Course Syllabus

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ORG101: Introduction to Nonprofit and Ministry Management

Instructor & Contact Information

The "Meet Your Instructors" page in this course provides information on the course instructor and you can send a message to your instructor following these instructions. Faculty are expected to: 1) grade and return assignments, with feedback, within 7 days from the date of submission; 2) reply to your Canvas messages within 72 hours; 3) reply several times each week in total in the discussion forums (not to each individual student); and 4) demonstrate the core values of City Vision University.

Course Description

This course is a survey of the field of nonprofit management, providing an introduction to nonprofit boards, finances, leadership, strategy, marketing, fundraising, human resources and social entrepreneurship. By explaining how all parts of a nonprofit organization work together, this course helps leaders resolve tensions between program/ministry staff and senior management/fundraising staff. It also explains how to balance between entrepreneurial staff and the operations/accounting staff. This course also helps students develop a degree plan and career plan to succeed. Because of the mentoring nature of this course, this course has three live video meetings that are required and one live advising session. The meetings are in Weeks 2, 4 and 6 as well as a live advising session that you can pick a time from several options in week 8.

For students who are not currently working at a nonprofit organization or ministry, but would like an internship, this course helps students find an internship. Completing this course and finding an internship is required before students can take our ORG350/615 Internship/Practicum course.

This course is intended to be an orientation course for students in City Vision’s Nonprofit Management, Ministry and Business degrees, so it should be taken as early as possible in your program if you are pursuing one of those degrees.

Course Outcomes

After completing this course, you will be able to:

  1. Identify foundational theories and specialized skills of nonprofit management including nonprofit boards, finances, leadership, strategy, marketing, fundraising, human resources and social entrepreneurship.
  2. Make use of the results of your individual Workplace Behavioral Profile in developing your own professional development plan.
  3. Describe the importance of each of the four quadrants of the Competing Values Framework for nonprofit management skills: Collaborate, Control, Create and Compete.
  4. Apply concepts of nonprofit management into a specific context of a ministry, church or other nonprofit organization.
  5. Identify and develop a relationship with a nonprofit organization to provide practical contexts for assignments in their degree program and advance your career (including seeking an internship if desired).
  6. Create a self-management plan, degree plan and career plan synthesizing the material covered in this course.

Each course objective listed above is tied to an eight-week period listed below under the “Course Schedule” table.

Degree Program Outcomes

Program outcomes are the overall skills and knowledge we expect you will have after successfully completing a certificate or degree program at City Vision University. This course supports the following program outcomes, marked with an asterisk (*). After completing the program, City Vision’s graduates will be able to do the following:

  1. Nonprofit Structure. Apply the roles and responsibilities of a nonprofit board of directors and the management team to provide governance and leadership to the nonprofit organization.*
  2. Finances. Apply basic accounting and budgeting principles in order to successfully manage the finances of a nonprofit organization.*
  3. Fundraising/Marketing. Apply basic marketing, communication and fundraising strategies in operating a successful nonprofit organization.*
  4. Nonprofit management. Apply nonprofit management principles related to program development, ethics, decision-making and nonprofit legal and regulatory requirements.*
  5. Human resources. Apply the essential elements of nonprofit human resource management including volunteer management, hiring, firing, supervision and legal considerations.*
  6. Vocation. Create a synthesis of a reflective life vision and plan to enable 24/7 ministry based on God’s purposes for work and their own unique calling.
  7. Cross-Cultural Ministry. Develop plans to apply cross-cultural principles toward effective ministry across diverse cultures.

Required Texts

Students are required to purchase these texts before the first day of classes. 

Guidelines for Written Work

All written work must follow our Writing Format and Forum Requirements. You must read these to understand how to cite sources appropriately.

Critical Policies to Read for This Course

Note: These policies are critical for all students to read. In case of change, we have linked to the versions on our website to make sure you have the latest version.

This syllabus is subject to change without notice up until the first day of the semester. Last updated: December 15, 2021

Course Summary:

Date Details Due