Meet our member
Who we are
Enactus is an international nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring students to improve the world through entrepreneurial action. As a community of students, academics and business leaders we’ve impacted over a million people in 36 countries. Enactus has been a LINGOs member since 2014.
What learning means to us
To Enactus United States, learning means continuous improvement. We joined LINGOs to help us develop a more comprehensive learning strategy that would include a platform to deliver training and other resources to our students. With the tremendous amount of tools and support we’ve received from LINGOs, we now have better designed team projects that have a greater impact at the local, national, and global levels. Above all, learning for us means personal growth and the professional development of students who are set to become the newest generation of global leaders.
How we learn at Enactus
The annual LINGOs Global Learning Forum (GLF) was invaluable to us when we began building a learning ecosystem, and it is still an important date in our calendar. The sessions provide training in the basics and also explore more advanced concepts. The GLF is a great opportunity to meet other NGO professionals who are working within a similar framework, with similar financial constraints. Even now, the GLF challenges the way we think about learning at Enactus and continues to help us find solutions.
For Enactus staff in particular, the eLearning Guild premium membership, which includes entry to an eLearning Guild conference and pre-conference workshop, has been a tremendously helpful tool. It offers a wealth of information, training, and resources that have really helped us launch and improve our learning platform.
The difference learning has made
Our projects have improved as a result of learning and we’re now looking at ways to measure that impact, both in terms of student development and the impact our teams have made in their communities. This year, we are piloting a program designed to track the competencies built in three key areas: entrepreneurship, project management, and financial skills. Much of the training and evaluation material was designed using Storyline2 and hosted in the Enactus Training Center. This program is allowing us to put a solid framework around the Enactus student experience, evaluating these 
competencies with concrete metrics rather than just anecdotal evidence.
Katelyn Boylan, a senior at Marist College, is one of the students participating in the pilot group:
“After completing the modules, I learned so much about how to be a leader, manage a team, and organize tasks in an efficient way. I have been able to use that in job interviews, for my personal use, and in my teamwork inside and outside school. I am much more self-aware of my strengths and weaknesses, and I am able to communicate them more effectively.”
Our future learning plans
The next phase of our learning strategy is to help our external users connect with one another in a collaborative learning environment through the Curatr platform. By sharing ideas, experiences and insights, our teams and 15,000 students in the U.S. will acquire the skills, knowledge, and tools they need to take their projects to the next level. Our learning platform is also a great tool for our employees to continue their professional development and we ae planning to expand this to include new employee orientation material, cross training across different departments, and learning pathways to develop core competencies. All of this will help us achieve our goal of helping more people improve their lives through entrepreneurial action.
Our advice to you
If you’re a nonprofit with limited resources and staff it can seem like a daunting task to develop a learning strategy, build a learning ecosystem, or launch an online training platform. Don’t let that stop you! The best way to begin is to become a passionate learner yourself. Attend the next eLearning conference or watch archived sessions online. Download free ebooks on related topics. Read eLearning blogs – lots and lots of blogs! Enroll in (or finally complete) a MOOC on a topic you’d like to learn more about. Network online with other NGO professionals who are also passionate about learning. Take a coffee break with coworkers who train new employees in your organization and pick their brains to find out what is working and what additional support or resources they would love to have. Immerse yourself in learning within the context of your organization, and it won’t be long before you’re ready to share learning with the rest of your colleagues!
Rebekah Cooper
Assistant Director, Programs, Enactus United States