NAACP Board retreat scheduled for HBS:

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People will hold its annual board of directors retreat this week at the Harvard Business School.

The retreat, scheduled for May 1-3, will include about 90 members of the organization’s national board of directors and senior staff, as well as members of its Special Contributions Fund board.

This is the sixth year the NAACP has held its retreat at the Business School. The three-day event is hosted by the School’s Initiative on Social Enterprise, which specializes in leadership for nonprofit, private, and public sector organizations.

“The partnership between HBS and the NAACP has been very productive and mutually beneficial,” said James E. Austin, Snider Professor of Business Administration, and Initiative on Social Enterprise chair. “It has been a collaboration that has drawn on expertise from colleagues throughout the University and has had the strong support of Presidents Rudenstine and Summers as well as Dean Kim Clark.

The program will include presentations on recent research from the Harvard Civil Rights Project, a discussion on fundraising as the NAACP considers a national campaign, and an update on its strategic planning process. Previous years’ sessions focused on developing a strategic plan for the organization.

Austin said the annual event has helped strengthen both the NAACP and the Initiative on Social Enterprise.

“While contributing to the strengthening of the NAACP’s governance capacity and strategy formulation, we have deepened our understanding of the complexities of addressing the civil rights challenges facing the nation,” Austin said. “It is a privilege again this year to work with this group of deeply committed and talented leaders as we deliberate on their efforts to engage in a major fundraising effort.