Curriculum & Schedule

In order to receive a Certificate in Social Impact Consulting, you must successfully complete all six modules, for a total of 12.6 Continuing Education Units (CEUs), which is the equivalent of 126 contact hours.

The fully online program combines asynchronous instruction with six live bi-weekly online class cohort meetings via Zoom that are one-hour in length to facilitate cohort networking and discussions with special guests. Each module is two weeks in length within the 3-month program.

Module 1: Fundamentals of Social Impact Consulting: Consulting in, and on behalf of, the social impact sector is not only hard work, but it takes a set of integrated skills and a nuanced mindset. In this module, you’ll analyze the key ways in which this type of consulting is unique in order to become a consultant with purpose.

Module 2: Navigating the Lifecycle of a Client Engagement: The purpose of consulting is to identify and then solve a client’s challenge or activate an opportunity. In this module, you’ll learn more about the dynamic life cycle of a client engagement and how to navigate the complexities encountered while working in the social impact sector.

Module 3: Overcoming Resistance and Navigating Implicit and Explicit Power Dynamics To Earn Your Client’s Trust: Trust is an essential ingredient in effective social impact consulting. Power dynamics often lurk below the surface of client engagements. In this module, you’ll learn how to navigate these forces, overcome resistance, and achieve impact.

Module 4: Business Development: Effective social impact consultants not only help clients advance important missions, but are also savvy business leaders. In this module, you’ll learn and evaluate business development approaches to advance your consulting.

Module 5: Special Topics in Social Impact Consulting: Social Impact consulting brings with it many considerations that are unique: your sector, your orientation toward social justice, your personal vision, and evolving technologies. In this module, you’ll strengthen your own unique approach and consider a variety of special topics.

Module 6: Capstone: In this final module, you’ll synthesize the knowledge you’ve attained in this program through the creation of a capstone project that will strengthen your practice and ability to create change as a trusted advisor in the future.

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