Despite Georgetown’s wide array of student groups, Neil Shah (MSB ’10) felt something was missing this year – a club for those passionate about non-profit work.

Shah’s newly formed non-profit, Compass Consulting, seeks to fill this gap by bringing students together with other non-profit organizations.

“We are students who are trying to connect non-profits with college campuses through creative fundraising methods, networking events and awareness-building,” he said.

Created a few months ago, Compass Consulting is now comprised of eight board members and seven volunteers, according to Shah. Its central focus, Shah said, is “empowering students to create systematic change.”

Shah said he was inspired to start the program because the McDonough School of Business does not offer a non-profit management major.

Compass Consulting’s first project is a joint venture with the Fabretto Children’s Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to relief efforts in Nicaragua. The Fabretto Project, as it is called, will sponsor Nicaraguan children.

Fr. Otto Hentz, S.J., an associate professor of theology and the Jesuit sponsor of Compass Consulting, said that the new campus group aims to get students closely involved in the Fabretto Children’s Foundation’s work.

According to Hentz, the foundation was established by Kevin Marinacci (CAS ’89), who traveled to Nicaragua for a year after his graduation with other volunteers from Georgetown to work with the poor as a part of a program directed by Hentz. During that year, Hentz said, Marinacci worked with Fr. [Rafael Maria] Fabretto, who managed a few small orphanages for kids from the streets of Managua, Nicaragua. Marinacci remained in the country after Fabretto’s death in 1990 to develop the foundation which helps over 5,000 children.

“When I first got to Nicaragua 20 years ago, it was hard to know what these kids would eat each day,” Marinacci said. “If it weren’t for the Georgetown network, I doubt we would be around today.”

According to Shah, Compass Consulting plans to solicit donations from university residence hall floors for the sponsorship of Nicaraguan children next semester. Shah said that the collected funds will cover tuition, uniforms and books for the children’s education.

“[Sponsoring a child] makes a great difference in that kid’s life,” Marinacci said.

According, to Marinacci, the Fabretto Children’s Foundation also aids education in Nicaragua by providing lunch services, tutoring, mentoring and other extracurricular activities.

Nabil Hashmi (SFS ’11), a board member of the group, said that he believes Compass Consulting can strike a chord among Georgetown students.

“We think the program will be successful and are looking forward to expanding it beyond Georgetown in coming years,” Hashmi said.

Shah mentioned that future plans include the possibility of expanding to American University and The George Washington University. In addition, the non-profit plans to hold fundraising events to help build a school in Uganda that will cost $45,000.

For Shah, Compass Consulting’s efforts are part of a new way of thinking about the economic world.

“Charity as we once knew it is dead,” he said. “If we apply the principles of effective management, effective business principles, market economics and other traditionally `for-profit’ things to the non-profit sector, we will have a type of social change that has never been seen before.”

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