At the University of St. Thomas, undergraduate business students eager to master the art of negotiation had a chance to develop those skills while learning about food insecurity. In fall 2024, students enrolled in the MGMT 394: Negotiating with Positive Influence course worked on developing negotiation fundraising strategies and marketing campaigns for Nourish Food Shelf to help raise awareness and funds for the St. Paul nonprofit.
MGMT 394 isn’t a typical business class. As a Common Good Community-Engaged course through the Academic Community Engagement initiative, community impact is integrated into the students’ learning. The students collaborated with Nourish CEO and founder Andrea Thomas, one of the few African American female leaders of a Minnesota food shelf. Thomas, who tackles food insecurity by providing meals to the Frogtown community in St. Paul, welcomed the assistance and partnership from the St. Thomas students.
For Give to the Max Day on Nov. 21, the students’ efforts contributed to Nourish raising over $7,000 from 82 donors, allowing the nonprofit to provide more food to families that are in need in the area.
“I love their enthusiasm,” said Thomas about the students during an interview with Second Harvest Heartland. “It’s really interesting to see (Nourish) from the students’ perspective and to know what they’re learning. I think I’m probably learning as much as they are!”
The course emphasizes negotiation skills, strategies, and influence management, focusing on equipping undergraduates with these tools so they can apply them throughout their careers to achieve organizational goals, improve outcomes, and make a positive impact by contributing to the common good.
Students in the class are encouraged to complete community engagement with Nourish Food Shelf, providing Thomas and her team with additional volunteers. In addition, students gain practical experience in addressing food insecurity and develop a passion for giving back and making a meaningful impact in the community.
“Of all my volunteer experiences, it definitely is up at the top of the list,” senior Alec Boland expressed. “Andrea and her team were super welcoming, which was awesome. I went back again because of how much I enjoyed it.”
On Nov. 16, the MGMT 394 class volunteered at Nourish to distribute food to families and build connections between local community leaders, St. Thomas faculty, staff, current students and alumni. Students from Blaine High School also volunteered, helping to connect prospective Tommies with the university’s mission of service and community engagement. In total, there were over 80 volunteers actively engaged at Nourish with many of them returning multiple times after this day.
In addition to volunteering, students in the course spent the semester fundraising for Nourish. In their small groups, they developed campaigns to apply negotiation and fundraising strategies, both in person and across different social media platforms, targeting a wide range of donors.
“We’ve been working on our campaign, which also has helped with my marketing major, even though it’s a management class, because you get to be really creative,” said junior Shelby Williams.
Implementing learning in the real world
Danielle Hansen, adjunct professor in the Opus College of Business, teaches the management course for both undergraduate and graduate students, and incorporates the practical implementation of negotiation into her classes.
“Negotiation is truly a life skill,” she said. “It’s something that goes much further than just the classroom environment. It’s in everyday conversations that we’re having, whether we’re negotiating over where we’re going to go to lunch, for that internship or first offer, or for transforming our community. We’re constantly negotiating.”
In this course, students get the chance to apply what they’re learning about negotiation and influence strategies and put it into action. Through weekly mock negotiations, students apply the skills and information they’re reading in their textbooks. Students also work in small groups to create and execute negotiating fundraising strategies, setting specific goals and tracking their progress, just like they would in a job after graduation.
“I think it’s important because we’re really seeing how to take our education and really implement it into the real world,” senior Lola Tinucci said. “And it’s cool to see that we can take that real-world education and also implement it into helping others.”
Beyond the classroom, students have the opportunity to volunteer, gaining a deeper understanding of social issues while making a positive impact in advancing the common good.
Students integrate skills from marketing, operations, negotiation and influence, and finance as they plan, implement and track their strategies for their campaigns, such as tabling, luncheons with donors, and creating posters.
“The energy, passion, and dedication of everyone who joined was truly inspiring,” Hansen concluded. “The work being done by Andrea and the entire team at Nourish to impact this community every single week is nothing short of phenomenal. Witnessing the outpouring of support for their mission was a powerful reminder of what we can accomplish together.”
