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Nonprofit organizations often exist to serve vulnerable, marginalized, and underrepresented communities. Yet a lack of diversity and inclusion plagues the nonprofit sector. This chapter argues that when instructors engage in more “critical” perspectives, students of nonprofit management will not only be able to consider questions of power and privilege within nonprofit organizations, but will also be able to understand the impact of power and privilege imbalances within the communities that they serve. It provides a theoretical framework for critical pedagogies, and offers two exercises that instructors may use to provide examples of the way critical pedagogy can inform nonprofit management education (NME).

A major challenge of nonprofit organizations is the maintenance of stakeholder trust through ethical conduct of business and accountability in their work processes. This chapter discusses the concepts of ethics and accountability in nonprofit organizations through the lens of principal–agent, stewardship, and stakeholder theories in concert with the NACC Graduate Guideline 4.0. These theories explain how nonprofits are held to higher ethical standards and are accountable to multiple stakeholders with diverse interests. Taken together, these theories can provide a comprehensive examination of nonprofit ethics and accountability. The chapter also examines ethical challenges and dilemmas and ways to address them. It provides discussion questions for critical thinking, classroom activities for understanding the concepts, and three case studies for the application of the concepts of ethics and accountability in nonprofit management.

Building a diverse base of support is one of the most important methods of ensuring a nonprofit organization’s long-term sustainability, and teaching fund development requires an understanding of both the science and the art of fundraising. This chapter focuses on both the practical and theoretical aspects of fund development, including a review of key fundraising theories, fund development techniques and philanthropic motivation. Aligning with the National Academic Centers Council’s guidelines on fund development, this chapter includes classroom resources, exercises, online teaching techniques and potential course assignments that are essential for teaching fund development at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

Nonprofit organizations that focus on implementing good governance practices are better prepared to lead their organizations through turbulent times and periods of organizational growth. Within nonprofit organizations, the age, size, and environment influence leadership in governance and impact the role of the board as a high functioning team. There is an increasing need to develop the next generation of nonprofit leaders by equipping them with the essential skills to support and develop strong boards and strong communities. Utilizing curricular guidelines from the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council, this chapter provides an overview of teaching nonprofit governance as well as some examples of classroom activities that instructors can implement to assist students in gaining a stronger understanding of the benefits of good governance.

This chapter provides a brief overview of three areas of United States law that nonprofit executives need to be familiar with: nonprofit tax law, the legal responsibilities of the board of directors, and anti-discrimination law. Most nonprofit organizations can be recognized by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as tax-exempt if they meet statutory criteria. However, only the organizations recognized under 501(c)(3) of the IRS code can collect tax-deductible donations, and they must be wary of the extent to which they can engage in lobbying related activities. The governing boards must be sure to exercise the duty of care, the duty of loyalty, and the duty of obedience to the nonprofit organization. Antidiscrimination law includes a prohibition on the disparate treatment of or disparate impact against any member(s) of any legally protected class, and the duty to reasonably accommodate disabilities, pregnancies, and religion.

Nonprofit marketing, the act of influencing people to purchase a product, use a specific service or create social change, has been in existence since the 1970s, yet is underutilized and underappreciated in the sector. This chapter discusses nonprofit marketing strategies, practices, and teaching tools using the NACC curricular guidelines as a framework.

A central view for understanding the performance, efficacy and financing for a nonprofit organization is its engagement of social innovation, entrepreneurism and enterprise. Recognized in sections 7.5 and 7.6 of the undergraduate and section 12.8 of the graduate Nonprofit Academic Centers Council Curricular Guidelines as core knowledge in nonprofit education, students aspiring to executive leadership are wise to distinguish these concepts as essential for setting the conditions for meaningful institution performance, demonstrable impact and mission fulfillment.