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Our program is built on the national standards established by the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council, the international membership association comprised of academic centers or programs at accredited colleges and universities that focus on the study of nonprofit/nongovernmental organizations, voluntary action, and/or philanthropy.
Acquire the tools and space to expand your perspective and understanding of the full range of possibilities to bring about social change. Bring your values forward and examine what it means to lead with purpose, while simultaneously setting your organization’s transformation in motion.
Establish yourself with passionate leaders from all levels, including a thriving alumni network, ready to make change happen. Gain the skills and competencies to make connections, flourish in your organization, and build power within communities.
Leverage your experience into a new role, created specifically for you, by you. Take an entrepreneurial approach to thinking globally about current nonprofit issues and community-based solutions. Reflect on your leadership and act deliberately for social change in the rapidly growing and changing nonprofit sector.
You act on your values, think critically, share and apply knowledge in real time with peers and in organizations. This foundation builds a diverse cohort of students who move through the program together, fostering relationships and collaboration. Throughout the MNPL program, you also present professional work to peers and organizations, building connections along the way.
Designed for working adults with evening and weekend classes
Active alumni network of regional nonprofit and philanthropic leaders
Scholarships and financial aid available
Leadership / Governance / Strategic Planning / Finance / Fundraising / Marketing and Communications / Human Resources Management / Program Design and Evaluation / Applied Research
Dynamic coursework, taught by a distinguished mix of Seattle U faculty and practitioner instructors, builds on the diverse professional experiences that you and your cohort bring to the classroom.
Your core coursework includes your 3-credit practicum
If you have extensive leadership and managerial experience, you may petition to replace the practicum with an elective course.
The program culminates in the Capstone Project, a synthesis of focused academic study and the results of your community practicum experience.
Nonprofit Leadership - Integrates theory, practice and skills on topics critical to functioning as a leader in a nonprofit organization. Students will examine their own leadership ideas, styles, and behaviors in relation to general principles and to their own organizational contexts.
Fundamentals of the Nonprofit Sector - Discusses the development and function of the nonprofit sector as a social institution, both in the U.S. and internationally. Reviews multiple disciplinary approaches to the sector including history, law, economics, sociology, anthropology, critical theory, and philanthropy.
Nonprofit Policy and Advocacy - Understanding how nonprofit organizations can work productively with governments, businesses, and other nonprofits to develop and maintain sound public policies that serve the interests of the organization and their constituents, framing public problems and developing policy proposals, building effective partnerships and advocacy campaigns, and complying with lobbying regulations.
Nonprofit Governance - Examines how nonprofits are governed and current issues in nonprofit governance. Analyzes nonprofit board and executive director roles in leading change, decision processes, and legal and ethical behavior. Explores theories and strategies to understand and improve nonprofit organizations’ performance and accountability for sector leadership.
Planning and Evaluation - Study and practice of planning and evaluation for nonprofit organizations, programs, and cross-sector collaborations. Topics include traditional and emerging approaches to strategic thinking, forecasting, and decision making; theories of change; evidence-based practice; equity and ethical evaluation; and promoting a learning organization.
Financial Management - Planning, reporting and controlling of fiscal resources and overall management control systems, budgeting, terminology and principles of financial accounting and program evaluation, analysis of financial statements, responsibility and program structure, internal controls and audit responsibility, managerial financial controls and pricing.
Nonprofit Marketing and Communications - Considers multiple strategies for marketing to support an organization’s mission, developing and implementing a marketing plan, ethics in persuasive communications, working with the media, and tying these functions to the ability of the organization to attract financial support.
Social Justice in the Third Sector - Social justice as a key component of the third sector. Exploration of historical and contemporary frameworks for social justice in the U.S. and globally, and application of those frameworks to nonprofits and philanthropy. Focus on structural inequality, power, privilege, and social location. Interaction with practitioners working for social change.
Fundraising and Philanthropy - Overview of fundraising theories, techniques and practices for nonprofit organizations, and the history and development of philanthropy. Topics include motivations for giving, ethical concerns, donor research, types of funding sources, annual giving, campaigns, events, solicitation techniques and channels, new mediums, and the increasing impact of global philanthropy.
Practicum - Integrates and applies the nonprofit theories being learned in the course work with the realities of the workplace. Provides students the opportunity to apply their knowledge in a variety of nonprofit skill areas within local nonprofit organizations. 1 credit/quarter in Year 2. Learn more here.
Applied Research Methods - Prepares students to design and conduct effective research projects relevant to nonprofit organizations and the nonprofit sector. Topics include the processes of social research, the uses of theory, distinctions between quantitative and qualitative research, research ethics and the protection of human subjects, data collection and data analysis. Students will learn how to select the best methods for the issue or problem being researched, develop a research plan for the program capstone, and identify how to develop effective research reports and communications.
Leading Staff and Volunteers - Best practices relating to staff and volunteer management and motivation. Focusing on skills necessary for successful leadership in nonprofit organizations such as: stress management, communications, power and influence, conflict management, diversity, equity, and inclusion. In addition, the course will emphasize the opportunities and challenges with staff and volunteer recruitment, engagement, and retention.
Practicum - Integrates and applies the nonprofit theories being learned in the course work with the realities of the workplace. Provides students the opportunity to apply their knowledge in a variety of nonprofit skill areas within local nonprofit organizations. 1 credit/quarter in Year 2. Learn more here.
Elective Option (3 credits) - Choose from Nonprofit Leadership Courses such as Grantwriting and Grant Management, Individual Giving, or a course from another University department as approved by your advisor.
Practicum - Integrates and applies the nonprofit theories being learned in the course work with the realities of the workplace. Provides students the opportunity to apply their knowledge in a variety of nonprofit skill areas within local nonprofit organizations. 1 credit/quarter in Year 2. Learn more here.
Capstone - Independent research analyzing and proposing resolution to a significant nonprofit leadership issue or management problem that synthesizes, through application, a wide variety of the leadership management skills and knowledge taught throughout the program. The course requires completion of a physical product and an oral presentation
Elective Option (3 credits) - Choose from Nonprofit Leadership Courses such as Grantwriting and Grant Management, Individual Giving, or a course from another University department as approved by your advisor.
When completing the Master of Nonprofit Leadership program, students should possess specific core competencies in certain areas including:
