PUBPOL 5410

Nonprofit Finance, Management, and Fundraising

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2026-2027 Catalog.

Provides students with a practitioner's focus on financial, managerial, fundraising, and leadership issues in the non-profit sector and government sectors, both domestic and international, including universities, hospitals, environmental groups, arts organizations, State and Local governments, and foundations. The course will include an overview of non-profit financial statements, financial ratios, debt issuance, bond ratings, endowment management, budgeting, venture philanthropy, fundraising techniques, lobbying, auditing and ethics, tax issues, organizational governance, leadership, mergers and alliances, and executive compensation. The course includes such guest speakers as the founder of a major Indian non-profit organization, the head of credit ratings at Moody's, the leader of a social services agency, and others. The course has a mid-term and final project along with three 5-page papers on completing a bond rating for a university, balancing a budget for a hospital, and recommending merger partners for a struggling non-profit. (MPA-ECONPL, MPA-ENPO, MPA-INTPMN, MPA-SCITEC, MPA-SOCPOL, MPA-TPA)

Enrollment Information Enrollment limited to: graduate and professional students.

Last 4 Terms Offered 2026SP, 2025SP, 2024SP, 2023SP

Learning Outcomes

• Students will apply tools for evaluating financial statements in the nonprofit sector.
• Students will evaluate debt financing as a financial management strategy, including how debt financing impacts financial flexibility, financing techniques, bond ratings, and coverage ratios.
• Students will learn budgeting techniques in the government and non-profit sectors and apply those techniques in balancing a hospital budget.
• Students will evaluate various fundraising and lobbying techniques to garner resources for an organization.
• Students will evaluate frameworks for nonprofit management, including for risk management, auditing, conflict of interest, organizational governance, and partnership/alliance-building.
• Students will analyze Form 990s, and evaluate how these documents inform nonprofit tax and compliance issues.
• Students will write three to four short, analytical papers on interpreting financial ratios for a college, analyzing a budget for a hospital, recommending a merger of several nonprofits, and creating a fundraising strategy for a non-profit.

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