Find out how a ragtag team of young professionals empower over 300 students across the country to give back to their communities in over 15 locations across America

1. 1
Reflection on Our Virtual Model
Many people who first hear about Consult Your Community are impressed by the rapid rate of growth we achieved of building 15
university chapters in 6 months. The natural follow-up question is often amazement or incredulity at how a team of remote volunteers at
the national level can manage operations. The bullets below synthesize the reflection of the CYC team in answering why we believe our
model works and the surprising benefits we discovered along the way.
~90
small
businesses
in an
academic
year
Approximate
hours of yearly
pro bono
counsel
dedicated to
directly helping
small businesses
Volunteers
across the
country 25K+300+
Number of
plays on our last
Community
Voice Podcast
11.5K
University
chapters
founded
within 6
months
15
3
Strategic Pilots Executed:
• MBA Mentorship Program
• $2000 Crowdfunded Microfinance Pilot
• Virtual Engagement with one of
America’s oldest textile mills

2. 2
NonprofitMarket GapsCYC FillsPerception EXAMPLES of NATIONALIMPACT
Surprising amount of impact in spite of a non-traditional work structure
• Within about 2 weeks of being given the feedback from our student
leaders that national should conduct national training for all
members, we mobilized professionals from McKinsey, PwC,
Deloitte, Bank of America and Bridgewater to create 12-hours of
training content and delivery available for all members in spite of
us all having full-time jobs.
• To vet only the best and most committed student chapter leaders,
we conduct a semester-long interview and incubation pilot for new
university chapters applying for consideration
• Increasing social media presence on LinkedIn (5x), Twitter
(60x) in 2 weeks
Limitations of
flexible work
schedule
Belief that Impact Should Carry More Weight than
hours alone: People are still accustomed to the 40
hour workweek as the workplace norm, when it is
estimated that productive hours are a fraction of that
number.
The National leadership team, while in their twenties, has taken on
roles in some of the hardest industries to break into (consulting,
banking, hedge funds, etc.) and as part of their jobs have had to
build and break apart budgets and complex financial models,
work with executives, and facilitate global implementations for
Fortune 100 companies.
Skill Gap of
Younger
Founders
While tales of young
millennial startup
founders abound, the
perception of the skills
gap of younger leaders
still persist, thus
creating the need for
leadership development
programs and
mentorship.
Professional Jobs as Leadership Development:
Though skewing younger, the nonprofit talent pool’s
age structure resembles an inverted pyramid with
leadership positions of larger organizations often taken
by senior leaders, which adds to the organization’s
credibility. However, our group has found that our full-
time jobs have taught us intellectual rigor, discipline,
and leadership in an intensive way. Consequently, we
find what doesn’t work in the private sector and
build a better solution for our nonprofit. We take
what works and make sure those best practices are
applied.
Consult Your Community has contributed to increased civic
engagement in college graduates. We have found committed
National volunteers serving in the nonprofit for 2-3 years after
graduation, where most people after college limit volunteering to point
in time events as opposed to chronic engagement.
Untapped potential in the private sector: Many
talented students go into the private sector because of
the perceived professional development opportunities
in the private sector relative to the nonprofit sector.
Giving them a means to stay involved increases the
talent pipeline.
The impact of the National team on governance is clear: There
has been an increase in chapter longevity since a formal National
team was put in place. (Before formal incorporation as a nonprofit,
there was a year where no National oversight team was formally put in
place and operations were very decentralized. The number of active
chapters went from 15 to 8 during this time.) Within a year of the
National team’s involvement, that number increased back to 15 and
chapter longevity went from an average of about 1 semester to 1-2
years, and this figure continues to increase.
Emphasis on Data: There is a rigorous impact on
collecting and interpreting reliable data. Avoiding a
“data rich and information poor” mentality means
acknowledging that some data collected may be
suspect and ascertaining what can reasonably be
concluded.

3. 3
Perception of
limitations in the
virtual model of
oversight
The Adoption of Virtual Working is Limited: While
the tech industry has embraced the “work from home”
movement, other industries are still skeptical of the
virtual model as a means for leadership and oversight.
Reliance on Large Volunteer Corps with Virtual
Support is practiced by some established
nonprofits: What our volunteers discovered in talking
to leaders like Oliver Libby (The Resolution Project,
rated Platinum Seal of Transparency on GuideStar)
who similarly employ a virtual model for aiding high
school students to start entrepreneurial ventures is
that a virtual, large, and fluid talent pool of mentors is
a viable support structure.
Enabling digital to disrupt the way we work:
Our team finds creative ways to use texting, phone calls, and Skype to
maintain constant communication channels and build rapport with
student leaders.
• Our Chief Operating Officer has weekly 1:1 conversations with
student leaders.
• The National Board has monthly conversations collectively with all
15 chapter presidents.
• The National Board maintains triage trackers on University Chapter
health and chapters agree to adhere to the documented 50 page
SOP covering everything from leadership elections to client
engagement principles.
Actual client engagements are currently done face to face
• We care about going above and beyond for our clients. Client
recruitment, selection, engagement execution, and feedback
review is conducted face to face. Positive feedback is witnessed by
our clients writing recommendation letters for their students to us,
sharing feedback on our podcasts, and writing positively on our
social media channels.
• As we communicate to student leaders, the National team reserves
and executes the right to follow up virtually with clients to assess
impact.
• We are revamping our client feedback system through a new
website because we care about feedback.
NonprofitMarket GapsCYC FillsPerception EXAMPLES of NATIONALIMPACT