More Details on the YP Book Event with Jacqueline Novogratz

We're so excited about next month's book event with Jacqueline Novogratz, particularly after devouring The Blue Sweater last week. We hope that you will be able to join us for this special evening - generously hosted by The Bubble Lounge - featuring a reading, Q&A, book-signing, mingling, and more.

When: Wed, May 13, 6:30-9pm
Where: The Bubble Lounge (228 West Broadway)
Cost: The event is free but space is limited. Arrive early!
Note: A percentage of the proceeds from the cash bar will benefit Acumen Fund.

Just to get you in the mood, watch a recent TEDTalks video of Jacqueline:

Save the date! Special event with Jacqueline Novogratz

Save the date! On Wednesday, May 13, Acumen Fund CEO Jacqueline Novogratz joins Young Professionals for Acumen Fund for a special reading of The Blue Sweater, followed by a Q&A and book-signing at Bubble Lounge in TriBeCa. More details coming soon!

The Origins of Young Professionals for Acumen Fund

Young Professionals for Acumen Fund co-founder Erica Dhawan (far left) writes about how YP got its start. Also pictured: Molly Alexander from Acumen Fund and Farhat Umar, YP's other co-founder.

In November 2007, while working Lehman Brothers, I cold-called Acumen Fund to find out if there were any opportunities to get involved. Because I was unable to volunteer full-time, I began to brainstorm with Acumen Fund's Molly Alexander about building a network of young professionals interested in social enterprise. With the help friends, we organized an event in June 2008 called “The Value Chain of Social Enterprise: How Young Professionals Can Get Involved," which attracted over 300 attendees. We then hosted our first fundraising event in October 2008, raising almost $4,000 for Acumen Fund.

YP is now a group of over 500 young people - bankers, consultants, entrepreneurs, marketers, designers, non-profiters, and students - who share a vision of collaboration in the fight against poverty. We see a broad vision for our future: integrating this group with our peer organizations and providing more opportunities for young individuals committed to creating change. I truly believe that social enterprise is the cause of our generation and I can't wait to see how YP evolves in the next few years.

Profile: Seth Nemeroff

Today we profile Seth Nemeroff, one of the leaders of Young Professionals for Acumen Fund. Seth has put his experiences as an equities and commodities trader to good use at a number of non-profit organizations and he's currently shifting his focus to more socially-minded ventures.

I've been an equities/commodities trader for more than 12 years and I have worked at a large trading firm, in a small partnership, and most recently for myself. Living overseas and being able to travel fairly extensively over the last few years has lead me to pursue a new career in sustainable development. I'm interested in how different fields, particularly health care, education, micro finance, and job creation, can use innovation and creativity to help solve some of the world's most intractable problems.

During this transition, I am helping with strategy and planning for Obala Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care access and distribution in West Africa; providing tennis instruction for kids with New York Cares; offering pro-bono consulting for Net Impact Service Corps; volunteeriing with Accion USA; and I am one of the leaders of Young Professionals for Acumen Fund.

For those of you who are interested in getting involved with non-profits but don't know where to start, I highly recommend attending some of the many social sector events in New York (or where you live). There's a Google Calendar of events on this blog but feel free to send tips about other social sector event to me at sethnem@yahoo.com and I will add them. (Please use the subject line "YP Acumen Event" so that I don't delete it!)

Job Opportunities

To put it lightly, we're in a period of great economic upheaval and I'm sure there are at least a few of us who are looking for a new job, perhaps even in a new field. Here's a brief run-down of three sites that might help you find openings at non-profits, NGOs, and socially-minded businesses:

HumanRightsJobs.com
HumanRightsJobs.com posts a range of domestic and international opportunities from internships to directorships. One opening we were tipped off to is the Manager Director for The Foundation for Tomorrow in Tanzania. Sounds like an amazing opportunity for the right person.

NextBillion.net
Acumen Fund's partner site, NextBillion.net, posts jobs that focus on "development through enterprise". The Total Immersion Program in Finance and Development sounded great to me as someone with a limited background in Finance. Did I mention it's in India?

Idealist.org
Idealist.org's mission is to "connect people, organizations, and resources to help build a world where all people can live free and dignified lives". I just did a quick search of opportunities in New York, NY and it generated over 1400 postings. It's a great place to start if you're flexible about what you want to do next with your career.

What other sites and resources are you using to learn about job opportunities? Please share in the comments!