In this course, students are immersed in research that profiles America’s vast and varied, large and growing “independent sector.” Students explore what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to leadership and innovation in the non-governmental, not-for-profit sector. Counting only the about 1.4 million nonprofit organizations that are registered with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, America’s charities, churches, private colleges, hospitals, and other nonprofit organizations have more than $2 trillion a year in annual revenues, more than $5 trillion in total assets, and more than 14 million full-time employees. The focus case for the course is one of the nation’s oldest, largest, and most widely respected nonprofit organizations, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Participants in this course are introduced to an evidence-based approach to practicing nonprofit management as creating public value through boundary-spanning leadership.
This course requires two texts: Social Entrepreneurship: An Evidence-Based Approach to Creating Social Value by Guo, Chao and Nonprofit Management: Principles and Practice (Fifth Edition) by Michael J. Worth.
*Academic credit is defined by the University of Pennsylvania as a course unit (c.u.). A course unit (c.u.) is a general measure of academic work over a period of time, typically a term (semester or summer). A c.u. (or a fraction of a c.u.) represents different types of academic work across different types of academic programs and is the basic unit of progress toward a degree. One c.u. is usually converted to a four-semester-hour course.
Instructor
- Executive Director of the Robert A. Fox Leadership Program
Joseph P. Tierney is the Principal Investigator of the landmark evaluation of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, "Making a Difference: An Impact Study of Big Brothers Big Sisters of America." During his years as Vice President of Public/Private Ventures, he was instrumental in developing… Read more