BYU MarriottThe Ballard Center for Social Impact at BYU is the world’s largest university program focused on social impact. We help students become active participants in solving the world’s most pressing social problems.
Come join the Melvin J. Ballard Center for Social Impact, the Peery Social Entrepreneurship Program, the Impact Investing Program, and the Corporate Social Impact Program to learn how the world’s most vexing social problems are being solved. The Ballard Center matches students’ personal skills and interests with educational experiences that lead to a meaningful life of Doing Good. Better.
The Ballard Center opened its doors in 2003 and has continued to grow since then to what is today the largest University-run social impact program in the world. In the 2019–20 academic year over 3,000 students participated in Ballard Center classes, competitions, internships, research, and employment. Another 6,000+ students participated in one-time Ballard Center events such as the Peery Film Festival, TEDxBYU, and our clubs. The Ballard Center was designated in 2012 and 2018 as a Changemaker Campus by Ashoka U the leader in supporting social impact education at universities throughout the world.
Social Impact
We work with organizations of any legal structure including: nonprofits, for-profits, government entities, churches, etc. Most of our partners are hybrids. However, the Ballard Center has an extreme bias for working with organizations that can show social impact as described in this article. We only work with social issue focused organizations who are one of the following:
- vetted by professional social impact groups (Skoll Foundation, Schwab Foundation, Ashoka, Mulago Foundation, Social Innovator of the Year, etc.)
- or, are a social impact-focused organization that measures great consequence-based outcomes and is planning to measure impact
- or, are one of the student teams receiving Social Venture status through the Ballard Center.
Get Involved
Enhance your impact on the world today by signing up for one of the following Ballard Center opportunities:
- Attend our eye-opening events and club meetings to learn how to make your social engagement smarter
- Classes provide frameworks for social change and teach students how to leverage their skills
- On- and off-campus internships help you to build your resume and solve social problems
- Competitions, such as the Social Venture Academy, provide students coaching and funding to make their socially-minded business ideas become a reality
Whether you can commit to giving the Ballard Center one hour of your time or several, there’s a place for you here. Students from any major can come to the Ballard Center for an advisement session to construct a personalized plan for incorporating our programs into their BYU experience. To get involved today, sign up here!