Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Babson College First-Year Student Entrepreneurs Raise More Than $20,000 For Charity

  • 09/22/16

WELLESLEY, MA – First-year students from the Babson College Class of 2019 raised more than $20,000 for local social service agencies through the college's award-winning Foundations of Management and Entrepreneurship (FME) course that requires all first-year undergraduate students to start and run a business, and donate profits to charity.

In FME, students work in teams to invent, develop, launch, manage, and liquidate a business. Since 1999, all profits generated by FME businesses are donated to local community service agencies.

“Our first-year students embraced their yearlong immersion into the business world, receiving the appropriate business background and real-world context needed for all of their Babson courses — and their future career — while learning the importance of corporate social responsibility," says Rob Major, Babson College associate dean and the director of the Office of Academic Services.

Student businesses have donated more than $470,000 to local charities since the start of FME program.

Classes of up to 40 students formed teams of 15, and Babson loaned up to $3,000 as startup money for each business. FME students were entirely responsible for coming up with the business ideas and the business plans, and were encouraged to think about how their businesses would meet a human need.

Student teams then partnered with local social service agencies to donate 80 hours of community service per team, while learning the value and importance of corporate social responsibility. At the end of the academic year, the FME businesses combined donated more than $20,000 in profits to charity.

About Babson College
Babson College is the educator, convener, and thought leader of Entrepreneurship of All Kinds®. The top-ranked college for entrepreneurship education, Babson is a dynamic living and learning laboratory where students, faculty, and staff work together to address the real-world problems of business and society. We prepare the entrepreneurial leaders our world needs most: those with strong functional knowledge and the skills and vision to navigate change, accommodate ambiguity, surmount complexity, and motivate teams in a common purpose to make a difference in the world, and have an impact on organizations of all sizes and types. As we have for nearly a half-century, Babson continues to advance Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® as the most positive force on the planet for generating sustainable economic and social value. Visit www.babson.edu.

Featured

  • Missouri K–12 District Cuts Ribbons on Two New Middle Schools

    Springfield Public Schools in Springfield, Mo., recently celebrated the completion of two new middle school facilities with ribbon-cutting ceremonies, according to a district news release. The district officially opened the new Pipkin Middle School and Reed Academy on Sept. 3, both of which were funded through the $220-million Proposition S bond program approved by voters in 2023.

  • University of Rochester to Break Ground on New Student Life Center

    The University of Rochester in Rochester, N.Y., recently began construction on a new Student Life building, according to a news release. The first floor will contain campus-wide gathering, program, and rehearsal space; the second floor will play home to the Greenbaum Center for Jewish Life.

  • TCU Marks Campus Expansion Milestone

    Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, recently held a topping-out ceremony to mark progress on a major campus expansion effort including four new residential facilities and a five-story parking garage, according to a news release.

  • Q&A: How to Prevent Kitchen Grease Fires in Commercial Kitchens

    School cafeterias and university dining halls serve thousands of meals daily, relying on high-heat equipment like fryers, grills, and ovens. While these operations keep students fed, they also generate significant grease-laden vapors. Without proper controls, this grease becomes a silent fire threat. As a certified exhaust cleaning specialist and business coach who has helped hundreds of institutional facilities achieve NFPA 96 compliance, I emphasize that proactive grease management isn’t optional; it’s a core fire/life safety practice.