Claremont McKenna College’s Social Enterprise Initiative (SEI) received a $5,000 grant for winning the Jenzabar Foundation’s Student Leadership Award. Student Management Team leaders Gaby Andrade CMC ’12 and Van-Anh Su CMC ’13 accepted the grant at the Millenium Campus Network Conference, which took place at Columbia University Sept. 18 and 19.

According to the SEI website, the organization focuses on “market-based strategies as a means of reducing poverty around the world.” Its areas of focus, which all fall into the category of social enterprise, include microfinance, fair trade, social investment, and corporate social responsibility.

The recipients of the award were announced June 2, according to a press release from the Jenzabar Foundation. The award was given to 10 student organizations across the country. The SEI, which at the time was known as the Microfinance Task Force, was chosen for its work in poverty alleviation through economic means.

According to Andrade and Su, $2,500 to $3,000 of the money will go toward a social investment project. Social investment takes into account both financial and social returns so that the money goes toward improving life in the community.

Currently, the SEI plans to research “socially responsible firms” with which to invest the money, according to its website. It will keep close track of the social effects of its investments. Then it will use the money it earns from the investments for other club projects.

$1,400 of the grant will be allocated for the Campus Engagement branch of the SEI. In addition to subsidizing student participation in academic conferences focusing on social enterprise, the Campus Engagement Team’s job is to invite social entrepreneurs, especially those in the field of international development, to the vist the 5Cs.

Last year, the SEI brought Rafael Mazer, a microfinance analyst at the Consultative Group to Assist the Poor, to speak at the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum.

The remaining $600 of grant money will be used to fund a micro-goods fair at the 5Cs. The SEI plans to invite clients of local microenterprise organizations to sell their goods, such as handicrafts and jewelry. They also might invite fair trade organizations to market their products at the fair.

About 1,000 college students from across the country attended the conference, which focused on addressing the Millennium Development Goals. The goals, which were set in 2000, include the eradication of extreme poverty, primary education for all, the promotion of gender equality, a reduction in the child mortality rate, improvement in maternal health, improvement in the treatment of diseases such as HIV/AIDS and malaria, environmental sustainability, and a global partnership for development.

Other recipients of the award included organizations from Brigham Young University, Central Methodist University, and Palm Beach Atlantic University, with projects ranging from serving Puerto Rico’s poor, to providing for Ugandan orphans, to rebuilding homes in New Orleans, according to the Jenzabar Foundation’s website.

The SEI learned of the grant when another student organization, SOURCE, received the grant in 2009. SOURCE gives free assistance to local non-profits.

Currently, 17 of the SEI’s 20 members attend CMC. The remaining three are Pitzer students.

However, Andrade said, “We’re interested in getting new members from the other colleges.”

According to the Jenzabar Foundation’s website, “The Foundation seeks to foster a culture of service and to educate and inspire future generations to create a better world.” Its focus is on finding and rewarding college students who are trying to solve humanitarian issues across the world. The Foundation is funded primarily by Jenzabar, a company that designs software for use in higher education.