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Welcome to The Launchpad.
Since our inception in 2017, the mission of Second Day has been to dismantle inequitable talent pipelines into social impact (learn more about the challenge here). You may know us for our premier leadership and professional development programs for college seniors: the Impact Fellowship and the Community Scholars Program (you can learn more about those programs on our main website).
After 2+ years, 5+ cohorts, and 150+ college students we came to three conclusions:
Young people need help accessing the tools, mentorship, and information required to find, secure, and thrive in social impact jobs.
The majority of social impact organizations do not have the budget to promote their job openings (70% of nonprofits have a recruiting budget¹) or the budget to pay their interns (58% of nonprofit internships are unpaid). On the other side, college career centers, on the other hand, do not have the resources to effectively support students who are interested in social impact.
According to a 2020 nationwide student survey, 72% of students said that the career center was either somewhat helpful or very helpful for entering traditional career fields after graduation but only 6% of students said that the career center was somewhat helpful or very helpful for entering social impact career fields after graduation.
We’ve gotten pretty good at helping people get jobs at nonprofits, social enterprises, government agencies, and other mission-driven organizations.
In the 2020-21 school year, 97% of participants rated our programs at least 8/10. According to our exit surveys, 96% of participants felt confident in their "get-the-job" skills, up from 48%. Importantly, 98% of them also feel that they have a community of peers after joining Second Day, up from 39%.
150 students is a start, but there are literally hundreds of thousands of young people who need access to our resources.
In 2020, it’s estimated that up to 4.4 million Gen Zers will replace 3.6 million retiring baby boomers. This means that the most diverse generation in American history will be replacing the least diverse sector of the labor force (nonprofits) in droves.This generation is also deeply values-driven. Data shows that 67% of Gen Z-ers agreed that “being true to their values and beliefs makes a person cool.” 89% of Gen Z would “rather buy from a company supporting social and environmental issues over one that does not. There is no shortage of young talent that want to dedicate their careers to social change.
The goal of the Launchpad is to centralize everything we’ve learned (and continue to learn) about building careers in social impact. With the support and wisdom of dozens of social impact professionals, we have a library of career guides, job search tools, and much more to help any job seeker who is looking for a position that aligns with their lifestyle and values. Whether you know exactly what you are looking for, don’t know where to start, or are just curious about the term “social impact”, we can help.