Nick Nieto is a fourth-year Economics student at UCLA and is the Executive Director and founder of Edubase. Edubase is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and a student group at UCLA that provides free, student-driven marketing consulting services to nonprofits. Nick founded the organization with other UCLA students to provide marketing support for local nonprofits, but they hope to eventually expand to other campuses. He wanted to share with other students the knowledge that, in order for nonprofits to be successful, they need to be run a lot like businesses. He also wanted to put all the skills he was learning in class to work for a good cause. He said, “I want to show people that no matter your major or your career interests, nonprofit work is important, rewarding, and frankly something I think everyone should be involved with throughout their lives.” Last year was the program’s first year during which the group worked on three marketing projects for two nonprofit partners. This summer, Nick and his team of six have been gearing up to launch the second year of the program at UCLA, hoping to expand the organization to a team of 15-20.

During the summer, Edubase’s work has been all about planning out marketing projects. This includes working with the nonprofits they serve to identify needs, write plans, and set goals. Once the organization recruits a full team in the fall, they dive into team development and projects. Students examine case studies on different brands to learn as much as they can about marketing, and then apply what they learn to real-world projects for their partners. Nick’s favorite part about this volunteering experience has been working with the partner nonprofits. “One particularly fun partner has been Playworks, a really cool national nonprofit that’s on a mission to make sure that every kid in America gets a chance to play every day. We’ve learned so much—about nonprofits, about marketing, and about play—from the amazing team at Playworks.”

For Nick, launching and leading Edubase has been an awesome learning experience full of working with a variety of nonprofits, learning from mistakes, and having fun. He is excited to recruit a new team in the fall. Interested individuals should visit www.edubase-inc.org or email Nick at nnieto@edubase-inc.org for more information.