Institutions Prepare Students for Nonprofit Leadership

In response to the high number of students seeking nonprofit careers, a growing number of institutions are offering undergraduate courses and degree programs in nonprofit management, reports The Chronicle of Higher Education.

The increasing number of colleges that offer undergraduate courses prompted the Nonprofit Academic Centers Council — whose membership grew from 35 to 47 universities in the past six years — to release the first-ever curricular guidelines for undergraduate study in nonprofit leadership last year. The Bridgespan Group, a consulting and research organization that serves nonprofit groups, estimates that by 2016, charities will need to fill 640,000 senior-management jobs to fill the vacancies left by retiring baby boomers.

Maureen F. Curley, president of Campus Compact, a coalition of about 1,100 college presidents, says the opportunity to lead charities is more appealing to new graduates than it was in the past. “This generation has more experience than any other already because of the community-service requirements they grew up with in high school,” she says.

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