Nonprofit Organizations

The Master of Arts in Nonprofit Organizations is an advanced professional degree for those desiring careers as leaders of nonprofit organizations. The curriculum for this program includes core courses in key aspects of this field, supplemented by supervised internships and electives for specialization.

The primary objective of the Master of Arts in Nonprofit Organizations is to educate graduate students for careers in the nonprofit sector. To this end, the curriculum provides

1. Essential background knowledge of the scope, dynamics, and distinctiveness of the nonprofit sector.
2. Key skills in the administration and leadership of nonprofit organizations, such as working effectively with staff and volunteers, fund raising, program evaluation, and ethical judgment.
3. Practice and application in actual nonprofit organizations through internship opportunities.

Graduate students in the UGA Master of Arts program in Nonprofit Organizations will be expected to develop and demonstrate their mastery of content and skills through a variety of core courses, internships, electives, and supervised research projects. Monitoring progress will draw upon course performance, individual self-assessments, the views and reactions of others (students, faculty, professionals), and coded assessment instruments and exercises. The curriculum is designed to be completed over three semesters and one summer. This allows sufficient time to educate generalists in nonprofit organizations and at the same time permit some degree of further specialization (for example, in human resources management or financial management). Part-time students are welcome. The scope of the curriculum and the areas of emphasis reflect our discussions with faculty and managers of nonprofit organizations as well as comparative analyses of other leading universities' programs in this field. 

The specific structure and content of the curriculum include three major components:

1.  Five core courses (3 hours each = 15 semester hours. You are required to take the following three courses:

• MNPO 7123 – Theory and Management of Nonprofit Organizations
• MNPO 7106 – Program Evaluation
• MNPO 7060 – Fundraising

The two remaining courses may be chosen from the Core Courses listing (see below) .

2.  Two semesters of an internship, 3 hrs. each = 6 semester hours (MNPO 7055)
OR
One semester of an internship, including an independent research project = 6 hrs.  This option requires prior approval by the program director.

 3.   Four related elective courses for specialization (3 hrs. each = 12 hours)

TOTAL NUMBER OF HOURS REQUIRED FOR THE DEGREE = 33

CORE COURSES

Two (2) of the following core courses are required for your program of study.  In addition, you may choose from this list of core courses for your electives.

• MNPO 6023 - Nonprofit Human Resources
• MNPO 6162 - Ethical Issues in Professional Practice
• MNPO 7153 - Community Assessment and Empowerment
• MNPO 7377 - Managing Volunteers
• MNPO 7423 - Innovation and Change in Nonprofit Organizations
• MNPO 7957 - Grant Writing for Nonprofit Organizations
• ALDR 7200 - Leadership
• ALDR 7350 - Group, Team, and Organizational Development
• EADU 8190 - Human Resources Development
• EADU  8200 - Theory and Practice of Educational Change
• POLS 6490 - Administrative Law
• WFED 7110 - Strategic Human Resource & Organization Development

1. Resume/CV. Submit a current resume or curriculum vitae detailing work, educational, professional and volunteer experience.
2. The M.A. in Nonprofit Organizations program requires the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), the Miller Analogies Test (MAT), or the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) for admission, as well as a cumulative undergraduate grade point average (GPA) of no less than 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
3. Certification of finances forms (international applicants)
4. Minimum TOEFL score requirement: overall score of 80 with at least 20 on speaking and writing
5. Minimum IELTS score requirement: overall band-width of 6.5, with no single band (score) below 6.0.
6. Goals Statement. Please send a statement/essay of approximately 3 pages in length that outlines your interest in graduate education and a career in the nonprofit sector.  A successful statement reflects your passion for working with nonprofit organizations, describes the impact you hope to make in your career and addresses the following questions:

• Why are you seeking a Master’s degree in Nonprofit Organizations?
• What experiences, professional and/or personal, have led you to pursue the MA NPO?  Please outline why the program at UGA is of particular interest to you.
• What are your professional goals regarding work in the nonprofit sector?  Please include a brief outline of your areas of interest with respect to both content (ie: environment; arts; human services; etc.) as well as process (ie: grant writing; program evaluation; program management and administration; etc.).  

7. Three Letters of Recommendation (one academic and two from employment supervisor or other director/mentor). The letters may be submitted one of three ways:

• Via email.  They must be formal recommendation letters on letterhead and submitted as an attachment to the initial email. Letters in the body of the email will not be accepted. We will only accept emails sent directly from the recommender.
• Via mail directly to the M.A. in Nonprofit Organizations Program Office. The letter of recommendation may be mailed directly to the MA NPO Program Office.
• Submitted online via the Graduate School admissions web site. 

*All of the above departmental requirements may be submitted electronically or by mail

Scholarships

• Assistantships