Continuing a tradition dating back to the earliest years of the school, students at the Yale School of Management (SOM) have raised more than $88,000 this spring to provide stipends to students who pursue summer internships in the nonprofit and public sectors, which often pay little to no salary. The monies raised by the student-run Class of 2014 Internship Fund will support 33 students this year, the school announced.
This year’s fundraising campaign included several events centered around the theme of “All for SOM and SOM for All.” “We all worked together to support the fund and to create the community that is Yale SOM,” Bukky Olowude ’14, co-chair of the campaign, said in a statement.
A Student Fundraising Week in February kicked off the efforts this year, raising more than $45,000. The week’s culminating event was a Star Search talent show held at a local nightclub, featuring 60 performers from the Yale SOM class and drawing a record 450 attendees. A second event, the Internship Fund Auction, raised the remaining $43,500. The three-day April event included both a silent auction and a spirited live auction. The live auction was hosted by Professors Keith Chen and Elisa Long, and about 250 people turned out – many in costume – at the New Haven Lawn Club to bid on items ranging from a weekend in a vacation home, a night’s stay at the Yale Club, a hiking getaway with fellow students and a month’s worth of free coffee at SOM’s student-run café.
Led by Tahira Rehmatullah and Sonal Singh, the fundraising team was made up of first-year students passionate about the Internship Fund’s mission. “The entire team worked tirelessly for months and demonstrated great leadership, persistence, creativity and commitment to the cause,” Singh said in a statement.
Learn more about the Yale SOM Class of 2014 Internship Fund.
