Introducing 2012 ProInspire Fellow: Andrew Wu
Name: Andrew Wu
Hometown: Saratoga, CA
Previous Employer: PwC Consulting
Current Organization: Single Stop USA
What inspired you to make the switch into the nonprofit sector?
I was able to gain exposure to the nonprofit sector through a couple different experiences while I was in college. It started with a program called campusCATALYST where I took a class about non-profit management and participated in a student consulting engagement with a non-profit in the Chicago area. From there, I was fortunate enough to partake in two internships the following summer with One PacificCoast Bank, a community development bank in Oakland, and Sparkseed, an incubator for social enterprises led by college students. At One PacificCoast Bank, I was able to see how innovative financial products could help lower income communities escape the continuous debt cycle of payday loans. At Sparkseed, I was able to interact with inspiring college social entrepreneurs as they were able to develop and scale their ventures and impact from the advice and mentorship of business professionals, other social entrepreneurs, and large foundations.
Based on these experiences, I knew I wanted to pursue a career in the social sector in the future as I saw what it was like to work for a mission-driven organization with like-minded individuals working towards social impact. After two years at PwC consulting, I felt like I had developed the skills and experience to really contribute meaningfully to a nonprofit organization and pursue a career with social impact – that’s when I applied to ProInspire.
What is your current position, and a typical day like?
I am currently a Special Projects Associate at Single Stop USA, an organization focused on reducing poverty through increasing access to public benefits and other resources. I sit between a variety of departments/functions including development, programs, and marketing. As a result, there is no typical day as I’m juggling different projects on a day-to-day basis such as researching new funders and writing grant proposals, working with our program staff to refine and develop standardized training for our program sites, and exploring new ways to utilize social media.
What is your professional background and areas of expertise?
My background is in management consulting, where I developed my skills in strategic planning, business case development, project management, and vendor analysis. While at PwC, where I primarily worked with healthcare clients, I focused on helping clients understand how they could better utilize new digital channels to better engage with their customers.
What are you involved in outside of work?
While I was living in Chicago, I was involved in the Net Impact Professional Chapter and the Chicago StartingBloc community. I hope to continue to stay involved in with these organizations with their respective San Francisco presences. With so many social sector organizations in the San Francisco area, I’m still exploring and planning to get involved with a few others as well.
Tell us about your past leadership experiences and how they are helping you in your current role.
My experience at PwC consulting often required me to play multiple roles as our engagements required working on several different workstreams at once. I learned to handle juggling different projects, timelines, and stakeholders while working to move each workstream forward every day. This often meant working on very different items each day and learning to prioritize amongst these factors. This experience has been extremely helpful in my current role at Single Stop as I continue to work on a variety of projects at once. I’ve learned to be comfortable in moving back and forth between my responsibilities within departments while making sure everything still gets completed.
What blogs or websites do you read on a daily basis?
There are so many good websites and resources online but a few of my favorites are Next Billion, Stanford Social Innovation Review, and The Global Impact Investing Network, and Huffington Post Impact.
Who do you look to as a leader in your respective field, and why?
I think Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa are doing something really special with Warby Parker. They have taken a different innovative approach to the 1 for 1 model in partnering with established organizations such as VisionSpring to bring not only affordable glasses to developing countries but also economic opportunities for low-income entrepreneurs. Not to mention that their glasses also look pretty cool – I own three pairs!
What are you some of the myths surrounding working in the nonprofit sector that have been debunked by your experience?
One myth about working in the nonprofit sector is the lack of emphasis on quantitative analysis and evaluation. Since joining Single Stop, I have seen first-hand the intense emphasis and focus that is placed on data analysis and evaluation. Single Stop is committed to accurately capturing the right data and information to measure its impact on low-income communities. As the whole sector is moving towards a data-driven approach to impact, it is increasingly becoming the norm for nonprofits to stress this type of data analysis and evaluation.