Instructor

Dr. Alex Combs

Email: Alex.Combs@uga.edu

Office Location: Baldwin Hall 278

Office Hours: M/F 1:30-3:00 or by appointment (in-person or Zoom)

"We should have aggressive and wild ambitions that are only anchored by plans, not by doubts."

- Stacey Abrams

Course Description

Classroom: Baldwin Hall 301 (Social distance capacity: 11)

Meeting Times: M/W/F 12:40-1:30

This is an introductory course designed to give students an overview of nonprofit organizations—why they exist, how they operate, and what challenges they face. Students will gain the skills and knowledge necessary to work with or for nonprofits and understand the basics of starting their own. 

The course consists of four parts. First, students will explore the history and scope of the nonprofit sector, along with theoretical explanations for its existence. The second part focuses on leading and managing nonprofit organizations through vision, mission, personnel, volunteers, and boards. The third part focuses on financial resources gained through philanthropy, grants, and enterprise activity, as well as how to manage finances. Part four places nonprofit organizations in the external context by exploring marketing, advocacy, and coalition-building. Throughout the course, students will engage in project-based learning by crafting a nonprofit design proposal attuned to the management techniques and challenges found in the readings and discussion. Additionally, students will interact with leaders in the nonprofit sector.

Course Objectives

By the conclusion of this course, students are expected to be able to:

  1. Discuss the history, theories, and scope of the nonprofit sector.
  2. Critically analyze management issues and challenges of a nonprofit organization.
  3. Engage with the nonprofit sector to learn challenges and opportunities.
  4. Craft a proposal for the creation of a nonprofit organization and communicate it to others.

Required Materials

The materials we will use for this course include the following:

Course components & Expectations

I am expected to hold in-person sessions for at least some subset of students every day that we are scheduled to meet. Our classroom--Baldwin 301--cannot accommodate all students and abide by social distancing. Therefore, approximately half of the class roster will be invited to attend each class session in-person on a rotating basis, while the other half can attend virtually at the same time or watch the recorded lecture at a later time. At the beginning of the semester, I will finalize this schedule and share with you which class sessions you are invited to attend in-person. It is your choice whether to attend in-person a class session to which you are invited. I have tried to design the class such that both in-person and virtual modes deliver as similar an experience as technology and my ability allows. Following Thanksgiving Break, there are no in-person class sessions.
Students are expected to complete all readings/videos prior to the class for which they are assigned. Doing so will facilitate class discussion and activities as well as help students prepare for graded assignments.
Discussion boards will be used as needed for students to share ideas and project deliverables.
Students are expected to complete two written assignments: 1) A report on an existing nonprofit that includes an interview with a manager of the nonprofit, and 2) A nonprofit design proposal. The report is an individual assignment. The nonprofit proposal is a group project. Details about each can be found here and here.
Students are expected to complete six quizzes throughout the semester. The quizzes are intended to prepare students for the midterm exam and evaluate competency after the midterm exam. The quizzes will be brief. The content will emphasize key topics from the readings/videos and class discussion. Quizzes will be administered via eLC. Students will have two attempts for each quiz and be able to see their score on the first attempt. All questions will be multiple choice.
Collaborative work will occur in the form of in-class activities and case studies as well the nonprofit proposal project. The collaborative work designed in this course will accommodate social distancing. Likewise, students are expected to follow social distancing and any other guidance related to COVID-19 while working collaboratively. While a considerable portion of class is dedicated to allowing collaborative work on the nonprofit proposal project, students will likely need to collaborate outside of class. Students are expected to schedule and manage their own meetings outside of class. It is the responsibility of students within a group to notify the instructor if another group member is not meeting expectations set by the group. In that case, the instructor will intervene and mediate a solution that may involve assigning grades individually based on the quantity and/or quality of each student's work.
Students are expected to complete a midterm exam that will be administered via eLC. As such, students are allowed to use any resources available to them when taking the exam except for other people. To reiterate, the midterm exam is an individual assignment.
As a University of Georgia student, you have agreed to abide by the University’s academic honesty policy, “A Culture of Honesty,” and the Student Honor Code. All academic work must meet the standards described in “A Culture of Honesty” found at: http://honesty.uga.edu/. The Academic Honesty Policy can be found at: https://honesty.uga.edu/Academic-Honesty-Policy/
Students who seek special accommodations due to a disability should contact me during the first week of the semester or as soon as the need for the accommodation is discovered. I will work with the Disability Resource Center (706-542-8719, http://drc.uga.edu/) to provide appropriate accommodations.
The Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) grants students certain information privacy rights. See the registrar’s explanation at https://osas.franklin.uga.edu/ferpa-and-privacy FERPA allows disclosure of directory information (name, address, telephone, email, date of birth, place of birth, major, activities, degrees, awards, prior schools), unless a https://reg.uga.edu/_resources/documents/imported/FERPARequestForRestriction.pdf is submitted to the Registrar's Office.

Course Etiquette and Netiquette

Assignments

Assignment Percent of Final Grade
Quizzes (6) 15
Midterm Exam 25
Report on Existing Nonprofit 30
Nonprofit Design Proposal 30

Grading Criteria

Your final grade will be based on the following:

Letter Grade Percentage
A 93-100
A- 90-92
B+ 87-89
B 84-86
B- 80-83
C+ 77-79
C 73-76
C- 70-72
D 65-69
F 64 and below
I Incomplete