Like many other non-profits, Philadelphia’s Mural Arts Program relies on contracts and contributions in order to run on a day-to-day basis, but finding all the funding needed to cover operating cost can be challenging.

That’s why Fox School MBA students stepped in to help. As part of the Enterprise Management Consulting (EMC) practice required of all Fox MBA students, a team of students is paired with a company looking for strategic support. In this case, Fox MBA ’08 students Leslie Horner, Kenneth Rosso, Noah Sullum, and Virginia Yinger, along with project manager T.L. Hill, set about helping the Mural Arts program diversify its revenue.

This year, EMC projects were for companies ranging from non-profit organizations, such as Mural Arts; to online businesses, such as Skatebuys.com; to large financial investment firms, such as Aquiline Capital Partners, LLC.

“Our MBA students are presented with the building blocks of theory and tools integrated into cases,” said M. Moshe Porat, Dean of the Fox School of Business. “Then they are given the real test – practice.” This practice comes from the EMC course, the capstone for the MBA program.

As part of their project, all student teams also met with an advisory board composed of local business leaders several times throughout the semester. The chairman of the EMC advisory board, Jim Russo, president and chief executive officer of Princeton Financial Systems, was impressed with the overall quality of the students’ consulting. “I have also been a client of the EMC in the past,” said Russo. “The quality of the work rivals many prestigious consulting firms. It’s a win/win situation for everyone. The students receive the advice of season professionals while the client receives a quality product.”

Explaining the challenges Mural Arts presented to the MBA students, Chief Operating Officer of the Mural Arts Program, Eli Massar, highlighted the lack of diversity of funds. “Income is often earmarked for certain aspects of our program,” says Massar. “We need to find ways to raise the money to fund our operating costs.”

“We wanted to focus on implementing a plan that would increase the financial sustainability for the coming years,” said Fox MBA student Yinger. Her group’s ideas centered on making the Mural Arts Program more commercial by selling products, such as prints and t-shirts, at the tours Mural Arts already offers.

Teammate Horner called the EMC course “structured problem solving.” “We can apply what we have learned over the past years in a controlled setting,” she said. “While working on these projects, we realized how to better look at problems from different angles. It will be exciting to see the change we have made.”

Students who worked with other companies felt the EMC was a great learning experience, as well. Andrew Hopkins (MBA ’08) worked with Aquiline, a New York based private equity firm investing in financial services. “The project provided a ‘real life’ experience on the many facets of business within an academic setting,” said Hopkins. “I acquired a true appreciation for project management and group dynamics and enhanced my technical skills in areas like finance and strategic planning.”

When the consulting was completed, students presented their projects at the Fox MBA Consulting Practice Showcase on March 20, 2008. Many of the companies, including Mural Arts, had a positive response. “The Temple MBA students helped us to evaluate the market conditions and synthesize the information so we could make accurate decisions on which direction to take our program,” said Mural Arts COO Massar. “We are extremely happy with the work they did and we would not have been able to do this without them.”

Before the presentations, Tara L. Weiner, Managing Partner of Deloitte LLP Greater Philadelphia Region gave a keynote address. Reaching out to the students in the audience, Weiner stressed the importance of the EMC practicum. “Taking on these challenging consulting projects not only requires strong technical skills, but strong people skills as well,” said Weiner. “The experience you gain and the skills you have acquired and honed are positioning you for success.”