IT'S A NEW GAME

EDUCATION REPORTER

When Amanda Minuk began business school in the fall of 2007 the economy was in high gear and the Toronto native had her sights set on a marketing job with a major corporation.

But halfway through her MBA at University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management, reality got in the way in the form of the biggest market meltdown in decades.

That's when some innovative philanthropy came into play that is allowing Ms. Minuk and seven of her Rotman classmates to use their newly learned talents at non-profit organizations with half their salaries covered by a new fellowship program.

"I never really thought I'd end up in the non-profit field," said Ms. Minuk, who is spending a year as a marketing adviser for Right to Play, a humanitarian organization that works with children in 23 countries. "I definitely thought about other jobs, but when this came along I couldn't pass up the opportunity. This is a unique way to work for a really cool organization."

The opportunity was made possible by a $750,000 donation from Sonia Labatt, who saw in the slumping economy a chance to put new graduates to work at organizations that might not otherwise be able to afford their expertise. The match-making experiment also introduces the graduates to a field they may not have considered, given the allure of six-figure salaries and the need to pay off student debt.

"This is a way to get their knowledge into the ranks and introduce students to the not-for-profit world," explained Ms. Labatt, who crafted the program with the help of Rotman dean Roger Martin. As a board member of the World Wildlife Fund of Canada and a researcher who has examined corporate environmental management, Ms. Labatt said she saw the benefit of pairing business grads with non-profit groups.

Her donation will provide three years of seed funding for the program, with the fellowship covering half of the $60,000 salary paid to each of the eight graduates who take the 12-month placements.

Ms. Labatt hopes her example will encourage others to support the fellowships beyond the three-year pilot.

Jeff Muzzerall, director of Rotman's career centre, sees the program as a worthwhile initiative in good and bad years. While most students are anxious to pay off their loans quickly and find it hard to turn down a well-paying offer, he said increasingly graduates are looking for meaning as well as money. To help encourage them along, the school has agreed to cover the interest payments on their student debt as part of the fellowship.

About 5 per cent of the school's sizable alumni network are working at non-profit organizations, in fundraising or in the public sector, Mr. Muzzerall said.

Three months after graduation, 83 per cent of this newest graduating class had jobs, compared with about 90 per cent in an average year. The fellowships drew about 15 applicants for each post, Mr. Muzzerall said. That's a far cry from the 60 or 70 students who applied for management consulting postings, but he said it still shows an openness to considering the non-profit sector.

The real test, Mr. Muzzerall said, will be how many of the students who take the fellowships go on to other jobs in the field.

For Ms. Minuk, the job at Right to Play, while not in her original plans, is not that much of a stretch, either.

Although she worked for a real estate company before going to business school, her undergraduate degree from McGill is in international development and psychology and she has always been interested in sports and organizing events.

"A lot of people when I told them said, 'That's a good fit for you,' " she remembers.

What she will do when her fellowship ends next summer is still up in the air.

"I'll wait and see where the economy is then," she said.

"Working here has provided me with a lot of perspective. I realize now more than ever that a job really goes beyond the title you have and what industry you are working in. It is really about the fit between you and the organization," she said. "I am now looking for a job where I believe in what I do so I can be passionate about it."

And she had a message for Ms. Labatt: "Tell her I say thank you."