Nonprofit Leadership Courses

The Pacific University Master of Nonprofit Leadership is a fully online program that can be completed in 13 months with full-time enrollment or in two or three years with part-time enrollment. Students may also choose a concentration in rural nonprofit leadership or environmental nonprofit leadership. Explore some of the course opportunities below.

Nonprofit Leadership Residency I (4 Credits)                                

Personal Leadership Development (NPL 501) | 2 credits   

Leaders who know more about themselves, the better skilled they are at developing & leading others. 

Understanding ourselves helps us understand others and our preferences for communication, decision-making, and approaching our daily lives. We will participate in the Meyer-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to discover our preferences and apply them to our professional development and the workplace. We will also use Strength Finders and other tools that increase our leadership skills.

• Critical Perspectives of Nonprofits as Public Benefit Corporations: Nonprofits are faced with dynamic challenges and opportunities to remain viable and relevant to their missions and communities. Nonprofits as businesses are different from a for-profit entity. Discover best practices and changes that should be adopted from the other sectors to remain sustainable. 
• Decision-making: Leaders make decisions based on multiple variables, criteria, and situations. Leaders must be adaptable while assessing opportunities and risks, using values-based judgments, and inclusive processes.
• Operational Excellence: Skills for maintaining excellence; setting standards; project management; reports and accountability; etc. 

Choose One of the Following Colloquium Topics

• Colloquium: Rural Nonprofit Specialization (NPL 502) | 2 credits
  Rural nonprofits face challenges from limited donor bases, developing local collaborations with local governments and other organizations, maintaining staff, and community engagement. Colloquium introduces these unique and other challenges and opportunities of rural nonprofits through seasoned practitioners, funders, and board governance consultants. Specific topics will be addressed from student requests and current trends in the profession.  
• Colloquium: Environmental Nonprofit Specialization (NPL 503) | 2 credits
  Local and regional environmental organizations have unique attributes and missions that guide their direction and actions. Within the environmental community nature-based learning centers consist of all the common challenges, responsibilities, and opportunities of other nonprofits plus the stewardship of lands and conservation. Colloquium introduces and integrates unique challenges with best practices through seasoned practitioners, consultants and donors.
• Colloquium: Nonprofit Organizations (NPL 504) | 2 credits
  This colloquium is designed for those wishing to gain both a broad and in-depth academic and practical applications with the nonprofit profession without choosing either the Rural or Environmental specialization. Colloquium introduces and integrates unique challenges with best practices through seasoned practitioners, consultants and donors.

Required Online Courses

• Board Governance as Collaborative Leadership (NPL 554) | 2 credits
• Developing the Capacity of People (NPL 532) | 2 credits
• Managing People (NPL 533) | 2 credits
• Building Collaborations and Partnerships (NPL 552) | 2 credits
• Field Placement/Project in Action (NPL 600) | 2 credits
• Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement (NPL 550) | 2 credits
• Fiscal Management and Budgeting (NPL 510) | 2 credits 
• Resource Development Strategies (NPL 520) | 2 credits
• Managing Meetings & Projects (NPL 540) | 2 credits
• Program Innovation and Design (NPL 556) | 2 credits
• Developing a Strategy-Based Culture (NPL 530) | 2 credits
• Impact and Iteration (NPL 558) | 2 credits

Plus one of the Following

• Special Topics in Nonprofit Organizations (NPL 555) | 2 credits
• Special Topics in Rural Nonprofits (NPL 560) | 2 credits
• Special Topics in Environmental Nonprofits (NPL 570) | 2 credits

Nonprofit Leadership Residency II (NPL 601) | 4 Credits                                        

Leading Nonprofit Organizations

Leadership is never just about oneself; rather it focuses on developing a culture of team, building capacity of others, and practicing systems thinking.

Colloquia: Critical Perspectives of Nonprofits as Public Benefit Corporations

• Dynamics of Community Change 
  Every nonprofit leader needs to understand the dynamics of human and community change to be effective in their mission and service with the community. This SESSION explores the research and principles about what makes people, and groups of people, make progress on the areas that are important to them to promote durable, meaningful, transformational change. 
• Building and Sustaining a Movement
  The challenges of culture and system change requires leaders of nonprofits not only to manage their own organizations, but to engage with the broader issues that resonates with the hearts and minds of communities. 

Projects in Action – Presentations