Category Archives: Leadership

Jesuit, Leadership, Management

Leadership Exercises: Jesuit Paradigms for Cura Universalis

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Cura Jesuitas
Stain Glasses of the Life of St. Ignatius of Loyola representing three levels of care and conscious value leadership

We Live in an Age with Old Legacies and New Challenges

How do Jesuit practices help us better confront current and future challenges? We live in an uncertain time spanning from  old racial and economic disparities, recurring pandemics, and new emergencies due to climate change. This era requires new paradigms and strategies to develop globally conscious and sustainable values-driven leaders, managers, entrepreneurs and innovators. That is why I have created the Leadership Exercises, a tool to help promote the development of conscious value leaders for global responsibility and the common good.  While started in the MNA ethical leadership courses in 2015, the latest version of the Leadership Exercises was launched on the occasion of the Ignatian Year (2021-2022), commemorating the 500th anniversary of St. Ignatius of Loyola’s conversion which ultimately gave rise to the Ignatian method of discernment known as the Spiritual Exercises.  I is now integrated in value-leadership courses at the University of San Francisco’s School of Management. 

The Need for New Paradigms in Management Education 

How can Jesuit business schools promote new paradigms for educating for the common good and our common future?  Jesuit education is (and should be) teaching that transforms both mindsets through value-leadership discernment and skillsets directed toward a career which transforms the world for sustainability and the common good (Tavanti & Davis, 2018). “It is commendable that the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) has promoted a Working Group of business education leaders who have advanced new inspirational paradigms for Jesuit business education inspired by the United Nations’s 203o Agenda with its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Pope Francis’ Encyclical Letters Laudato Si and Fratelli Tutti. “While cognizant of the vulnerable, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA) of the fourth industrial revolution and of the urgencies created by the COVID-19 pandemic, they also recognize the moral, social and global responsibility towards a more value-based, sustainable, and inclusive solutions for our communities and stakeholders” (Garanzini, et.al., 2020). The Deans and other Jesuit academic leaders of this working group acknowledge how corporations worldwide are changing the way they do business pushed by new policies and frameworks for sustainability reporting in the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. These are a few paradigm shifts in business practice compelling academia in general and Jesuit business schools in particular to implement a sustainability paradigm shift in their curricula offerings, pedagogical approaches, leadership skills, and stakeholder engagement.” (Tavanti, Sfeir, Wilp, 2021). 

The Leadership Exercises as Tool for the New Paradigms 

An important question to ask is if our teaching methods effectively promote personal and professional capacity for value-driven leadership. In Jesuit schools we talk about Jesuit values,  but how can we better integrate professional capacity with ethical, transformational and globally responsible leadership?  If we recognize the urgency of renewing our education for the challenges of these new times we need to adopt these new paradigms and integrate new tools. The Leadership Exercises are a tool for promoting the values-driven mindsets and conscious discernment skillsets to help make the world a better place through our decisions, priorities and actions. The  Leadership Exercises expand on the Management Exercises, a promising example of integrating Jesuit paradigms for leadership development with principled discernment for personal, social, global and systemic decision-making (Stackman & Connor, 2016). Similar to the 4 steps of the Management Exercises (self, others, organization and society), the 12+ steps of the Leadership Exercises  integrate three levels of discernment as  cura personalis (care for the whole person), cura apostolica (care for the community and society) and cura universalis (care for our common good, common home, and common future).

Cura Universalis as Care for for the Common Good

The notion of Common Good is central in Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and a well-known concept in philosophy, economics and political science. Yet, it finds little exploration in management and business education. The Jesuit paradigms for care for our personal, collective and global well-being can be a powerful pathway to develop common good leadership mindsets. Jesuit educators generally refer to the value of cura personalis, but it may not be enough to address the professional, social, environmental and global challenges of our times. How can we go deeper and wider in the Jesuit education of leaders so that their personal value-awareness is also conscious-competent for our common good and common future?

“Well-done education at a Jesuit university transforms a student and prepares him or her for work that promotes the common good, while allowing that student to discern his or her vocation in life and, in the long run, to flourish as a human being. This is the transforming power of education on a Jesuit campus rightly understood: personal transformation that leads to societal transformation through the ongoing dialectic of personal freedom and social responsibility” (Quinn, 2016).

A hallmark of Jesuit education, cura personalis means “caring for the whole person” as Superior General Wladimir Ledóchowski, S.J. first stated in the 1930s as one of several tools for fostering students’ intellectual, moral, and spiritual development. Cura apostolica has been identified as complementary to cura personalis, as it represents the same intimate knowledge and compassion but extended beyond a single person or interpersonal relations into a collective, organizational, institutional, professional and social responsibility. If cura personalis is about principles and virtues as values in action, cura apostolica is about the practice and mission as ethical discernment and applications of values and virtues into the challenges and complexities of our world.

Cura personalis and cura apostolica are powerful paradigms for educating men and women for others but may be inadequate without an extended perspective for cura universalis propelling our leadership call into new dimensions. An integrated mindset for the common good needs to be more than caring for the whole person or for caring about the work and its mission. It needs to realize its call to love the entire universe Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam Inque Hominum Salute – for the sake of God’s love (unconditional) and the well-being (safety and prosperity) of humanity. The Jesuit realization of its mission for the global common good builds on the CST paradigms that pushed its diverse educational institutions toward a critical role within the Church in favor of social justice and the global common good. These three levels of care represent contexts of action (contempl-action) and a renewed perspective for Ignatian pedagogy for sustainability education and conscious sustainability leadership (Sfeir-Younis & Tavanti, 2020; Tavanti & Wilp, 2021).

The cura universalis is about developing a mindset for conscious sustainability leadership. It is reflected in what Aristotle calls  eudaimonia or true happiness, well-being, prosperity and “blessedness” (Sfeir-Younis & Tavanti, 2020, p. 98). It is here where we appreciate what Lakota Native American people call Mitakuye Oyasin meaning “all my relations,” “we are all related” or “all is related” in the universe and we are part of this interconnectedness.  It is in this sphere that we develop our interconnected consciousness beyond economic systems, social relations, and natural worlds. Here, spiritual intelligence is about a higher level of consciousnesses beyond but not excluded from rational, emotional, social, cultural, executive, and moral intelligence.

The following model summarizes the leadership development. stages and  levels of consciousness that are behind the design of the Leadership Exercises. It is explained in details and borrowed from the study on common good Jesuit education available in Tavanti, M. & Wilp. E. (2021). A Common Good Mindset: An Integrated Model for Sustainability and Leadership Management Education. In Rimanoczy, I. & Ritz, A. (eds.), Sustainability Mindset and Transformative Leadership: A Multidisciplinary Perspective. Palgrave Macmillan. 

Care Common Good
The Levels of Care and Consciousness for the Common Good Leadership Development as in the Leadership Exercises (Tavanti & Wilp, 2021).

Feel free to use the Leadership Exercises for your personal leadership development journey or integrated into your courses (just give credit).  If you would like to know more about the Leadership Exercises and its pedagogical model for business leadership education for the common good, please contact Dr. Marco Tavanti at mtavanti@usfca.edu 

Certificate, Leadership, Pastoral

EDUCATION FOR PASTORAL ADMINISTRATION

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Seminarians who study theology in the Catholic Church receive a good foundation in philosophical studies and pastoral work but receive little education on how to properly administer the human and financial resources of a  parish or other faith-based organizations and programs.

Their education is centered around the development of value leadership for human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral maturity in the communities they are called to serve. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) recognizes the importance of a well-rounded education for Catholic Priests and reminds us about the important integration of educational competencies for leadership and administration. In addition to the core elements of their formation, management and leadership skills are key competencies for a pastoral administration that truly reflects Gospel values.

“The pastoral formation program should provide opportunities for seminarians to acquire the basic administrative skills necessary for effective pastoral leadership, recognizing that programs of continuing education and ongoing formation will be necessary to equip newly ordained priests to assume future responsibilities as pastors. Additional leadership skills include an ability to manage the physical and financial resources of the parish, including educating parishioners about the gospel value of stewardship, and an ability to organize parochial life effectively to achieve the goals of the new evangelization.” (USCCB, 2001, par. 239, p. 81).

To date there are few educational programs which effectively integrate leadership values with organizational development, financial management and human resource management (DiPaolo, 2012). This lack of integrated curricula that combines personal values with organizational best practices, can be attributed to the two sides of the spectrum of theology on one side and management skills on the other.  Traditionally, religious leadership formation was primarily focussed on the spiritual and personal growth of its candidates rather than promoting practical competencies and necessary skills necessary to run organizations, programs and initiatives (Callahan, 2013). Management education has primarily concentrated on for-profit enterprises obfuscating the ethical responsibility that our economic institutions have toward our common humanity and moral aspirations (Wankel&Stachowicz-Stanusch, 2012).

Responding to the call to better integrate leadership values with financial management skills and human resource administration, the University of San Francisco’s Nonprofit Administration Program in the School of Management designed a program to address this important need. In dialogue with Rev. Fr. Paul Fitzgerald, SJ, USF President and Most Rev. Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, Dr. Marco Tavanti, Director of the MNA Program and Professor of Nonprofit Administration launched the Pastoral Leadership and Management in Organization (PALMO), a professional and graduate level certificate for faith-based organizations and church leaders.

It is offered yearly as a summer program through intense trainings of nonprofit ethical leadership, financial administration and HR management focussed on nonprofit, charities, and churches. The PALMO Certificate includes some of the same competencies of the Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA), the first one of its kind established in 1983. The 12 credits of the program can be used toward the completion of an Executive version of the Master degree (EMNA) of 36 credit units. Participants benefit from learning and interacting with executives and scholars in the nonprofit sector during the first two weeks (last two weeks of May) and continue the learning through online project-based, interactive exercises, online discussions and case studies (during June and July). They complete the educational program by presenting their projects  designed to be a practical preparation to their current leadership vocation and/or leadership assignment (during in the first week of August).

The competencies developed during this program include:

  1. Understanding how churches, religious institutions and other faith-based organizations relate across economic sectors of society and how they are classified for taxation and purposes.

  2. Understand ethical decision making from a value-based leadership standpoint in the complexity of organizational administration and beyond moral assumptions.

  3. Understand financial analysis, budgeting and reporting in relation to funds sustainability and concern for common good financial resources, nonprofit economic systems and social enterprise solutions.

  4. Understand human resource management, collaboration and communication in relation to diversity, equity, inclusion, social justice and cross-cultural relations.

  5. Understand systemic change and policy influence for promoting collective impact and addressing the root causes of poverty, marginalization, injustice and human right violations.

Participants are selected and sponsored by the Bishops of their Diocese or corresponding superiors or supervisors. The University of San Francisco offers partial or full scholarship to Dioceses and candidates in need. It also makes available residence space at the Loyola Village during the intense trainings of the program.

Read more about the PALMO program and how it integrates in the Executive Master of Nonprofit Administration here. 

For additional information on the Certificate contact Dr. Marco Tavanti

Dr. Marco Tavanti is native of Arezzo, Italy, the birthplace of Michelangelo. In the last 30 years he has develop value-based and cross-cultural leadership training programs for Dioceses, congregations and missionary projects. He has worked in various administrative positions for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in partnership with the United Nations and engaged in poverty reduction and social justice in Latin America, Southeast Asia and East Africa. In addition to his Ph.D. in Sociology focussed on the sociology of religion and social movements, he studied at Gregorian University / Studio Teologico Fiorentino, and completed a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) and a Master of Cross-Cultural Theology at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago (CTU). At University of San Francisco’s School of Management, he teaches primarily in the area of nonprofit analysis, ethical leadership and sustainable development.  http://www.marcotavanti.com/

Education, Innovation, Leadership, Social Sector

One Small Step for Nonprofits, One Giant Leap for the Sector!

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Article written by Dr. Marco Tavanti and originally posted on Linkedin on August 21, 2019 https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/one-small-step-nonprofits-giant-leap-sector-marco-tavanti/

The Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC, founded in 1991), the leading organization promoting and regulating nonprofit management education, achieved an important step in 2019. It launched the first accreditation for nonprofit specific educational programming. The Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA) program at University of San Francisco (USF) was one of the first programs to be officially accredited on July 1, 2019. While this accreditation process may not make headlines among nonprofit professionals, organizations, and even nonprofit students, it is a giant leap towards the professionalization of the sector. Older and more established accrediting processes specific to business administration (MBAs) such as The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International, founded in 1916), and those specific to public administration (MPAs/MPPs) such as The Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA, founded in 1970) have opened their processes to nonprofit management or nongovernmental leadership programs. However, the nonprofit and social sector is something that requires specific education to guarantee the managerial competencies and leadership capacities for more impactful and effective not-for profit businesses and non-government administered organizations.

As a student of history, I was reading about the professionalization of careers. Interestingly, there was a time in which today’s highly regulated and exclusive professions such as medical doctors and surgeons were simply “glorified barbers” with sharp tools for limb cutting and “bloodletting-cures.” To this day, the typical barber pole its red-white and later red-white-blue versions that are ubiquitous symbols of the barbershop emerged in the middle ages to signify the “barber–surgeons” practices. It took centuries and radical cultural changes to legitimize and regulate the medical professions through a rigorous and accredited education. Sometimes, it seems that the nonprofit sector is still at this rudimentary stage. Successful business leaders claim to know what our communities need and, leveraged by their financial donations, they enter the social /nonprofit sector prescribing cures based on their concerns for businesses and efficiency. Yet, nonprofit organizations in their multifaceted identities of charity-tax exempt organizations, nongovernmental-international development organizations, community based and faith-based organizations, social movements and social enterprises are more complex than what they first appear. Nonprofits require more than business acumen. They involve more than good intentions of volunteers. They need competent and dedicated professionals equipped with managerial skills and good values of compassion and humanity. They need leaders and managers capable of combining business sustainability with human rights-based policies. If we are serious about the well-being of our communities, we should also be serious and respectful of the competencies necessary for nonprofit administration and social sector management.

The NACC accreditation process assesses these complexities specific to nonprofit management education. Its prioritization for managerial competencies combined with social-humanitarian values reflect the root of Jesuit college education forged 500 years ago. The MNA-USF (established in 1983) has been a pioneer in advancing the specifics of nonprofit administration, management and leadership careers combining the necessary organizational competencies with the essential community equity, human dignity, and inclusive diversity mindsets. While other MBA-like and MPA-like programs increasingly include these integrated characteristics (see PRME for example), the nonprofit specific degrees will continue to sharpen the appropriate preparation for efficient and effective careers for third-sector, philanthropy, CSR/Sustainability and for other community-driven social economy solutions. USF has been a leading example of this by establishing the first nonprofit administration MNA degree. This degree corresponds to the older MBA and MPA degrees. These degrees did not generate a unified voice with other academic institutions who preferred to develop similar but differently named degrees emphasizing management (MNM), organizations (MNO) or leadership (MNL). Indeed, the diversity of the nonprofit / social sector approach is its strength. But these differently named degrees cause confusion and slow down the professionalization process for nonprofit managers and third sector professionals who place nonprofit impact, social transformation and community benefits first.

Therefore, we congratulate NACC for leading this important accreditation process. It is a small step but also a giant leap in the professionalization of the sector. We also congratulate the faculty, administration, alumni, advisors of the MNA program at University of San Francisco’s School of Management who scored 15 out of the 16 maximum accreditation points following the NACC 2015 curricula guidelines. In addition to this accreditation of quality, the program was recognized for its integration of international perspectives, experiential learning, and social impact data analysis. We are proud of our students and graduates who lead the way for a better, more inclusive, more equitable, and more sustainable future. We are part of history! It is time to celebrate! Keep up the good work!

Award, Education, Leadership

THE MICHAEL O’NEILL AWARD AND FUTURE OF NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP EVENT

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The Michael O’Neill Award during the MNA 35th Anniversary Event, April 25, 2018

 

THE MICHAEL O’NEILL AWARD

The Michael O’Neill Nonprofit Leadership and Management Education Award is a named after USF Professor Emeritus Dr. Michael O’Neill, a recognized scholar in nonprofit leadership and management education who founded the MNA Program in 1983, the first nonprofit-specific graduate program of its kind. The award was instituted on April 25, 2018 during the 35th Anniversary Celebrations of the Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA) Program. The Award recognizes exceptional leaders who demonstrate excellence in nonprofit leadership and management with educational strategies, systemic solutions and sustainable impact.

About Prof. Michael O’Neill, Ed.D.

Dr. Michael O’Neill, Ed.D. is recognized as the father of nonprofit management education (NME) field. He demonstrated his leadership through the founding of the Master of Nonprofit Administration  (MNA), the first graduate degree of this kind. He also founded the Institute of Nonprofit Organization Management (INOM) and served as President of theAssociation for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA). He was also instrumental in the establishment of Nonprofit Academic Centers Council (NACC), the accrediting body for NME programs.

THE MICHAEL O’NEILL AWARD RECIPIENTS

Liz Jackson-Simpson

Liz Jackson-Simpson is CEO of Success Centers. We recognize her exceptional example of a committed nonprofit leader providing systemic solutions for at-risk youth and disenfranchised communities in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Alexa Cortez Culwell, MNA

Ms. Alexa Cortez Culwell, MNA  is the co-founder of Open Impact and a longtime philanthropy advisor, speaker, and facilitator. For the past 25 years she has built and managed foundations and philanthropic initiatives for successful entrepreneurs, including serving as the founding CEO of the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation. She recently completed a four-year appointment as a visiting practitioner at Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society.

Jeanne Bell, MNA

Ms. Jeanne Bell, MNA  is the former CEO of CompassPoint and current Director of the Nonprofit Quarterly NPQ‘s Advancing Practice program. She also serves in the Advisory Board of  University of San Francisco’s MNA program. She is a recognized author of numerous articles on nonprofit leadership and management including The Sustainability Mindset (Jossey-Bass, 2015).

 

THE FUTURE OF NONPROFITS EVENT

The 2019 Award Ceremony will be on Saturday May 4 during the THE FUTURE OF NONPROFIT LEADERSHIP, an annual event of the Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA) at University of San Francisco’s School of Management featuring professionals and expert leaders reflecting on current and future trends relevant to nonprofit organizations, philanthropy and social enterprise solutions for the needs of our communities.

A panel discussion representing community leaders, MNA alumni, student, faculty and advisors will respond to Liz’s remarks in their view of the sector. The Panel will be moderated by Sergio Cuellar, MNA ’17, Program Manager, Sierra Health Foundation and will include Sheryl Evans Davis, Executive Director, San Francisco Human Rights Commission and Karen Campbell, MNA Student & President, Nonprofit Student Council.

The event includes a networking reception to celebrate our graduates and review the nonprofit sector analyses of students completed in their capstone projects and featured in printed posters. These represent the experiential learning and project based values of the program that develop competent value leaders while also contributing to the capacity and effectiveness of nonprofit organizations.

Please join us to connect with nonprofit leaders, sector professionals, MNA alumni and graduating students who represent the Jesuit mission of our university to “change the world from here.”

Learn more and register for the event here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-future-of-nonprofits-tickets-59964726110 

The Posters produced by the MNA graduating students during their Capstone course exemplify the contributions that the program gives to nonprofit capacity development and data driven social impact analysis
Beatrice D. Cardenas, MNA is a respected nonprofit leader in the San Francisco Bay Area known for her inspiring advocacy for healthier and equity communities.
The Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA) Program at University of San Francisco has been a pioneer in nonprofit management education and continue to inspire innovative leadership and management solutions to complex social problems.
Leadership, Resources

Meet the new Nonprofit Student Council Officers!

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New Council Officers will help maintain institutional knowledge, better represent part-time students, and provide greater oversight and inclusion for all NSC affairs.

SAN FRANCISCO – With its mission to, “provide a unified voice for students with a focus on promoting and improving the MNA program at the University of San Francisco,” the Nonprofit Student Council (NSC) has appointed new officer positions, better serving the Nonprofit Administration (MNA) student body, and advancing NSC’s mission.

Founded in August 2015, the Nonprofit Student Council is the official student association for the Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA) program, providing a unified voice for MNA students, engagement in professional activities and opportunities, and practicing the transformational leadership needed to enhance the missions of University of San Francisco, USF’s School of Management, and the overall MNA program.

Karen Campbell ’19
President

  • Part-time MNA student
  • Karen is a consultant in the Malloy Consulting Group and actively interviewing for nonprofit leadership fundraising roles.
  • Previous work experience: An accomplished nonprofit professional with more than 15 years experience within the sector, Karen’s previous work at The San Francisco Foundation, Slide Ranch and National Dance Institute New Mexico demonstrates her passion and commitment to social justice, youth development, the environment, education and the arts.

David Byrd ’20
VP of Programming

  • Part-time MNA student
  • David is currently the Grants Manager at On Lok, a senior services agency based in SF.
  • Previous work experience: David has been writing grants for nonprofits in San Francisco and San Diego for the last 12 years and has helped secure more than $50 million in funding for programs and services. David is a California native, born and raised in nearby Davis.

Cristina Chavez  ’20
Co-VP of Communications

  • Part-time MNA student
  • Cristina is a Program Assistant in Alumni Engagement at USF’s Office of Development.
  • Previous work experience: Braille Institute of America, Cristo Rey Boston High School, and the Jesuit Volunteer Corps

Kelly Cousins ’20
Co-VP of Communications

  • Part-time MNA student
  • Kelly is a Development Associate at Family Support Services, a nonprofit whose mission is to nurture children, youth and caregivers to keep families healthy and intact.
  • Previous work experience: Kelly has been working in Nonprofits in development and administration for years. Previously, she also worked as a teacher.

Kat Alcaraz-Minnick ’20
Secretary

  • Part-time MNA student
  • Kat is employed at Stanford University and works in the Sexual Harassment Policy Office as the Training Compliance Assistant.
  • Previous work experience: Extensive nonprofit experience in higher education institutions and religious organizations. Kat is a San Francisco native who graduated from USF with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Marketing, and founded and co-operated a livery service for 10 years in San Francisco.

Sam Nelsen ’20
Treasurer

  • Part-Time MNA student
  • Sam is a RN in the Medical ICU at Zuckerberg SF General Hospital and is the head freshman boys Rowing Coach at St. Ignatius College Prep.
  • Previous work experience: Sam attended Seattle University for undergrad, and, while there, discovered a passion for nonprofit work where he led the school’s student-managed competitive club rowing team, and upon graduation started a 501(c)(3) booster organization for the club. While working at the Veterans Affairs as an RN, he coached at a local Seattle rowing team before moving into intensive care.
Engagement, Leadership, Responsibility

Experiential-by-Design in Nonprofit Education

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The University of San Francisco’s Leo T. McCarthy Center for Public Service and the Common Good  has been in the forefront of integrating community engagement in higher education. Recently, McCarthy Profiles for Community Engagement Learning included the reflections of Dr. Marco Tavanti on the MNA and now USF offered Academic Global Immersion (AGI-Rome) on Refugee Service Management as an example of experiential learning for global-local engagement (pp. 26-27).

Experiential learning, community engagement and project based education are probably the most important values behind the MNA Program. Our best practices in integrating professional experience and community have been recognized as emerging innovations and effective practices for nonprofit management education (NME), a field pioneered by Dr. Michael O’Neil in the MNA Program and his research.

In the accreditation process with the Nonprofit Academic Center Council (NACC) this feature of the MNA program was recognized as distinction of this degree as a learning beyond the classroom and beyond just service. In an article recently published by Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership (JNEL) the advantage and strategic process of of integrating  a Nonprofit Management Education (NME) programs like ours into experiential learning is crucial.

Access the entire article here:

2018 Experiential-By-Design: Integrating Experiential Learning Strategies into Nonprofit Management Education – Tavanti&Wilp JNEL

This is an excerpt from the Tavanti & Wilp JNEL 2018 article on the integration of Experiential Learning and Community Engagement into Nonprofit Management Education. These reflections and classifications should help Higher Education Institutions to thing strategically on how to integrate High Impact Practices (HIPS) into their curricula and programs.

“Learning through real-world experiences is a valued pedagogy in higher education and an essential method for educating effective nonprofit managers in the 21st century. The practical fields of management education and nonprofit management education (NME) aim to develop appropriate skills, competencies, and mind-sets relevant to administrative, organizational, and leadership careers. These objectives cannot be sufficiently accomplished through in-class lectures and activities only. They require more hands-on and community-centered approaches that increase student exposure to real-world situations while benefiting the capacity development needs of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and the sector. When the NME field started offering nonprofit-specific graduate programs in the United States with the University of San Francisco’s Master in Nonprofit Organization Management (MPA/NOM in 1983), later renamed Master of Nonprofit Administration (MNA in 1985), the need for experiential learning was not as urgent as today. Most of the students in the early development of the field were professionals with several years of experience in the sector. They sought theories to understand their own practices, along with university recognition for their leadership advancements (O’Neill & Fletcher, 1998; O’Neill & Young, 1988). The priority in these early years involved identifying the proper curriculum content rather than reflecting on the most appropriate pedagogical methods of delivery. In addition, because the students were already bringing their experiences into the classroom reflections and exercises, the need to utilize more community-centered methods was less of a priority. Michael O’Neill, along with Dennis R. Young and other NME pioneers, argued that the field had emerged to prepare those who were currently working in it or were preparing to be leaders and managers of private not-for-profit organizations, while educating public and private sector leaders and managers to interact more effectively with nonprofits (Dobkin Hall, O’Neill, Vinokur-Kaplan, Young, & Lane, 2001). Today, the distinction between very experienced and less experienced professional students is a major characteristic of the student population. This demands more strategic attention about how instructors teach and students learn, while providing more opportunities for university–community partnerships for capacity development. Properly designed experiential education activities, courses, and programs are fundamental for advancing the professional capacity of the sector and its future leaders (Cacciamani, 2017; Fenton & Gallant, 2016).

[…] “In graduate NME, experiential learning is and should be more than active learning or service learning. It is about working with NPOs to increase their organizational capacity, while accompanying students to become more effective in their competencies and capacity to consult, assess, and collaborate. The current shifts from experiential learning to experiential education and from service learning to community-engaged learning show the contributions of these models. The strategies and contextualization of the experiences in the University of San Francisco’s MNA Program can be adapted by other institutions and NME programs. They can do this by considering a community-centered model of education (Model 1), by considering a pedagogical praxis of students and community transformation (Model 2), and by designing programs that are relevant to local and global communities (Model 3).”

Model 1

This illustration shows the progression that NME program need to have to expand from a Teacher-centered model of teaching and learning into a Student-centered and beyond into a Community-centered type of experiential and project based methods

Model 2

This illustration shows how the methods for teaching and learning through experience and immersions align with the analysis and contextual engagement values of the Ignatian Pedagogical Paradigms expressed as Praxis Learning.

Model 3

This illustration highlighting the AGI-Rome methods for refugee service and forced migration management indicates the importance of connecting the global immersion with the local engagement for educating global-local (glocal) mindsets while promoting capacities for working beyond borders.

[…]  “Active learning, problem-based learning, project-based learning, service learning, and place-based learning are some of the more well-known methods associated with experiential education (Godfrey, 1999). With the growth of NME programs internationally, there is also a clearer need for educating professionals not only with theoretical, philosophical, and historical notions but also with feasible projects and activities benefiting the learner and the partnering organizations.

Experiential learning is a growing field characterized by specific applied methods, a value-based philosophy, and shared benefits across teaching, learning, and communities. “Experiential education is a philosophy that informs many methodologies in which educators purposefully engage with learners in direct experience and focused reflection in order to increase knowledge, develop skills, clarify values, and develop people’s capacity to contribute to their communities. (Association for Experiential Education, para 4). This definition is not exclusive to formal education, but it is relevant to a general approach to teaching, learning, and engagement. A wide diversity of methods, strategies, and approaches relate to practices of experiential learning across disciplines. However, such a diversity is also a source of confusion in the field.

Wurdinger and Carlson (2010) provide a useful overview of the most effective approaches to experiential learning:

  1. Active Learning: A group of experiential learning activities associated with classroom strategies such as role playing, simulation, debates, presentations, and case studies.
  2. Problem–Based Learning: Inquiry-based learning activities through in-depth investigations, self-directed research, and group-work inquiries.
  3. Project–Based Learning: A type of experiential learning that stimulates students’ interests while developing their project management capacity, technology, and research skills and analytical presentation capacity. It can be individual or group work, teacher directed, student directed, or a combination of the two.
  4. Service Learning: A well-known approach to teaching and learning that often includes planning (community needs), action (service), and reflection (learning). The emphasis is on learning. It can be student centered or community based.
  5. Placed-Based Learning: A learning focused on a particular place or context. It is a holistic approach to education that uses the immersion into a context to support the vitality of a community. It can be far (global) or near (local).

Excerpt from:

Tavanti, M. & Wilp, E. A. (2018). Experiential-By-Design: Integrating Experiential Learning Strategies into Nonprofit Management Education. Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership (JNEL), Special Issue of the Bi-Annual Nonprofit Academic Center Council Conference, 1-23. ISSN: 2157-0604.

Available full text at the Journal of Nonprofit Education and Leadership (JNEL) https://js.sagamorepub.com/jnel 

University of San Francisco MNA students meeting with the UNHCR EU representative during the Refugee Service Management AGI-Rome Global Immersion Program – January 2017. Many operators at this international organization have started their career with volunteers experiences and management entry works in nonprofits and NGOs serving forced migrants.
Dr. Tavanti with MNA and MIMS students during the AGI-Rome international Immersion Program 2018 after the visit to Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in their Italian office in Rome to understand their strategies to advocate for human rights and migration rights.

Learn more about these methods and the impact on the students and our communities here http://agirome.blogspot.com/ 

Learn more how the MNA Program integrate experiential learning for nonprofit management and leadership education here https://www.usfca.edu/management/graduate-programs/nonprofit-administration

Learn more about how our MNA program students learn through collaborative projects with nonprofit organizations and social enterprises in the Capstone Projects and Practicums for social impact analysis here https://usfblogs.usfca.edu/nonprofit/research/  

Global, Leadership, Responsibility, Sustainability

Nonprofit Innovation for Sustainability

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Ocean CleanUp Launching in San Francisco on Saturday September 8, 2018. Photo Credit: Dr. Marco Tavanti, Ph.D.

Did you know that nonprofit are at the forefront of social and sustainable innovation? In spite the persisting misconceptions of what nonprofits really are and the studied nonprofit cycle of starvation, nonprofit organizations are cradles for remarkable innovative solutions to solve our community, social and global problems.

The Rockefeller Foundation has been contributing to assess and scale nonprofit sustainable and social innovation. We appreciate the many heroes (mostly SHEroes) that become founders of initiatives and organizations to respond to specific social/environmental needs. But we need to go beyond Heroprenuership and tackle the systemic issues that prevent innovation to really be socially relevant, community beneficial and reflective of sustainable values. Dan Pallotta’s challenges to stagnant ‘charity’ solutions to systemic problems remain relevant today in the nonprofit world. Innovation for the social and common good goes beyond narrow approaches of voluntarism and philanthropy but also of businesses and governance.

Big problems needs innovative and cross-sector solutions! They also require innovation in the way we structure and legislate organizations that should fulfill triple bottom lines for social (people), environmental (planet) and economic (prosperity), but also for policies (policies) and sustainable impact (partnerships).  There are many example that already do this. One example of nonprofit social/environmental and technological  innovation is The Ocean CleanUp, an initiative started with a high school student, Boyan Slat. The objective of the organization(s) is to offer concrete, innovative and feasible solution to trash that accumulates “in 5 ocean garbage patches, the largest one being the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, located between Hawaii and California. If left to circulate, the plastic will impact our ecosystems, health and economies. Solving it requires a combination of closing the source, and cleaning up what has already accumulated in the ocean.” These solutions aim at attract nonprofit donations but also social/sustainable business investments and government commitments for the oceans, along technological advancements, volunteer engagement and social consciousness.

Donations for The Ocean CleanUp can be in US dollars through the The Ocean Cleanup North Pacific Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit foundation registered in the USA or in Euros through the Stichting The Ocean Cleanup, an ANBI foundation registered in the Netherlands. Both foundations pursuing the same goal of the organization. An ambitious project of this kind requires to go beyond innovation into scaling and impact and sustainable impact. Learn more about this project and how the technological innovation and scientific discoveries work in parallel with government policies, human behaviors and business opportunities to make the world and our oceans prosperous for life to thrive for all.

Action, Advocacy, Impact, Innovation, Justice, Leadership, Responsibility, Social Sector, Women

Social Movements: Seeing Change Through to Fruition with Strategy and Partnerships

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By Claire Lewis

Earlier this year, I participated in my first protest ever – The Women’s March. I cannot remember who organized it or who invited me to the Facebook event group; I just knew I wanted to make a difference. If raising awareness was the key objective, then we definitely accomplished that goal. According to USA Today, 2.6 individuals across 32 countries participated in this historical march. Celebrities from America Ferrerra to Madonna gave powerful speeches about the importance of women’s rights. News stations across the globe covered this momentous day.

How was such a feat accomplished? The answer is social media. Facebook protest events across various cities and states filled my newsfeed leading up to the day. I witnessed many friends mark they were “interested” or “going” to these events.

However, despite this outpouring of support, there is little to no reform. One of the issues with “social media” marches is the lack of strategy behind the effort. I, like many others, was unclear as to the main purpose or end-goal of the Women’s March. Was it a particular policy change? If so, was it related to sexual harassment, gender inequality in pay, freedom of choice, and/or all of the above?

In order to sustain long-term change in policy and legislation, strategy, goals, and hard work need to be put forth and adhered to. This Ted Talk goes into more detail on the lack of strategy behind online uprisings. As, Zeynep points out, the Civil Rights movement was incredibly successful because there was a well thought out strategy, what she refers to as “slow and sustained” and “painstaking long-term work.” The Civil Rights movement also had specific, tangible goals such as ending segregation and reversing “separate but equal.” Both individuals (ex. MLK) as well as the work of SMO’s led to major change. For example, the NAACP was instrumental in policy change. NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall, challenged segregation in the landmark case, Plessy V. Ferguson that later led to Brown v. Board of Education. The Brown Case resulted in large-scale protests such as the March on Washington.

These powerful protests are the reason for both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Clearly, both SMOs and individuals are important in a social movement. So the question is, in our current social media climate, how can we harness the power of these social media inspired protests and actually produce tangible results? To me, this is more important than whether an SMO or an individual creates a protest event on Facebook. I do not care who starts it, I just want to contribute and see change actually happen.

The first step is creation of a strategy. Many SMOs already have strategy and goals built into their programming. For example, the NAACP has various toolkits for social change initiatives. The trick is to connect SMOs to these grassroots movements so that everyone is on the same page.

Below are some ideas I brainstormed that could create movements that are more effective. I assume (and hope) that at least some of these ideas are already in place.

  • SMOs identifying and working with various grassroots protest planners to create strategies and goals together that can be communicated to the masses
  • SMOs training leaders to be part of these small grassroots movements and educate groups
  • SMOs attending various protests as guest speakers and/or handing out information
  • SMOs collaborating with influential social change leaders such as Michael Moore to ensure a goal is put in place and communicated. He does a great job, but a partnership with an SMO could be even more impactful
  • SMOs and/or individuals harnessing various media sources to make it clear what the public needs to do in order to achieve the goal (make it easy to do, easy to understand)
  • SMOs educating the public at various venues on what legislation is related to the current issue, what propositions to watch out for, etc.
  • SMOs partnering with small grassroots groups to create follow-up sessions after protests
  • SMOs and/or individuals partnering with schools and universities to provide education on various social issues and legislation to build a pipeline

Our current social media climate has so much potential for enacting real, tangible change. By harnessing the strategies that SMOs already construct and articulating clear goals, we have a chance at influencing policy change. SMOs and individuals can be much more powerful as a team, and I hope there will be more partnerships in the future. I am so proud of the Women’s March and awareness it spread, but I want to see women receive equal pay, a right to choose, and fair trials in the cases of rape and sexual assault. I want to see not just a short-term uprising, but long-term change. The partnership of SMOs and individuals can act as a catalyst to bring reform to fruition.

Ethics, Global, Impact, Innovation, Leadership, Organization, Social Sector, Uncategorized

Using Neutrality to Protect Humanity

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By Hayley Walker and Valdeir Faria Filho

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are functioning in our global society, some better than others. Some are well-known (CARE, Amnesty International, Red Cross) and use effective marketing techniques, lobbying efforts, and provide programs internationally. Others are small, local organizations that work to make life better for specific groups of people. Regardless, these diverse and varying NGOs have multiple commonalities, though they may not be fully visible on the surface. All, however, embark on missions to protect humanity.

The World Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (WANGO) is an international organization that aims to unite NGOs and promote peace and wellbeing across the globe. WANGO offers resources and support to create connections among organizations striving to create a more just, sustainable world for all. As a proponent of networks and collaborations, WANGO sheds light on the synergy that results from global organizations working towards a common goal. With widespread government support, exceptional visionaries, and dedicated donors, WANGO has worked for the past 17 years to encourage NGOs to connect across borders and without boundaries, and to hold steadfast to the following guiding principles (WANGO Code of Ethics):

  • Responsibility, service, and public mindedness
  • Cooperation beyond boundaries
  • Human rights and dignity
  • Religious freedom
  • Transparency and accountability
  • Truthfulness and legality

NGOs, in the broadest sense, cannot be for profit organizations, must be independent of government, must not interfere in domestic state affairs, and must not advocate violence (Kaloudis, 2017). However, there comes a time when disaster relief and humanitarian organizations must interfere—or rather, intervene—in domestic affairs in an effort to protect humanity. Non-governmental organizations are frequently caught in the cross-fire of waring territories, failed states, and desperate civilians, with one goal in mind: to provide relief for those in need.

During times of crisis, NGOs rely deeply on their neutrality to aid them in reaching the most people possible. In accordance with WANGO’s principle of working towards cooperation beyond boundaries, neutrality refers to refraining from taking sides on issues regarding political, cultural, religious affiliation, or other sensitive issues that may result in conflict. That does not mean that NGOs disappear or go into hiding during such conflicts, but rather work harder to serve all affected—regardless of their stance on the issues. Impactful NGOs uphold the policy of not “taking sides,” and this is crucial to the safety of workers, volunteers, donors, and civilians. However, in recent years NGOs have faced difficulty in mitigating suffering as impartial entities, in part due to assumed association with national governments or international organizations (Brechenmacher, 2015).  Aid and relief of organizations urge conflicting parties to respect their neutral stance as they provide desperately needed services to civilians, but reality does not always allow provide for this ideal situation. State militaries may claim alliances with NGOs, and rebel forces may see this alliance as a threat to their progress. NGOs, however, frequently default to the emphasizing the value of impartiality in conflict zones and assert their neutral stance to relieve human suffering—a practice that is often debated. In order to reach civilians who may be trapped or displaced deep within war zones and conflict arenas, NGOs must carefully negotiate with opposing parties. They must ensure they remain under enough security to serve, but enough neutrality to relieve the suffering civilians from all sides.

Ethics, Innovation, Leadership, Resources, Responsibility, Social Sector

Leading from the Ground Up: Establishing Ethics and Social Responsibility in USF’s Nonprofit Student Council

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By: Brandon Jones, Greg Justice, and Elizabeth Silva,

2017-18 Full-Time Cohort 

The study of ethics – historically known as “Moral Philosophy” – traces its roots to the time of early Greece, having been discussed significantly by Socrates and Plato (01), and mainly, in the pursuit of “justice.”  (No relation.)

Fast forward over two millennia – give or take a few hundred years, and we find ourselves studying ethics in a new capacity.  That is, how do we build an ethical and socially responsible student government from the ground up, paying tribute today’s standards, yet leaving an ethical structure for future cohorts?

The University of San Francisco’s Master of Nonprofit Administration (“MNA”) has within the program a fully autonomous student government – the Nonprofit Student Council (“NSC”).  NSC serves the needs, ideas, and professional development of the MNA student body.  In our official affairs, governing documents, and the spirit of our governance, NSC is building an ethical foundation, providing a respectful and dignified environment for current and future students.

NSC’s Core Values

From the very beginning of NSC’s deliberations, the executive board – the collective six officers pictured right –  has stressed the need for engagement, collaboration, and representation; access and inclusion; oversight and accountability; and, most importantly, diversity, as our guiding principles.  As the governing council for MNA students, we benefit greatly with these values, making sure we do our best to represent every student in a thoughtful and equitable manner.

NSC’s Mission Statement

Our guiding principles are best embodied in the NSC mission statement, memorializing our official commitment to these values.  The purpose of NSC is to, “provide a unified voice for students with a focus on promoting and improving the MNA program at The University of San Francisco. The NSC provides a vehicle for student perspectives, ideas, and a means of promoting events on behalf of the student body. The NSC club will promote co-curricular activities pertinent to the nonprofit field as well as support and encourage collaboration with other nonprofit professionals…”  Again, embedded in NSC’s mission statement is collaboration, representation, and inclusion, all being values allowing for ‘better’ and inclusive governance.

Code of Ethics

NSC has recently initiated the process for designing a Conflict-of-Interest policy, catered to our specific affairs and operations, and will be considering this at the next officer’s meeting.  Besides implementing this best practice, the executive board values an orderly governance system, equally available and protective of all parties.  Despite having a Treasurer and Vice-President for Communications, all financial records and official communications are shared with officers, program and university officials, and most importantly, MNA students. (We have even established a program-wide email listserv, guaranteeing all MNA students – part- and full-time – are well-informed, and have a timely accounting of their officer’s.)

Ethics Officer

Unlike other student governments and organizations, NSC has taken the step to permanently secure the implementation of oversight, access, accountability, and other related practices, with a new officer position.  Appointed just last week, Greg Finkelstein serves as the Director of Standards and Practices, ensuring organizational compliance with governing and ethical protocol.  Finkelstein also chairs the newly formed Standards and Practices Committee, bringing in independent and impartial students overseeing NSC’s compliance.

Structure

When considering any program, service, or obligation, NSC creates an “Officer’s Report,” providing assessments for risk, finance, governance, and overall compliance.  These reports provide an extra layer of administrative and ethical analysis, making sure our values and guiding principles are effectively considered in all matters before the executive board.

The board also recently adopted a 72-hour deadline for introducing and disseminating all agenda items and reports, guaranteeing equal access and consideration to all parties and stakeholders in official affairs.  Further, although our meetings regularly take place physically on our campus, all meetings are also broadcast via Zoom – a webinar platform, allowing all who desire to participate to do so.

Conclusion

Further ethical drivers – such as, risk assessment and governance analyses, leadership and ethics trainings, as well as, organizational socialization – will be the path NSC takes in our ongoing ethics quest.   Despite implementing these best practices and guiding principles, NSC cannot rest on any laurels, as we recognize maintaining an ethical and socially responsible organization requires continuous development, organizational reflection, and ongoing assessment and refinement of the overall governing structure.  

For more information about NSC, please contact NSC@usfca.edu, or visit our website at www.usfnsc.org, or Twitter @usfnsc.

Silva serves as Secretary, Justice as President, and Jones is a contributor to NSC’s development.