Online discussions pose an opportunity for rich and meaningful student learning and interaction. Online discussions extend classroom learning by providing an asynchronous method of communication for the exchange of meaningful ideas that promote critical thinking and develop thoughtful reflective learning. All students are expected to participate in each weekly discussion. These forums will be grounded in durable or critical thinking utilizing case studies, problem/solution scenarios or other appropriate assignments.
This forum utilizes a question and answer format. The discussion questions that each student should answer are posted below. Students will reply to the question(s)/prompt first. Do not upload a document as attachment. Until you reply and post your answers to the question(s) you will not be able to see the other student’s responses. After you have posted your initial answers other student’s postings, if there are any, will become available for you to read and comment on.
Instructions: Choose ONE of the following. Include the prompt in your answer.
Peter Drucker, sometimes know as the “father of modern management,” found nonprofits to be a unique and interesting kind of organization. Explain Drucker’s perspective on the “third sector,” as it sometimes has been labeled.
What has contributed to the professionalization of the nonprofit sector in the United States, and what are the positive and negative implications of this for the sector as a whole?
What are the eight principles of U.S. law that are the basis for an organization securing tax-exempt status?
What are the core duties of a board and its members? In particular, what does “fiduciary duty” mean?
What is the significance of the changing nature of the government-nonprofit sector relationship? How has this influenced the nature and work of the sector?
Overall, what is accountability, and why it is an increasingly significant issue for nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations?
What are the four core components of accountability? Identify these four and briefly explain each.
Submission Instructions:
Students will significantly increase their score by addressing the discussion prompt from an academic frame of reference. The instructor is looking to see that students have completed the readings and may have even used supplemental research. Citing the author from whom your ideas spring is necessary even in response posts. Please include personal professional experience to supplement academic ideas when appropriate.
*Chapter One: Historical Perspectives on Nonprofit Organizations in the United States
Focus of the Chapter: Chapter One describes the complex history of philanthropy and nonprofit organizations in the United States, exploring how and why the nonprofit sector was invented and how it evolved to the point that it exists today. Because their numbers have grown so rapidly, because they are so diverse, and because their impact is so far-reaching, nonprofits have been the focus of intense controversy as legislators, the courts, and the public have struggled to come to terms with this organizational revolution. At the same time, because the nonprofit universe has been in a process of emergence, those within it have had to struggle to define and legitimate it. For all of these reasons—diversity, complexity, and disagreement about how to define them—nonprofits pose particular difficulties for scholars trying to explain their history. Although elements of the “nonprofit sector” date back to biblical and classical times, other important aspects of it are entirely new. This chapter focuses on helping us understand the history of nonprofits in the United States by identifying the various ideas and institutions that constitute today’s nonprofit domain and describing how they have evolved over time.
Chapter Two: The Legal Framework of the Nonprofit Sector in the United States
Focus of the Chapter: Chapter Two describes and explains the legal setting and context within which nonprofit organizations operate in America, including the criteria that will be used to determine whether an organization will be granted nonprofit tax-exempt status. The different types of nonprofits are described, with brief descriptions of what each type is and is not allowed to do. This chapter presents an explanation of the current legal and regulatory environment in which U.S. nonprofit organizations operate and provides important insights into recent legislative changes and discusses how the U.S. Internal Revenue Service is likely to proceed with implementation and enforcement.
Chapter Three: The Changing Context of Nonprofit Management in the United States
Focus of the Chapter: The nonprofit sector has long been the hidden subcontinent on the social landscape of American life, regularly revered but rarely seriously scrutinized or understood. In recent years, the nature of the sector and its work has changed in some very dramatic ways. Nonprofit organizations in an ever-widening range of fields have been made the beneficiaries of government support to provide a growing array of services—from health care to scientific research—that Americans wanted but were reluctant to have government directly provide. More than any other single factor, this government-nonprofit partnership is responsible for the emergence of the U.S. nonprofit sector in the shape we see it in today. This chapter examines the key features of this changing context of nonprofit action; its discussion falls into three parts. The first is to provide context for the current state of the American nonprofit sector, with a broad overview of what we know about the sector and, perhaps more importantly, what we do not know. Second, it explores the relationship of the nonprofit sector to the constraints it faces—especially how public and private funding sources can shape the choices of nonprofit managers. Finally, the chapter offers thoughts about how this resilient sector will look in the future.
Chapter Four: The Many Faces of Nonprofit Accountability
Focus of the Chapter: Calls for greater accountability are not new. Leaders of organizations, be they nonprofit, business, or government, face a constant stream of demands from various constituents for accountable behavior. But what does it mean to be accountable? In this chapter, Alnoor Ebrahim describes and examines the increasingly strong press for accountability in the nonprofit sector, explores multiple ways that accountability can be understood, and offers key insights for ways nonprofit leaders might address them. He concludes that accountability is not simply about compliance with laws or industry standards but is more deeply connected to organizational purpose and public trust. He suggests that nonprofit leaders would be well advised to pay greater attention to strategy-driven forms of accountability that can help them achieve their missions.
