NFP 4001 Nonprofit Leadership Portfolio Foundations (0 Credits)

Master’s and certificate-seeking students in Nonprofit Leadership must register for and take Portfolio Foundations in their first quarter in the program. Students must complete the course and assessment-related tasks, including writing their learning goals, in order to pass the course. Non-completion of this required course will result in a no-pass grade on student transcripts.

NFP 4010 Leading Nonprofit/Nongovernmental Organizations (4 Credits)

Developing effective and successful leadership competencies is a lifelong endeavor that begins with the self and evolves throughout the role changes we make within organizations. This course will examine and develop core self-competency with a focus on leading in an organization. Students will identify core behaviors and practices along with effective communication skills and problem-solving tools to effectively move operational and program missions forward. By identifying organizational structure, markers of healthy culture, and leadership for financial and fund-raising functions students will identify the leadership approach needed to accomplish their organization’s mission.

NFP 4011 Leadership Development in Action (4 Credits)

Developing effective and successful leadership competencies is a lifelong endeavor that begins with the self and evolves throughout our career journey. In this course, inclusive leaders will be examined, including core leadership competencies and practices that may vary due to the organizational culture and structure. Students will identify core behaviors and practices along with effective communication skills and problem-solving tools to effectively move an organization forward. Students will assess their own leadership competencies and areas for growth to construct a personal leadership development plan.

NFP 4015 Healthy Nonprofit/Nongovernmental Organizations (4 Credits)

Healthy nonprofit/nongovernmental organizations have effective leaders to ensure that their organization attains and maintains high standards of operational excellence. Best practices in executive leadership, strategic management, accountability, legal compliance, strategic planning, outcome measurement, finance, and funding models are key components that assist in assessing an organization’s overall health. Students will analyze an actual nonprofit/nongovernmental organization and interview a senior executive to determine the quality and presence of these best practices. A final health assessment assignment will help students synthesize key organizational components.

NFP 4020 Legacy and Trends of Nonprofit Organizations and Civil Society (4 Credits)

A diverse historical legacy and philanthropic philosophy have laid the foundation of charity, volunteering, and community impact in the US and across the world. In a rapidly changing and technology-oriented world, philanthropy philosophy, donor motivations, and ways of giving have radically changed. Changing demographics, government policies, and wealth stratification are influencing trends in philanthropy. This course links history and future as it explores the genesis of American wealth creation, giving and voluntarism, as well as the diverse global philosophy and approaches to philanthropy. Nonprofits’ collective impact, the rise of social enterprises and nonprofit innovation, and economic trends are examined to enable and inform how students, as developing leaders, will design their organizations’ approach to meeting community needs and resource development.

NFP 4100 Philanthropy Principles and Roles in Nonprofit Organizations (4 Credits)

Great fundraisers are not born, they are made. These fundraisers, or development professionals, must learn principles and guidelines that inform their roles in organizations of different sizes. Students will differentiate philanthropy, development, and fundraising as well as donor cultivation basics, which is at the heart of all fundraising methods. This is the connection to a giver’s passions and the nonprofit mission. Students will analyze and contrast a nonprofit’s core fundraising approaches including finding prospects, using donor management technology, making the ask, and building a strong and flourishing fundraising network.

NFP 4105 Philanthropy Roles & Practices (4 Credits)

This course provides a comprehensive look at nonprofit development and fundraising, emphasizing the integration of strategic planning and effective fundraising methods. Students will explore diverse fundraising approaches, including individual solicitation, foundation and government grants, events, online initiatives, and other developing strategies. By analyzing current practices, students will dissect fundraising methods to identify effective strategies and underlying principles. They will evaluate the effectiveness of different fundraising approaches in light of financial outcomes, donor satisfaction, and alignment with organizational goals. Students will create innovative solutions by synthesizing traditional and modern fundraising techniques to address complex challenges faced by nonprofits today.

NFP 4110 Advanced Fundraising Strategies and Planned Giving (4 Credits)

Established nonprofit/nongovernmental organizations develop a long-term mission-driven strategy that guides donor cultivation, stewardship efforts, and underpins financial success. Planning for success begins with legacy planning as a growth strategy to include long-term and planned giving fundraising tools. Cultivating donors means investing time, money and resources that an organization will need to weigh together to make good decisions for its future. Students will evaluate planning strategies that include prospecting for donors, offering events, cultivating bequests and endowments, accessing donor advised funds, or buying real estate as sustainable approaches. Additionally, students will evaluate grant cultivation and major gift-solicitation tactics that may help nonprofits strengthen their development portfolios.

NFP 4115 Leading Nonprofit Financial Health (4 Credits)

Nonprofit finance is a cornerstone to organizational health and sustainability. In this course students will learn the differences between nonprofit and for-profit accounting, as well as basic finance concepts including balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, and key accounting principles. Students will examine different budget models, conduct staff and salary planning and decision making for resource allocation. Students will identify Internal Revenue Service issues as well as current issues impacting the tax environment in the U.S.

NFP 4120 Technology Strategy for Fundraising (4 Credits)

Nonprofit development depends on technology. Developing a clear technology strategy allows a nonprofit/non-governmental organization to invest in the most appropriate tools to achieve fundraising success. The course addresses the application of technology categories such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM) products, communication tools, gift processing, social networking, artificial intelligence, and crowdfunding. Students learn to assess a nonprofit/non-governmental organization's technology needs for fundraising, develop criteria for technology selection, and develop a technology implementation plan. Students examine issues around donor privacy, data security, fundraising ethics related to technology, and legal and tax implications. Students critically think through applying assessment and decision-making principles discussed in this course to current and future technologies.

NFP 4200 Executive and Board Roles, Responsibilities, and Leadership (4 Credits)

This course will analyze the interdependent roles, responsibilities, and relationships of nonprofit/nongovernment executives and board of directors, and explore the exercise of leadership required in these differentiated roles. The critical distinctions between the management and governance functions within the nonprofit/nongovernmental sector will be examined. Students will also conduct focused reviews of governance models and best practices that optimize organizational performance and the mission-driven partnership between the executive and board.

NFP 4205 Leading Strategically (4 Credits)

Executive nonprofit/nongovernmental leaders must be strategic and insightful as they guide their organizations’ direction and ensure community impact. Leaders must be skilled in strategic and systems thinking as they guide the organization’s vision, communicate performance expectations, drive performance, align the organization’s systems, cultivate partnerships, develop organizational culture, catalyze change and foster innovation. In this course students practice these skills and examine decision making tools and employee coaching practices.

NFP 4210 Leading Policy and Advocacy (4 Credits)

Nonprofit/nongovernmental organizations play an important role in the development and implementation of public policy and influence corporations and other private organizations. Advocacy encompasses a wide range of activities that influence decision makers who craft policies and laws that may impact nonprofit/nongovernmental organizations, communities, constituents, and stakeholders. Students will differentiate advocacy and lobbying, examine federal, state and local legislative structures, craft advocacy messages and design campaigns to develop advocacy strategy. Students will also assess the resources needed for an advocacy campaign and its impact.

NFP 4230 Program Evaluation for Learning and Impact (4 Credits)

Program evaluation is an essential tool for effective nonprofit leadership. In this course, students will be introduced to and engage in the core stages of program evaluation, including: stakeholder assessment, program model development, defining evaluation questions, aligning and implementing appropriate evaluation methods, and using evaluation to demonstrate value as well as drive learning for stronger strategy and impact. This course equips students with skills for conducting evaluations that minimize inequities and respect cultural differences. This course also uses emergent learning practices and tools are to build reflection and applied learning capacity as part of evaluative practice. By the end of the course, students will construct an evaluation plan for a program or project of relevance to them. This plan can be the foundation for successfully contracting or implementing a program evaluation in ways that contribute to successful community partnership, governance, performance, and improvement.

NFP 4300 Operational Strategy and Structures (4 Credits)

Passionate people create nonprofit/nongovernmental organizations that lead with vision and drive. These leaders must build the systems, strategic activities, and supportive environments that enable the organizational mission to thrive. This course focuses on developing leaders and managers who build and grow an organizational plan that includes business planning, data-driven decision making, program evaluation, service enterprise, strategic planning and internal innovation to lead a thriving organizational culture of learning to guide the organization’s evolution and relevance.

NFP 4305 Nonprofit Program and People Management (4 Credits)

Nonprofit/nongovernmental organizations of different sizes must develop effective human resource and program management systems to be well-managed and deliver mission impact. These foundational systems include relevant professional development for managers, staff and board members that support continuous improvement, engagement and cultivate a positive organizational culture. This course will examine effective program management practices including performance monitoring and improvement, relationship management, remote work, cross-generational work, minimizing churn, feedback systems, workflow analysis, appropriate resource allocation, and closure. Course content will tie together the program and people management systems and practices needed in diverse organizations to ensure leaders and managers have the tools to deliver mission impact.

NFP 4310 Community Organizing, Voice and Empowerment (4 Credits)

Leading meaningful community change to address social problems involves effective organization strategies and communication that include storytelling, social media, and community engagement. Students will examine power, privilege, and oppression in personal and community contexts to develop strategies that honor and engage community members. Developing impactful messages and crafting different delivery methods are key components to effective community organization and empowerment. Nonprofit/nongovernmental organization leaders need to develop their voice and empowerment strategies to meet community members in community contexts and to engage them through diverse strategies. Evaluating outreach efforts and community impact are also examined.

NFP 4400 Principles and Practices in Social Enterprise, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (4 Credits)

To address increasingly complex developmental challenges with meaningful solutions, nonprofit leaders seek to foster innovation, strengthen strategy, and build agile organizations in the social sector to create a more sustainable and scalable impact. In this course, students explore the why, what, and how of social enterprise in the nonprofit and NGO sectors. Additionally, the course provides an overview of the shared characteristics of social enterprises and the frameworks and tools that help build and make them effective. All course content is examined through a global lens with insights into the benefits and risks of using social enterprise strategies for social impact in diverse organizations.

NFP 4405 Social Enterprise Strategies (4 Credits)

This course prepares students for social enterprise global leadership by guiding them through the process of designing, launching, or scaling a social enterprise adapted to region-specific global conditions. Students apply specific strategies and tools to select a social impact goal and design a viable business model that creates and delivers value for targeted beneficiaries and customers. The business model assignment can be for a new social enterprise or a growth strategy for an existing one. In either case, the model is designed to achieve measurable social impact with financial stability provided by sustainable sources of earned income. Students will also learn how to select and apply organizational strategies best aligned with relevant global conditions, ESG goals (environmental, social, and governance), and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

NFP 4410 Social Enterprise Experiential Learning (4 Credits)

NFP 4701 Topics in Nonprofit Leadership (1-4 Credits)

The content of this course varies each time it is offered. Topics may include time-sensitive issues in the field of communication, elective courses that are not scheduled regularly during the course of the year, or advanced inquiry into core-course subjects, such as ethics, human communication theory, or interpersonal communication. Each time the course is offered, the specific content is announced in the quarterly course schedule. Depending on the subject matter, students may be required to have completed prerequisite courses.

NFP 4901 Capstone Project (4 Credits)

The Capstone Project provides students the opportunity to research a topic, problem, or issue within their field of study, and work individually with a Capstone advisor. Similar in weight to a thesis, but more flexible, this final project will synthesize and apply core concepts acquired from the program. The student will select an appropriate Capstone advisor who is knowledgeable in the field of study to work closely with and whom can guide the research project. Evaluation will be focused on the quality and professionalism of applied research and writing; critical and creative thinking; problem-solving skills; knowledge of research design, method, and implementation; and contribution to the field and topic of study. Please see the Capstone Guidelines for additional details. Prerequisites: A Capstone Proposal that has been approved by both the Capstone Advisor and the Academic Director, unconditional acceptance as a degree candidate, completion of at least 40 quarter-hours (including all core courses) with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better.

NFP 4902 Capstone Seminar (4 Credits)

The Capstone Seminar is a graduate seminar in which students utilize the knowledge and skills gained through the degree program to create a culminating work that critically addresses a problem in their degree field of study. The students produce a Capstone of 7000-8000 words that presents a position on a relevant problem, supports the position with professional and academic literature, analyzes and tests the proposed solution, and discusses the findings as related to the field of study. The seminar is dependent upon quality, collegial discussion, and feedback of students’ research and work products, under the facilitation of a faculty member. The course structure guides the students through the process of independent, secondary research and writing of a Capstone. No primary research is allowed. Students generate the course content through ongoing discussion and peer feedback on the Capstone process and individual topic areas under investigation. Students professionally and academically communicate through written work and oral presentation. Students must have: Acceptance as a degree candidate, completion of at least 40 quarter-hours (including all core courses) with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. Students must complete the Capstone Seminar in one quarter; no incomplete grades are assigned.

NFP 4904 Interdisciplinary Capstone Seminar (4 Credits)

The Interdisciplinary Capstone Seminar is a graduate seminar in which students utilize the knowledge and skills gained through the degree program to create a culminating work that critically addresses a problem or issue in the degree field of study. Members of the class will include students from various UCOL programs, representing multiple topics of study. On campus offerings of this course include required online components. The student produces a paper of 7000-8000 words that presents a position on a relevant problem or issue, supports the position with professional and academic work in the field, analyzes and tests the paper position, and discusses the role of the findings within the field of study. Students professionally and academically communicate their findings through written work and oral presentations. The seminar is dependent upon active and collegial discussion and critique of student research and work under the facilitation of a faculty member, and it is governed by the quality of participation and contributions of the students. Students must have: Acceptance as a degree candidate, completion of at least 40 quarter-hours (including all core courses) with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better. Students must complete the Capstone Seminar in one quarter; no incomplete grades are assigned.

NFP 4905 Graduate Social Research Methods (4 Credits)

This course provides graduate students with a basic background in the methods of research in the social sciences. In our information-rich society, organizations and institutions have become more aware of the value of research data for informing critical decisions. As leaders in their organizations, graduates should have a knowledge base that allows them to critically examine basic research in the social sciences and to understand the methods involved in generating research results. They should understand the value of research to their organizations, be able to identify opportunities to gather information through research that will benefit those organizations, and participate in the ethical design of basic studies to gather that critical information. Students will develop and write a research proposal around a specific research question informed by a review of the literature.

NFP 4920 Portfolio Capstone (4 Credits)

The Portfolio Capstone course provides students the opportunity to reflect on graduate studies work at University College, synthesize their learning, and focus on the future. Students in the Portfolio Capstone course produce deliverables which may include: (1) an annotation of the program's portfolio signature assignments with reflective, critical, and creative thinking about the educational experience, (2) an examination of competencies developed, and (3) a pinnacle project that identifies, analyzes, and elaborates a significant theme(s) in the program experience. Students will reflect on and evaluate accomplishments, connect coursework to professional goals, and assesses those goals in the context of the concentration or nonprofit focus. The capstone is an applied project that is a relevant contribution to the student's future and the nonprofit industry.

NFP 4980 Internship (0-4 Credits)

The Nonprofit Leadership Internship is designed to offer students a purposeful experience in a practical, industry related setting. The internship is an individualized learning experience. A training plan is created for each student in conjunction with the internship site supervisor to provide experiences related to the skills and knowledge covered in the certificate and master's programs as well as professional goals. Students are responsible for finding their own internship site and proposing their internship ideas. University College will send notification to all NFP students if they hear of internship possibilities. Students may also work through the DU career center, to explore opportunities for internship experiences. To be eligible for an internship, completion of a minimum of 28 hours of graduate coursework in the field of specialty is required OR Academic Director approval for students with previous work experience in the field.

NFP 4991 Independent Study (1-8 Credits)

This is an advanced course for students wishing to pursue an independent course of study. Before registering for the independent study, the student must be accepted in a degree program, have earned a grade point average of 3.0 or better, obtained the approval of the department director, and have completed the Independent Study form and filed the form with all appropriate offices. Independent Study is offered only on a for-credit basis.