Course Syllabus

Please see full syllabus under "Modules" --> "Getting Started"

Class Meeting: Mondays and Wednesdays 11:10AM - 12:25PM, Cedar Hall C112

Course Description:

The US nonprofit sector contains millions of organizations and employs 10% of the workforce. One in four adults volunteers. It’s possible that every person in the world has been served by a nonprofit at some point in their life. Regardless of your professional goals, all of you – whether in business, government, as volunteers or citizens – will interact with nonprofits in your lifetime. 

This is a survey course designed to provide you with an overview of nonprofit law and managerial operations. We begin with the tax and constitutional law governing nonprofit activity. We then address both functional activities common to all organizations (marketing, strategic planning, human resources, inter-organizational relations, financial management) and those unique to nonprofits (boards of directors, volunteer management, political advocacy, fundraising, performance measurement, etc.). The course uses a combination of textbook readings, lectures, case studies, and exercises to provide daily opportunities to apply material to the real world.

Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Apply management tools: explain and apply general nonprofit management terms, principles, and practices that provide a foundation for more specialized O’Neill courses in finance, human resource management, fundraising, program evaluation, collaboration, and related areas.
• Think critically: make effective nonprofit management and leadership decisions that earn and maintain public trust.
• Use information effectively: conduct effective research and identify high-quality practitioner resources about the nonprofit sector.
• Write professionally: produce clear, polished, professional-quality writing.
• Develop evidence-driven arguments: use high-quality information and evidence to back up your recommendations.
• Account for organizational context: avoid unsupported generalizations by accounting for differences in organizational age, tax status, size, resources, leadership, stakeholder groups, and missions.

Course Material

Required Textbook: Michael J. Worth, Nonprofit Management: Principles and Practice, Seventh (2025) Edition. Sage. 

• This is already loaded as an E-Text on your Canvas course site (fees may apply).
• You may purchase the textbook (e-text or paper) from the IU bookstore, Amazon or other sources.
• A hard copy is available in SPEA library for course reserves circulation (please refer to the course reserves policy)

Various supplemental articles and chapters will be provided on Canvas.