An entrepreneurship advisory council can provide important high-level direction for your programs, as well as useful real-world perspective and a great network of potential mentors and other connections. Convening and maintaining an advisory council is particularly helpful for new LaunchPad schools, and it remains a best practice and highly encouraged for renewal schools.

Membership should include a broad, interdisciplinary cross-section of institutional representation and can include non-university participants. Advisory councils should meet 2-3 times per year at a minimum and can convene (in totality, or as sub-committees) as often as monthly. Commitment to such a council can be elevated by asking a Provost, President, or Chancellor to extend the invitation.

In our biannual reporting, under the Institutional Leadership compliance section, schools are asked to confirm whether your LaunchPad campus “has constituted and convened (at least 2x/year) cross-campus academic and functional advisory / stewardship council.” 

The good news is that 88% of respondents in our most recent reporting period (July, 2019) indicated that they met this goal. This LaunchPad network percentage exceeds the affirmative response to a parallel question by schools in the 2019 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) annual survey. In that industry benchmarking survey, only 66% of schools maintained an advisory council.

But beyond high-level direction and biannual reporting, what constitutes an entrepreneurship center advisory council and how such an entity is run can be widely interpreted. It’s helpful to first consider potential benefits and outcomes, and then what is required to achieve them. 

Step 1: Identify Potential Benefits and Determine Desired Outcomes

When asked in the GCEC survey, “Does this council or board serve a specific role, or are they more of a sounding board for center vision and goals?” nearly 90% of respondents indicated that their committees advise and consult on center strategy, mission, vision, or goals. However, respondents also mentioned fundraising many times as an important function of the committee, or using committee members as mentors, competition judges, attending events, and providing access to internal (school-system) and external networks. This mirrors how some LaunchPad network schools utilize their non-University advisory council members.

According to one CGEC respondent, they follow a “time, talent, treasure model,” where members are expected to “1) Attend two of three board meetings per year and engage with students; 2) provide 3rd party advisory especially related to finances); and 3) donate - an annual gift of $10,000 and be asked for major gifts during campaigns.” Building in the expectation that members of an advisory council make a financial investment in this way ensures a level of engagement to the center and its students. (Other respondents indicated that the level of annual support for their board members was either $2,500 or $5,000.)

Another respondent described their council as a sounding board, but said that the council also “helps with event and speaker recruitment, and works with other alumni to promote internship opportunities.” In this way - even without a financial obligation - the expectation that members leverage their networks also results in a certain depth of commitment, since the success of executed events or programming and quality of student interns and job-seekers reflects on their reputation.

Step 2: Communicate Goals and Build Your Committee to Achieve These

If anything beyond a strategic sound boarding is desired, center directors should be deliberate about inviting participation from individuals who can deliver. They also need to be clear to potential advisors about the role, expectations, and the goals of the committee. Nothing will turn a volunteer off faster than a misrepresentation of the “ask” being made.

• Funding is an obvious benefit, and can come from committee members with their own personal or organizational resources. Consider asking your school’s development staff to help identify individuals with the necessary resources and interests, or seek guidance from peers in the community who may know individuals interested in funding this type of work.
• Similarly, if top level committee goals include leveraging external networks, consider business, civic, and community leaders who might be able to help make connections and leverage existing programs, tools, and mentor resources. If the networks you need to tap into are more university-based, be thoughtful about which schools and departments are represented on your committee.
• Finally, if you feel your committee would benefit from some specific and critical expertise, such as entrepreneurial fundraising, marketing/communications, or finances, spend some time developing a list of several individuals that may have the needed skill set. Often the first person you reach out to may not have the time or desire to help, and for something this important it is wise to have a bench of possibilities.

A Note on Diversity

Another important consideration for advisory committees like this is to consider diversity. This can (and should) include demographic diversity - gender, ethnicity, age, etc. - but also diversity of experience and background. Bringing together people with different perspectives results in the strongest collaboratively-developed strategies and solutions. If you expect your students will interact with the committee members at all, it is important for them to see you leading by example in bringing together people who reflect the diversity of your students.

Further campus leader reading: Four Effective Strategies for Managing Committees