Changing government policy and its implications for nonprofit management education

Abstract

Nonprofit management education and training programs have grown tremendously in the past twenty years, especially in graduate schools of public administration and policy. This growth reflects in part the sharp increase in the number of nonprofit organizations as well as important changes in public policy, such as greater emphasis on performance and accountability, shifts in government funding, and increased competition for public resources. These changes in public policy have also prompted an increase in hybrid organizations, including new partnerships, collaborations, and coalitions involving nonprofit organizations. This transformation of public policy and its effect on nonprofit organizations needs an integrated approach to nonprofit management education that entails the inclusion of nonprofit management content in the required curriculum of graduate public management programs. Given the changes in public policy and their impact on nonprofit organizations, new governance models are also needed to inform research, practice, and curricular development for nonprofit managers.