A Good Start — Now What’s Harvard Going to Do for Nonprofit Managers, Accountants, Fundraisers, Communicators … ?

Lots of nonprofits need lawyers — to lobby legislators, to litigate matters the organization is advocating, and so on.

Lawyers leave law school with the considerable burden of student loans to shoulder.

Nonprofits are being criticized by observers — including their own employees — for paying salaries that are unfairly low.

Uh-oh.

A potential solution comes from Harvard Law School, which announced yesterday that it would "pay the third year of tuition for all future students who commit to work in public service for five years following graduation." Harvard Law will spend $3 million over the next five years on the program, which will save 3Ls $40,000.

Harvard’s new initiative is a terrific start, but unless other schools follow suit, it seems unlikely to have much of an impact. I’d also like to see similar tuition breaks offered in other areas: for physicians who go to work for Doctors Without Borders, for example, or M.B.A. grads who move into leadership posts at nonprofits. Surely I’m missing many other opportunities; what kind of creative benefits would get your attention? | 501(c)

Tags: Harvard Law School, public interest law