The Aspen Institute Business and Society Program and the World Resources Institute have been watching and surveying growing groups of MBA students as they shift their primary focus from profit-making to social stewardship, ethical corporate practices, and nonprofit business endeavors, all wanting to do a better job at business ethics than previous generations have.

The greatest surge of MBA programs emphasizing social and environmental responsibility appeared between 2001 and 2004, according to Nancy McGaw, The Aspen Institute's deputy director. The World Resources Institute and The Aspen Institute collaborated on the "Beyond Grey Pinstripes" report (based on a survey conducted every two years) which is intended to "celebrate innovation in business education; inform potential students about environmental management and social impact management content in business schools; raise the bar and challenge business schools to incorporate social impact management and environmental management topics into their curricula; [and] let corporate recruiters know which business schools are providing training in social and environmental skills."

What they found, after surveying 100 business schools and students from twenty countries across the globe, is impressive and--especially to a public accustomed to regular headlines on corporate malfeasance--surprising. Check out their findings for yourself (along with an extensive list of schools who encourage, fund, and/or tailor their MBA programs to be mindful of social issues) here. Is business education changing in this direction?

Still, to many people, the MBA and the non-profit seem an unlikely pair. At the Stanford Graduate School of Business, professor Jim Thompson in the Public Management Program led a decade-long effort to make this pairing natural and invigorating. After noticing that many of his classmates had an unmet need for altruism while working at their high-paying jobs, Thompson made it his mission later as director of the PMP to interlace public service into the culture of business. Stanford MBAs are now involved with public service as government or nonprofit leaders and entrepreneurs of socially responsible companies. Stanford business students can earn a Certificate in Public Management along with the MBA degree; even for many that don't take all the necessary courses, public service is a part of their MBA experience.

At Harvard's business school, relationships with nonprofits are forged to recruit MBAs, and as part of an overall stategy to encourage employment for MBAs in the nonprofit sector, the loan assistance program at Harvard reduces a portion of the educational loans carried by students who enter nonprofit/public-sector jobs after graduation. Funded by alumni and the school, participants in this selective program have held positions at nonprofit organizations, including ACCION International, the World Bank, and the school district of Philadelphia. Harvard's not the only business school with this model, either; the University of Michigan, for example, also offers loan assistance and reduced repayment options for MBAs seeking nonprofit jobs.

Columbia University's business school established the MBA-Nonprofit Connection (MNC) to match jobs and internships for MBAs and MBA students in nonprofit organizations across the country, as well as in some international organizations. On the other coast, in Los Angeles, MBA students at Pepperdine University's Graziadio School offer invaluable, semester-long consulting services to many local charities and nonprofit organizations through a Service Leadership Project.

The University of California-Berkeley places Haas MBA students and Goldman MPP students as Fellows on local nonprofit boards of directors. Student Fellows work hand-in-hand with executive directors and board members, serve on board committees, attend full board meetings, and participate in special events and projects, basically acting as non-voting members of the board during their nine-month term.

Social enterprise--the merger of mission and business--is a growing phenomenon, says Jane Wei-Skillern, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, and mission-minded businesses have more latitude than traditional businesses because they're not solely focused on profit. But mission-minded business (and even nonprofits) still need to keep an eye on the bottom line if they're to suceed, and in a time when government and donor support can dry up, nonprofit and social-enterprise organizations who utilize homegrown sources of income like MBA students will likely fare better than those that don't--and survive as inspirations for future MBA hopefuls who want to do more than make big bucks.