The Business of Not-for-Profit Management
Fall 2014. Wednesdays 5:00 – 7:25pm
Location: Meyer 261
Professor: Aria Finger, ariafinger@nyu.edu
TA: Nami Mody, nmody@dosomething.org
Office Hours (by appointment)
Mondays from 5-6pm at the Do Something office (19 west 21st street)
Wednesdays at 7:30pm, directly after class
Anytime! Just shoot me an email
This course is a general introduction to not-for-profit management, with heavy emphasis on practical application. How
do not-for-profit organizations actually function? How do they attract “customers?” How do these companies grow
when there are no owners with financial incentives to expand the business? What are the core elements of a successful
not-for-profit company? How do you keep the lights on through fundraising and how do you expand through marketing,
communications, and the use of technology? What are the metrics for determining the health of a company without
profit? And, why would anybody want to work in such a crazy place?
The assumption of this course is that students are interested in careers, internships, and/or board positions at not-forprofit companies. Students will be exposed to theory and criticism of the sector as well as real world application via case
studies.
This course will meet weekly for 2.5 hours. The course materials are a combination of case studies, book excerpts, actual
organizational materials, IRS filings and recent newspaper, magazine and journal articles. While several readings are
listed for each session, most are relatively short: you are expected to come to class fully prepared to discuss the week’s
readings. Class participation is taken very, very seriously. Expect several guest speakers throughout the course. I will, at
times, send out links to additional articles that are not reflected below to supplement class discussion. These articles are
required reading unless otherwise noted.
Course Grading:

Class Participation
15%

First Writing Assignment:
10%

Midterm Exam:
20%

Final Project Outline
10%

Final Exam
20%

Final Project
25%
o
10% group grade
o
15% individual grade
1
September 3rd: Introduction to the Course
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Expectations for the semester
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What is a 501(c)3?
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Restrictions, requirements, fiscal sponsors, etc
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Legal expectations of not-for-profits
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Board of Directors
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Due Today: Choose your “favorite” not-for-profit and be prepared to discuss it in class
September 10th: Communications and Marketing part I - How to do more with less
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Brand development
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Brand execution
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Brand assessment
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Advocacy and activism
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Explanation of 1st Writing Assignment
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Readings:
o
John Quelch, “Habitat for Humanity International Brand Valuation”, HBS Case Study
o
DoSomething.org Communications Guide
o
Seth Godin, Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Becoming Remarkable
o
Nathalie Kylander & Christopher Stone. “The Role of Brand in the Nonprofit Sector”. Stanford Social
Innovation Review. Spring 2012.
http://www.ssireview.org/articles/entry/the_role_of_brand_in_the_nonprofit_sector
September 17th: Communications and Marketing part II
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Marketing in the world of facebook, twitter, instagram, kik, snapchat, etc
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Social media tools and how to employ them most effectively
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Crisis communications
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Explanation of Group/Final Project
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Guest Speaker: Glenn E. Martin, Just Leadership USA
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Readings:
o
Jon Krakuer, Three Cups of Deceit: How Greg Mortenson, Humanitarian Hero, Lost His Way
o
Adam Braun Response to Jon Krakuer Criticism. Adam Braun, “Three Months Later -- Learnings from
the Greg Mortensen Controversy.” Huffington Post, July 21, 2011,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-braun/greg-mortensen_b_906235.html
o
Video: KONY 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc
o
KONY 2012 criticism – blog post from “Visible Children” on March 7th, 2012.
http://visiblechildren.tumblr.com/post/18890947431/we-got-trouble
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o
Alexandra Bruell, “Can Komen Recover from PR Crisis?” Ad Age, February 6th, 2012.
http://adage.com/article/news/komen-recover-pr-crisis/232540/
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DoSomething.org Risk Factors Chart
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Just Leadership USA Documents sent via email
September 24th: Finance Day (your favorite!)
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How to read a Form 990
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Governance
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Not-for-profit income and expense reports
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How to read cash flow statements
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Theory and practice of restricted funding
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Guest Speaker: Jason King, Turning the Page
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Readings:
o
4 Central Asia Institute Documents + in-class handout from Jason King
o
Clara Miller, “The Four Horsemen of the Financial Apocalypse.” Nonprofit Quarterly, 2010
o
Dan Pallotta, “The Tax Form Tax,” HBR, 4/2010
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Do Something Fiscal Policy Document
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Russ Buettner. “State Seeks Data on Pay of Leaders at Nonprofits”. New York Times, August 25,
2011. [http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/nyregion/state-seeks-data-on-pay-of-leaders-atnonprofits.html?hp]
o
Francie Ostrower and Marla J. Bobowick. “Nonprofit Governance and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.”
Board Source.
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The Simplified Guide to Not-for-Profit Accounting, Formation & Reporting, p. 40-86 and 259 – 268
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Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher Memo on duty of care
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Do Something Board of Directors Responsibilities and Expectations Policy
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Michael Cooper, “Squeezed Cities Ask Nonprofits for More Money.” New York Times, May 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/us/12nonprofits.html
October 1st: Fundraising part I
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Government
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Events, individuals, foundations
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Guest Speaker: Dave DeLuca, DoSomething.org
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Readings:
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Rosaline Juan, “Pyrrhic Fundraising”. Stanford Social Innovation Review
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Michael Porter and Michael Kramer, “Philanthropy’s New Agenda: Creating Value”. HBR
o
Rick Cohen. “Throwing Cold Water on Ice Bucket Philanthropy.” Nonprofit Quarterly. August 19,
2014.
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Care for the Homeless Annual Report
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“#NextGen Donors,” Michael Moody and Sharna Goldseker. The Johnson Center for Philanthropy,
2013
o
“Why Raising Money for Ebola is Hard”. Planet Money.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2014/09/26/351515481/episode-571-why-raising-money-forebola-is-hard
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Due Today: First writing assignment (hard & electronic copy)
October 8th: Fundraising part II
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Finish up individual & foundation fundraising
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Cause marketing
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Guest Speakers: Baylee Greenberg, Muneer Panjwani & Darren Mastropaolo from DoSomething.org
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Readings:
o
Aneel Karnani, “The Case Against Corporate Social Responsibility”, WSJ. August 2010.
o
Nancy Lublin, “Why For-Profits Need Not-For-Profits”, Fast Company, 3/2009
o
Dan Pallotta, “We Need to Rethink Fundraising,” HBR. August 9th, 2010
o
Ron Nixon, “Bottom Line for (RED)”, NY Times
o
Sarika Bansal. “Shopping for a Better World.” The New York Times. May 9, 2012.
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/09/shopping-for-a-betterworld/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=1
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Due Today: Bring in evidence of a cause marketing campaign from the past 2 years. On a separate sheet
of paper, write down your name along with the name of the campaign, the NGO, and the company
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Due Today: The Not-for-Profit your group is going to focus on for the final project (must be approved by
me prior to class)
October 15th: In-class midterm
October 22nd: Fundraising part III
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Finish up cause marketing & corporate fundraising
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Earned income
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New ways to fundraise
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Readings:
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William Foster, “Money to Grow On”, SSRI
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William Foster, “Should Nonprofits Seek Profits”, HBR
o
James Phills, Brian Tayan, “AARP and AARP Services, A Multi-Sector Approach to Social Change”
o
David Bornstein, “For Ambitious Non-profits, Capital to Grow.” Fixes Column, New York Times. June
27th, 2012. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/fixes/
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Due Today: Outline for your group presentation
October 29th: Human Resources, Operations & Scaling Up
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Owned & operated, franchised, web-based
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Staffing a not-for-profit company
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Recruiting and managing volunteers
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Guest Speaker: Cesar Bocanegra, DonorsChoose.org
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Readings:
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Community Wealth Ventures, “Nonprofit-Owned Franchises: A Strategic Business Approach” (2004).
http://bit.ly/qrs5yB
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HBS Case Study on Dunkin Donuts
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Do Something International Application
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Jerry Hauser, The McKinsey Quarterly, 2003 “Organizational Lessons for Nonprofits”
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“Scaling Social Impact in Six Steps”. By Sarika Bansal. June 29th, 2012. Dowser.org.
http://dowser.org/scaling-social-impact-in-six-steps/
o
Debra Mesch, “Management of Human Resources in 2020: The Outlook for Nonprofit
Organizations” (Public Administration Review, Dec. 2010)
o
Amy Gallo, “How to Prevent Hiring Disasters”, HBR. May 2010
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Darrell Rigby, “Innovation in Turbulent Times”, HBR. June 2010
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Stephanie Strom, “Philanthropists Requiring Management Courses to Keep Nonprofits Productive.”
New York Times. July 29th, 2011
o
Peter Kim & Jeffrey Bradach, “Why More Nonprofits Are Getting Bigger.” Stanford Social Innovation
Review. Spring 2012
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Nancy Lublin & Aria Finger. “Radical Focus and Driving Demand for Scale.” Stanford Social
Innovation Review. May 28th, 2014.
o
Peg Tyre. Beyond School Supplies: How Donor’s Choose is Crowdsourcing Real Education Reform.
Fast Company. Most Innovative Companies 2014.
http://www.fastcompany.com/3025597/donorschoose-hot-for-teachers
November 5th: International Organizations
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Managing from afar, understanding local customs
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Impact Investing & development challenges
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Legal requirements
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Measurement
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Post-Disaster Response
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Readings:
5
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Video: "David Damberger: What happens when an NGO admits failure"
http://www.ted.com/talks/david_damberger_what_happens_when_an_ngo_admits_failure.html
o
HBR Case Study on Mercy Corps
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“Priming the Pump: The Case for a Sector Based Approach to Impact Investing”, Matt Bannick &
Paula Goldman, The Omidyar Network.
o
Jeff Sachs. “The Case for Aid.” Foreign Policy. January 21t, 2014
o
Simon Marks. “Somaly Mam: The Holy Saint (and Sinner) of Sex Trafficking”. Newsweek. May 21,
2014. http://www.newsweek.com/2014/05/30/somaly-mam-holy-saint-and-sinner-sex-trafficking251642.html
o
Additional Case Studies on International NGOs Forthcoming (required)
November 12th: Data, Metrics & Measurement
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How to create a data-informed culture
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Big data, A/B testing
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Charity Navigator
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How to measure results in a not-for-profit
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Guest Speaker: Bob Filbin, Crisis Text Line
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Readings:
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Matthew Forti and Kathleen Yazback. ”Data’s Not Just for Donors—It Can Improve a Nonprofit’s
Work”. Philanthropy.com. April 27th, 2012. http://philanthropy.com/article/How-Data-Can-Improvea/131342/
o
The Bridgespan Group, “How Do I Measure Performance—Both Mine and My Grantees’—in a
Practical Way? “http://givesmart.org/tools/How-Do-I-Measure-Performance-Mine-and-MyGrantees.aspx
o
Harvard Business Review, “A Data Scientist’s Real Job: Storytelling.” Jeff Bladt & Bob Filbin. March
27th, 2013. http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/03/a_data_scientists_real_job_sto.html
o
Robert Kaplan & David P. Norton. “Putting the Balanced Scorecard to Work.” Harvard Business
Review. September 1993.
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Robert Kaplan & David P. Norton. “Using the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management
Document.” Harvard Business Review. July – August 2007
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Impact Section of the Robin Hood Website. http://www.robinhood.org/impact
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Charity Navigator: Where We Are Headed (2013 & Beyond).
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=1193#.VAaTsLxdVYc
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Charity Navigator: How Do We Plan to Evaluate Results Reporting.
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=content.view&cpid=1507#.VAaT6rxdVYc
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Sample KPI Dashboard for a Mid-Sized NGO.
6
November 19th: New Models of Giving Back
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For-profits v not-for-profits
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B-Corps
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Cross-sector collaboration
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Public speaking tips for your final presentation
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Readings:
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“Steve Jobs, World’s Greatest Philanthropist.” Dan Pallotta.
http://blogs.hbr.org/pallotta/2011/09/steve-jobs-worlds-greatest-phi.html
o
Stephanie Strom, “A Quest for Hybrid Companies That Profit, but Can Tap Charity.” New York Times.
October 12, 2011. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/13/business/a-quest-for-hybrid-companiespart-money-maker-part-nonprofit.html?_r=2&emc=eta1
o
Heerad Sabeti. To Reform Capitalism, CEOs Should Champion Structural Reforms.
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2011/10/to_reform_capitalism_ceos_shou.html#.TqaWfYGJuLs.email
o
Greg Beato. “From Petitions to Decisions”. Stanford Social Innovation Review. Fall 2014
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B Corporation 2013 Annual Report
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Ryan Honeyman. “What’s the Difference Between Certified B Corps and Benefit Corps?” Triple
Pundit. August 26th, 2014. http://www.triplepundit.com/2014/08/whats-difference-certified-bcorps-benefit-corps/?utm_source=WEEKLY+TriplePundit+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=bf81a0a0c4Weekly_May_29_20145_23_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_1d50d22c4a-bf81a0a0c4220231057
o
Aaron Hurst. “Is Business the New Charity”. Stanford Social Innovation Review. June 26th, 2012.
http://www.ssireview.org/blog/entry/is_business_the_new_charity?utm_source=Enews12_06_28&
utm_medium=email&utm_content=3&utm_campaign=hurst
November 26th: Thanksgiving. No Class
December 3rd: Group Presentations (this date may move slightly)
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Half the groups present
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All students required to be here for presentations
December 10th: Group Presentations
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Second half of groups present
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Note: This is not an official class day as it runs on a Monday schedule. If your group signs up for this day,
please ensure that you don’t have a conflict with a Monday night class
Week of December 15th: Final Exam. During Scheduled Exam Time.
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