Master of Nonprofit Management

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Contact Us

Contact Bob Choquette (choquett@uoregon.edu) with questions about admissions procedures and Associate Professor Dyana Mason (dmason@uoregon.edu), faculty director of the Nonprofit Management Program, with questions about the curriculum.

Degree Overview: Master of Nonprofit Management

In as little as 12 months you can complete the Master of Nonprofit Management (MNM). The MNM is a comprehensive professional graduate degree focusing on management and leadership in nonprofit organizations. Coursework covers practical, hands-on skills, including nonprofit financial management, grant writing, fundraising, and management. The curriculum enables you to graduate with specific nonprofit leadership skills critical for pushing nonprofit organizations and foundations forward.

The Master of Nonprofit Management degree focuses on management and governance skills specific to the nonprofit sector, including:

• fundraising
• financial management
• role of a board of directors
• strategic thinking for working with a broad range of community partners and stakeholders

Right Fit for You

We seek passionate students who want to lead organizations, serve communities, and change the world.  Many of our students are career-changers, seeking to move from for-profit sector careers to nonprofit ones. Others may have worked as volunteers in their community or at schools. To support your professional growth, we have a career services director who will help you identify your targeted professional career path and build a plan to achieve it. Our students are in high demand by nonprofit employers and are also competitive in their applications for prestigious internship and fellowship programs.

Hands-on Learning

All of these functions are very different or absent from the for-profit and government contexts featured in MBA and MPA degrees. For example, you will understand how foundations make funding decisions as your class makes a large grant to a regional nonprofit chosen by students. During your studies, you will serve on a nonprofit board of your choosing. And in the Nonprofit Consultancy course, you will work with organizations to tackle problems they’ve asked for help with.

Program Timeline

For full-time students, the program takes as little as 12 months to complete. In addition, many working professionals can complete the requirements in 2 to 3 years at part-time status. Your advisor will help you design a course sequencing plan that works for your schedule.

Tuition rates per term depend on the number of credits you take and your residency status. Please see the Office of the Senior Vice President for Finance and Administration's website for current tuition rates.

Careers

Students involved in our program span a range from recent college graduates to those who have worked in the nonprofit sector for decades. For mid-career and working professionals, the degree can help you round out your skills and prepare you for advancement in your organization or field. Our wide range of electives, both in our department and across campus, also helps you develop expertise in areas not traditionally associated with a nonprofit management degree, including social entrepreneurship, youth development, or global studies. Many of our students have law and graduate degrees in other fields and are returning to school to obtain the specific expertise to lead nonprofit organizations.

Recent graduates of the program have obtained positions such as:

• statewide coordinator for a network of social service organizations
• food bank development associate
• membership and giving manager with an arts organization
• communications specialist for a health policy institute

Accredited

The Master of Nonprofit Management Program was the first in the world to be accredited by the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council. Our faculty expertise, breadth of nonprofit coursework, and mix of students from around the globe provide you with an immersive experience that will shape your career trajectory.

Faculty Spotlight

Professor   
Renee Irvin

In the nonprofit world, large donations from the richest Americans are growing in size, and their proportion of total giving is rising as well. That is one observation by PPPM  Professor Renee Irvin in an article for The Conversation, “What’s a major donor? A fundraising expert explains.”

Irvin sheds light on other aspects of philanthropy, too, from “ultra-high net-worth individuals” to capital campaigns.

Read More

 

Master of Nonprofit Management Degree Requirements (54 Credits)

The 54-credit program prepares students to become effective and creative leaders in the nonprofit sector. The program includes four components:

• Core courses: 33 credits
• Elective Field of Interest: 9 credits
• Internship: 3 credits
• Capstone Project: 9 credits

Master of Nonprofit Management Required Courses

Core Courses

The required core courses provide students with the financial, revenue development, and management skills to be effective leaders in the nonprofit sector. Courses are usually scheduled in the late afternoon and evening to allow working professionals access to them (for example, once per week from 4 to 7 p.m.). All required courses are offered annually, with the exception of Grant Proposal Writing (quarterly) and some courses with duplicate sections in the summer term.

• PPPM 522 Grant Proposal Writing (1 Credit)
• PPPM 581 Fundraising for Nonprofit Organizations (4 Credits)
• PPPM 586 Philanthropy and Grantmaking (2 Credits)
• PPPM 615 Foundations of Applied Analysis (4 Credits)
• PPPM 618 Public Sector Theory (4 Credits)
• PPPM 623 Professional Development (1 Credit)
• Analytic skills course: quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, or survey methods (4 Credits)
• PPPM 680 Managing Nonprofit Organizations (4 Credits)
• PPPM 584 Public and Nonprofit Financial Management (4 Credits)
• PPPM 687 Nonprofit Board Governance (3 Credits, 1 Credit Each Term)
• PPPM 638/639 Capstone (9 Credits)

Course Descriptions

Master of Nonprofit Management Fields of Interest (9 or more credits)

Click on the links below to see a description and sample list of elective courses for each field of interest. Course offerings change, so sample course lists may not include courses of interest to you or may include courses unavailable in the coming year. Courses marked with an * indicate a special course designation. This may indicate that instructor approval is needed to register for the course, the schedule is irregular, or course fees apply. Check the UO Course Catalog for more specific information.

Internship and Professional Development Training (4 Credits)

There are two components of the master of nonprofit management internship requirement:

1. Enrollment in the Internship and Professional Development courses (PPPM 623, 1 credit; PPPM 663, 1 credit)  
2. Completion of an internship (PPPM 604, 3 credits)  

Master of Nonprofit Associated Faculty

To learn more about the faculty members in the School of Planning, Public Policy and Management currently engaged in research and teaching relating to the nonprofit sector, visit the faculty directory.

The School of Planning, Public Policy and Management is a full institutional member of the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC).

Give to Nonprofit Programs

Donors make it all possible. Private gifts enable our faculty members and students to cross boundaries, share ideas, and innovate.

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