Nonprofit Management Courses

Learn from leading practitioners and gain hands-on experiences in the public, professional and social sectors.

NPM 520 Writing for Nonprofits
In this class, you will focus on the different types of content and styles of writing necessary to effectively operate a nonprofit organization, such as crafting a mission statement, donor correspondence, grant writing, and digital content.

NPM 501 Foundations in Fundraising and Ethics
This course is designed to provide you with an overview of philanthropy. You will be introduced to development and fundraising strategies, as well as the different types of campaigns and donors. You also examine fundamental day-to-day issues, such as gift processing, systems, and database management. Finally, you will explore organizational structures, learn techniques for managing volunteer staff, and consider ethical dilemmas that nonprofit organizations face.

NPM 550 Stewardship and Donor Cultivation
Stewardship is the process of developing a relationship, followed by the continued cultivation of that relationship. In this class, you focus on the subtleties and strategies of stewarding prospects, transitioning them to donors and the cultivating of donors. You also explore the four Rs of donor cultivation: Research, Romance, Request, and Recognition.

NPM 600 Nonprofit Workshop I
In this workshop-based course, you work directly with a nonprofit organization to study, solve, or create an action plan for a particular generalized need as identified by the nonprofit. You build upon early foundational knowledge while developing hands-on experience in a safe setting guided by the faculty member. Through reflective work, you learn to assess your own work and ultimately identify your strengths and weaknesses to target areas for continued growth.

NPM 603 Regional Volunteer Experience
Most nonprofit organizations heavily rely on volunteers. To effectively manage a nonprofit organization, whether small or large, it is essential to understand the goals and intent of the volunteers. In this course, you volunteer on a weekly basis at a nonprofit (located near your place of residence). you also complete weekly self-assessment reports to reflect on your experience as a volunteer, while also looking at the function of the nonprofit organization.

NPM 645 Strategic Planning for Nonprofits
Strategic planning is essential for the effective leadership, management and sustainability of the nonprofit organization. In this course, you explore how nonprofit organizations identify strategies to achieve and develop their mission. You also examine the key elements of the strategic planning process, especially those unique to nonprofit organizations, including: Goal setting, engagement with board initiatives, mission development and/or realignment, funding limitations, as well as the roles of key stakeholders, such as board members, executive leadership, staff and volunteers. You develop a practical model they can then apply to any nonprofit organization to conduct successful strategic planning.

NPM 602 Nonprofit Workshop II
In this second workshop-based course, you work directly with a nonprofit organization to study, solve or create an action plan for a particular in-depth need as identified by the nonprofit. You will continue to build upon foundational knowledge while developing hands-on experience in a safe setting guided by the faculty member. Through reflective work, you learn to assess your own work and ultimately identify your strengths and weaknesses for continued growth.

NPM 670 Managing Effective Capital Campaigns

You examine both the internal and public phases of effective capital campaigns. You also study the various components of those phases, such as needs identification and assessment, campaign planning, use of consulting firms, feasibility studies, prospect research, case statements, setting financial goals, major donor and smaller donor cultivation, team management and campaign communication. In this course, you also analyze campaign assessment practices to evaluate campaign effectiveness to determine future organizational needs, as well as continued donor stewardship and cultivation.

NPM 700 Capstone I
You can pursue one of two paths for the capstone experience. First, you can choose to work with the nonprofit you partnered with during the Nonprofit Workshop II course and implement the plan as identified in that class; or, you can choose and study a specific topic, trend, or issue confronting the nonprofit sector. During the Capstone I course, you complete the following:

• Option 1: Further develop the implementation plan, establish how you will be evaluated for the implementation, develop a reading list to assist in the implementation, and begin the implementation
• Option 2: Choose a topic, conduct research, develop a bibliography and create an outline for a final paper (to be completed in the Capstone II course)

NPM 701 Capstone II
In the second of the two-course sequence, you will demonstrate your learned skills and experience through the completion of your capstone. You will continue with Option 1 or Option 2 as follows:

• Option I: Continue and complete the implementation started in Capstone I, as well as detail the implementation process, identifying successes, failures, strengths and weaknesses
• Option II: Build off of the outline created in the Capstone I course and complete a specific length paper to explore, in detail, a topic, trend or issue confronting the nonprofit sector

PLCY 507 Nonprofit Organizations
This course focuses on distinctive features of managing and governing nonprofit organizations and draws on current theories, concepts and real-world examples to explore particular management challenges. You experience a mix of lecture, discussion, case applications, and presentations by practitioners from the local nonprofit community.

AADM 520 Creative Enterprise and Innovation
Explore the wide range of enterprises that make up the arts, cultural and creative sector with an emphasis on successful business structures and practices. The role of innovation and innovative practices in start-up creative entities as well as established cultural institutions is studied as a means to develop leadership skills to create sustainable and resilient programs and organizations.

COM 536 Strategic Social Media Communication
For organizations, social networking creates opportunities to leverage and challenges to address—both of which require a strategic, integrated approach. You explore the evolution of social media and impact that “media convergence” culture has on brands and organizations. Social media platforms facilitated by web-based and mobile technologies are explored and evaluated. Theoretical approaches and research-based best practices for strategic social media marketing plans and how to integrate social media platforms/tools and technologies into existing marketing plans and legacy media are explored. You also analyze how real brands are using social media, engage in social media activities throughout the course and develop and implement elements of strategic social media plan for an organization or business which include: Creation of social media space (i.e. Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest page), evaluation plan that utilizes native or third-party analytic tools and a plan for best practices for social media use in a crisis.

COM 576 Nonprofit Communications
All nonprofit organizations must develop and maintain effective communication strategies in order to survive in a competitive economy. Nonprofits have unique needs and limitations in their long-term goals and short-term operations that relate to communication. This course introduces you to the ways nonprofits communicate with constituents and benefactors, and the ways researchers have examined these practices. You explore these two perspectives on nonprofit communication through a combination of scholarly readings, dialogues with local representatives in the nonprofit sector and direct contact and work for a local nonprofit organization (as coordinated by the Drexel Center for the Support of Nonprofit Communication).

ACCT 608 Government and Not-for-Profit Accounting
Topics studied in class may include: Uses of fund accounting and budgeting in governmental entities; the financial reporting entity; elements of financial states; conceptual reporting issues for state and local governments; accounting and financial reporting for governmental and non-governmental not-for-profit organizations, including hospitals, universities, and voluntary health and welfare organizations.