Imagine if every business not only focused on making profit, but also worked to better the community. Net Impact at Grand Valley State University wants as many businesses as possible to work toward that goal.

“The goal (of Net Impact) is to teach people the skills and tools of business and to be able to create environmentally and socially sustainable, relatable and impactful programs and companies,” said Bill Holsinger-Robinson, the club’s adviser. “I would really love for this chapter of Net Impact to be just that.”

Net Impact GVSU is a new organization on campus, founded just this semester. It is a chapter of the much larger, international organization made up of 40,000 members who encourage people to use their careers to create social and environmental change in the world. Net Impact takes the administrative aspects out of creating an organization, which makes becoming a chapter a very quick and simple process.

Net Impact is also a very broad organization, so chapters are free to focus on whatever issues they wish. While some chapters want to put their efforts into environmental change, GVSU’s 10 members are more focused on social enterprise.

“We’re almost trying to pioneer this new vision of business where it’s not just about making profit but it’s really about giving back to others and building something sustainable,” Vice President Jonathan Cook said.

The organization meets every Monday at 7 p.m. in either the library or in the Niemeyer Learning and Living Center. The group talks about goals that members have for the club, listens to speakers, and sometimes goes on field trips. On Nov. 4, the group went to Ambrose, a screen-printing business in Holland, Mich., to learn about Ambrose operating as a social enterprise.

“Our big hope is to really connect with local organizations like Ambrose,” Cook said.

In addition to Ambrose, the club hopes to connect with the nonprofit organization Local First, which encourages people to buy from local businesses.

Net Impact GVSU may have a small number of members, but those involved hope students from all different majors, not just business, will join and bring new insight along with them.

“As we establish a presence on campus, I hope that more students wish to get involved with Net Impact and our mission,” President Megan Lemmen said. “I would like to see students becoming passionate about impacting their communities. I think Net Impact could really be a great connection between the students at Grand Valley and our local economy.”

The organization has a lot planned for the future, including visiting other chapters of Net Impact around the state in order to see how they operate. The members also want to attend the Net Impact National Conference at some point.

To help make students more familiar with the organization, Net Impact GVSU will be hosting a kickoff event in January consisting of speakers and an introduction to what Net Impact is all about.

“Who doesn’t want to help out the community? And in the same way, you’re helping yourself out too,” Cook said. “So it doesn’t matter if you’re an honors student or a (general education) student, business or biomedical science. Everyone can join Net Impact and create some good change.”

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