Play it Forward

^_Building a business is like building a toy castle.

It may look like a mess of multi-colored blocks scattered across the floor, but a dreamer sees something so much more. Slowly but surely, the blocks are assembled one by one, taking shape into something grand.

The castle’s foundation is a captivating array of colors built into something sturdy and strong. The potential of everything that can be built up from this foundation is limitless, and a vision of what the castle could be stretches on beyond the dreamer’s wildest imaginations.

But what of the blocks that are used to build it up? There is the wonky triangular piece of financial management, the cylinder of strategic planning and the archway of clientele meetings. The dreamer can’t quite find the place where these pieces would fit, so they may call for help from a friend.

In Bauer College’s Sales for Social Impact (SSI) course, students learn everything that can’t be taught in a classroom: the empathy of business.

Students get valuable hands-on experience with local nonprofits that have a dream and all the building blocks to make castles in their communities and learn the empathy needed for sales and client meetings.

SSI, founded in 2011 with initial funding from 3M, pairs A.R. “Tony” and Maria J. Sanchez Program for Excellence in Selling (PES) students with nonprofit organizations that need strategic, operational and fundraising support.

The students helped GiGi’s Playhouse Sugar Land staff connect with programs like ShopRaise and Walmart Spark Good, created a full donor engagement plan, and compiled a list of potential corporate partners. One student even facilitated a connection with H-E-B that resulted in multiple donations.

"They didn’t just come up with good ideas. They started the relationships and handed us the baton," said Chris Keenan, Program Coordinator at GiGi’s Playhouse Sugar Land. “It felt very symbiotic. We taught them who we are, and they showed us new ways to grow.”

As the project moved along, volunteers and staff started to see the change in the students’ demeanor.

“It was inspiring to watch their growth. At the beginning, their professor had to nudge them to ask the right questions,” Keenan said. “By the end, they owned their ideas and were pitching like pros.”

As students reached the end of the course, something clicked. What started as a course and a project started to turn more personal.

"There weren’t many dry eyes in the room," Norra said of the final presentation. "You could tell they weren’t just presenting for a grade, they believed in what they were saying."

Even after the course was over, one student, Bilal Fadhil, returned to participate in GiGi’s Playhouse Sugar Land annual fashion show fundraiser, walking the runway alongside a young participant, showing that the work doesn’t end when the semester is over.

"This course helped me develop my confidence and my calm," Baker said. "I’ve always been a good presenter but presenting to a board was a new level. I learned to prepare, to lead and to own the work."

By the time students complete the course, they’ve done more than build strategies for a client — they’ve built colorful castles for causes that matter to them.

As Norra puts it: "These students did high-class, professional work. They weren’t just checking boxes for a grade. You could tell these students really understood who we are and cared deeply.”