Course Syllabus

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ORG301: Nonprofit Human Resources

Instructor & Contact Information

The People tab in Canvas 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

The goal of this course is to prepare a nonprofit manager with effective human resources tools, policies and processes. The course is focused around the student developing human resources tools at each stage of an employee’s life cycle: hiring, onboarding, training, employee evaluations, corrective action and employee separation. The course centers around building components of the final project - a nonprofit manager’s employee supervision toolkit & manual.

Course Outcomes

After completing this course, you will be able to:

  1. Outline an organization’s hiring process.
  2. Develop key documents needed in hiring including job postings, job descriptions and interview script and scoring.
  3. Develop a plan to onboard and train new employees.
  4. Write a sample performance evaluation of an employee using best practices.
  5. Apply best practices of managing difficult staff members and develop a corrective action plan and separation plan for a sample employee.
  6. Evaluate an employee manual to ensure that it follows best practices and addresses key legal issues.
  7. Review a volunteer program to identify processes and best practices.
  8. Create a nonprofit manager’s employee supervision toolkit manual synthesizing practical human resources tools.

Degree Program Outcomes

Degree outcomes are the overall skills and knowledge we expect you will have after successfully completing a degree program at City Vision University. This course supports the following program outcomes, marked with an asterisk (*). After completing the degree, you will be able to do the following in each of the listed domains:

  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.

Additional Policies:

This syllabus is subject to change without notice up until the first day of the semester. Last updated: September 21, 2022

Course Summary:

Date Details Due