ORG5700EN - Trends & Methods in Program Evaluation for Non-Profit Organizations

Course description

While many nonprofit organizations may have a laudable purpose, not all organizations demonstrate efficiency in reducing operating costs. In this course, students will identify the ways in which a nonprofit organization can improve its visibility and contributions to the community while reducing administrative costs, thereby increasing the way it provides for its constituents. This course will touch on the value of grant writing and evaluation planning, as well as the importance of aligning the organization’s operations with its mission statement.

How this course benefits students

How does a nonprofit organization know if it is meeting its goals and operating in accordance with its mission statement? Is the organization being a good steward of the assets given to it? These are the questions students will address in this course. Students will evaluate the programs operated by nonprofit organizations to see if they satisfy the stated objectives of the organization.

Why this course is important

Government programs that aid those in need are often unwieldy and financially inefficient. Many nonprofit organizations start out with certain objectives but then stray from their initial focus and values. In this course, students will analyze nonprofit programming to assess whether the programs are consistent with an organizations mission statement and objectives.

Credit hours
3 hours
Subject area
Organizational Leadership
Educational level
Master
Learning type
Instructional
Prerequisites
None
Upcoming terms
Pending
* Schedule subject to change. Please contact the Registrar's office with schedule questions.

How this course relates to missional core values

Biblically based

Christian practices include helping the poor and unfortunate. Christian organizations should operate efficiently and maximize those assets that are available for the organization’s purpose. Christ calls us to be good stewards of what we are given. There are ethical standards that guide solicitation of funds for organizations and comport with Biblical principles for managing others’ money.

Missionally driven

All Christians must be on mission to be the feet of Jesus in contributing their time and assets to organizations that meet the needs of their communities. Government organizations are often not the most efficient when meeting needs. Our world needs Christian-based non-governmental organizations to be the feet of Jesus in our world. In this course, students will examine how to live out God’s mission for their life by providing for God’s children by ensuring that the organization meets its mission and purpose and minimizes unnecessary administrative expenses.

Contextually informed

This course will provide students with an understanding of how critical nonprofit organizations are in providing services and how evaluating its programs differs from the evaluation of a traditional corporations profit and loss statement.

Interculturally focused

Nonprofit organizations address the needs of many cultures, both in the United States and abroad. Being sensitive to the needs of people of all cultures aids organizations to be the most effective.

Practically minded

This course will provide students with practical knowledge of how to be good stewards of an organization’s financial assets, but also to fulfill the mission of the nonprofit organization and how to most effectively design nonprofit organizational programming.

Experientially transformed

This course will provide students with the knowledge to dispassionately evaluate an organization’s programming to ensure that it aligns with the organization’s core values and mission statement.