volunteered for pro bono consulting and Skills Gap Initiative activities.

Testimonials