This course provides a comprehensive overview of the design, implementation and management of the components of a philanthropic program and its relationship to the financial sustainability of the nonprofit organization. It introduces the philosophical, ethical and historical underpinnings of fundraising practice, also providing the nomenclature, characteristics, and methods of gift generation and their sources, and the management and stewardship of those sources. Additionally, it examines the relationship of the organization’s mission to its strategic vision and the planning, management and impact of fundraising to the organization’s advancement and sustainability.
This course analyzes the ways in which philanthropists and nonprofit organizations plan for and respond to disasters. Disasters create immense need quickly. People have responded generously to many natural and human-created disasters that have led to thousands of victims either domestically or globally. The nonprofit sector has often played a leading role, functioning both on the front-lines with first responders and creating a second response that bridges the period of relief and rebuilding. New technologies have often been deployed to improve fundraising as well as disaster relief. Disasters create both a sense of community born of the common experience of suffering and exacerbate differences within communities as those of lowest means struggle the most to recover. Disaster relief and recovery is ripe with questions about who to help and how to best help, presenting ethical dilemmas for the best intentioned of nonprofit leaders. The course will focus on the United States but both readings and assignments include some international comparisons.
Whether through a speech to key donors, a published op-ed column, an annual report or media interview, leaders of nonprofit organizations must be compelling storytellers. Although other courses in the Nonprofit Management M.S. program helpfully concentrate on the strategy and tactics of communications outreach and social media engagement, the intensive focus of this elective will be on developing students’ capacity for literate writing and speaking across a range of public forums and institutional challenges that face nonprofit organizations. Through a combination of readings, discussion and, most importantly, a diverse range of writing assignments and creative exercises, students will emerge with a new level of editorial proficiency in creating the kind of written and spoken communications that support a nonprofit’s development, promote its public service mission, and manage difficult political, legal and institutional issues that distract organizations from achieving their mission-driven goals. Students will learn best practices for crafting persuasive communications in an increasingly complex and time-sensitive media environment.
Nonprofit organizations compete for scarce philanthropic and government funding and are expected to account for how these resources are utilized for the greater good. However, understanding how well nonprofit programs and services produce their desired outcomes can be a challenge. This course is designed to provide a broad – yet rigorous – overview of the knowledge and tools available to evaluate the effects of nonprofit and social impact programs and policies.
This dual course is part of a partnership between Sciences Po and Columbia University. It brings together students from both institutions into a virtual environment to learn together from multiple perspectives in an English language course. In an era of unprecedented wealth, technological advancement, and global interdependence, we find ourselves confronted with global problems in which the different sectors (government, nonprofit and for profit) cannot adequately address broad societal issues on their own. What is needed is a cross-sectoral approach that recognizes the importance of a shared sense of the common good. Students will analyze how the pursuit of the common good requires addressing public attitudes, policy frameworks and institutional forms that shape the outcomes of critical societal issues.
The sessions will be divided into two main blocks. The first part (five sessions) will provide the students with a solid theoretical and conceptual background to a cross-sectoral and transnational notion of the common good, its actors and their role in the social change landscape. A special focus will be placed on those organizations at the intersection of the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, including hybrid organizations, B Corporations, corporate social responsibility efforts as well as nonprofit organizations and philanthropists. The second part of the course focuses on in-depth analysis of the difficulty of addressing truly global challenges because of different cross-cultural understanding and interests among various institutional actors. This part of the course focuses topically on 1) racial and social justice and 2) climate change and the environment. Each will include a definition of the problem, a simulation, and a discussion of practical steps to advance better outcomes.
Key to this dual course will be the use of cross geographical and cross-cultural examples. Interactive working group activities, simulations and group research work will be programmed through the sessions integrating Sciences Po and Columbia members in teams. Given the nature of the dual course it will be 100% virtual. This course will especially appeal to students interested in social change, global movements, and experience working with teams situated on different continents. This is an elective course with no prerequisites.
This course provides a comprehensive set of financial management tools for nonprofit professionals, including managers and staff, whether they oversee financial statements and reporting or need to translate financial statements and reporting across stakeholders. This course emphasizes the requirements for nonprofits in recording and budgeting the financials to support the organization’s mission. Additionally, the course will provide students with the ability to analyze financial statements and answer financial questions typically asked by stakeholders such as the governing board, donors, the public, beneficiaries, media, and regulators. Finally, the course will identify the risks and opportunities found in an organization's financial information to increase the public's confidence in and understanding of the organization's mission and operations.
Knowledge and experience in the practice of DEIA has become a key requirement for managers and leaders. This course prepares students to manage and lead the practice of DEIA in core business functions, as directors of DEIA offices/initiatives or as DEIA champions within their organizations. It will equip students with an understanding of the advantages and challenges of leading diverse teams and will provide the knowledge, critical analysis, and practical tools required to lead inclusive organizations. It provides a framework and strategic foundation for driving an organization through the stages of gaining awareness about DEIA, practicing DEIA, and amplifying the work of equity and inclusion beyond the workplace. Students will be expected to participate in class discussions and will work on diverse teams to develop a DEIA organizational strategy.
Capstone projects afford a group of students the opportunity to undertake complex, real-world, client-based projects for nonprofit organizations, supervised by a Nonprofit Management program faculty member. Through the semester-long capstone project, students will experience the process of organizational assimilation and integration as they tackle a discrete management project of long or short-term benefit to the client organization. The larger theoretical issues that affect nonprofit managers and their relationships with other stakeholders, both internal and external, will also be discussed within the context of this project-based course.