MILTON, PA - The Susquehanna River Valley Visitors Bureau (SRVVB) recently evaluated its social impact on the communities it serves through a partnership with Bucknell University’s Responsible Management course.
“Responsible Management explores ethics and challenges associated with managing successful organizations that positively impact the community and environment,” explained Bucknell University Professor Vanessa Hill. “This project requires students to apply lessons from their coursework to help local organizations measure their social and environmental impact to develop strategies that benefit the community and environment while supporting financial success.”
Working alongside a team of senior business majors, the SRVVB completed a B Impact Assessment, a comprehensive benchmarking tool designed to measure an organization’s impact beyond traditional economic indicators. The assessment evaluates performance across five key areas of social impact: governance, workers, consumers, community and the environment. While nonprofit organizations such as the Visitors Bureau are not eligible for formal B Corp certification, they are able to complete the assessment to identify organizational strengths and opportunities for increased positive impact.
“Tourism is such an important part of the local economy,” shared SRVVB Interim Director Judy Machesic. “Our team takes our role as economic drivers very seriously. But the industry is evolving, and the standards for being a strong community partner are rising. We want to rise with them.”
Machesic noted that the SRVVB team was particularly interested in examining its role in the community pertaining to professional ethics, workplace transparency and environmental responsibility.
The partnership began when Hill reached out to Machesic about the Responsible Management course scheduled for the 2025 Fall Semester. At the time, Hill was seeking local businesses willing to participate in the B Impact Assessment alongside her students.
“We were thrilled that all of the participating businesses in this year’s Responsible Management course were SRVVB partner businesses,” said Machesic. “I think it shows that being an exceptional community neighbor is on a lot of businesses’ radars.”
“When Professor Hill contacted the Visitors Bureau, we were already having internal conversations about how we work with our partners, elected officials, stakeholders and visitors—and how we are called to lead positive growth within our communities,” Machesic added. “This was the perfect opportunity to test what we thought we knew about ourselves and envision how we can better serve our region in the future.”
The student team working with the Visitors Bureau included Business Analytics majors Charlene Bui and Amar Tahirovik, and Markets, Innovation & Design majors Stephanie Ciardiello and Jossette Sullivan. “I can’t say enough about our student team,” Machesic shared. “They were professional, knowledgeable and took the time to truly understand our industry and our role within it.”
Led by the student team, the SRVVB completed the B Impact Assessment and received a score that would qualify for certification if nonprofits were eligible. For their final report, the student team compared SRVVB’s results to similarly sized certified organizations and reviewed ethics statements and programming from neighboring visitors bureaus.
“It was great to receive this positive feedback from our student team,” said Machesic, “but they also offered valuable ideas for strengthening our impact moving forward. Our team is already discussing new initiatives based on their recommendations.”
According to Hill, the B Impact Assessment is aspirational; it is meant to encourage businesses to think outside the box not only about their bottom lines, but also about the ways they help evolve their communities. “Leaders manage what they can track and measure,” Hill noted. “Until recently, there were few resources available for businesses and non-profits to measure much beyond their financial performance. Unable to reliably measure social and environmental impact makes it difficult to identify ways to improve an organization's impact in these areas. Measuring social and environmental impact is the first step in operating responsibly as well as profitably.”
“I would definitely recommend that organizations consider measuring their social impact through a program like the one offered by Bucknell University,” Machesic said. “This region is stronger when people work together for the benefit of the community and the environment.”
The Susquehanna River Valley Visitors Bureau is the designated tourism promotion agency for Northumberland, Snyder and Union counties. Learn more at www.VisitCentralPA.org.
For more information about the Responsible Management course at Bucknell University, contact Professor Vanessa Hill at vanessa.hill@bucknell.edu.
