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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Introduction to the Nonprofit Sector, Nonprofit Organizations, Nonprofit Leadership and Governance by University at Buffalo

4.4
stars
187 ratings

About the Course

This course introduces you to the nonprofit sector, nonprofit organizations, and the concepts of leadership and governance. While this course has been developed with North American culture in mind, we do appreciate that in other parts of the world the nature of the nonprofit sector, nonprofit organizations, nonprofit leadership and governance may not be the same. Nevertheless, it is our hope that much of the course content will still be of value to those in other parts of the world. To learn more about this course, please watch the overview video by copying and pasting the following link into your web browser: https://goo.gl/YMg1Qd. Keywords: Nonprofit; Nonprofit Sector; Voluntary Sector; Nonprofit Organizations, Non-Governmental Organizations, Volunteer Organizations, Leadership, Management, Governance, Board, Board of Directors, Performance, Effectiveness Course 1 Overview: Week 1: Some of the questions you will explore this week are: What is the nonprofit sector and why does it exist? What are the unique characteristics of nonprofit organizations? What are the trends and emerging issues facing organizations in the nonprofit sector? Week 2: Questions to be explored this week are: What is leadership at the governance level and how is it different from management? What is good governance and why does it matter? What is a board of directors? Week 3: This week's questions: What roles do board members play in nonprofit organizations? Broadly speaking, what are boards responsible for and how do they go about their work? What are some of the issues that challenge the board's ability to go its work? Week 4: At this stage, you are asked to review the course content, submit a written assignment (known lightheartedly as a BEAR (Board Effectiveness Readiness Assessment), and take two multiple choice Readiness Assurance Tests (known similarly as RATs). One RAT will assess knowledge and reading comprehension and the other will test application of knowledge within a practical case. Week 5: We will encourage you to discuss the RATs in the discussion forums and take them again should you wish to change any of your answers based on the information exchanged....

Top reviews

JN

Jun 19, 2019

Whether you are new to non-profit service, or have been volunteering and engaging for years, the course offers useful insights that can lend more substance and impact to your important work.

NN

Apr 13, 2016

I highly recommend the entire program to new and even experienced board members in both the non-profit and corporate world. Very real application and concepts that are applicable.

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51 - 56 of 56 Reviews for Introduction to the Nonprofit Sector, Nonprofit Organizations, Nonprofit Leadership and Governance

By Jordi P

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Jun 9, 2017

Very insightful. Examples and issues discussed match situations faced in real boards.

By Mohammad A H

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Aug 21, 2016

This is a really nice course! I am fortunate to be part of it!

By Regina L

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Jun 5, 2017

Great readings and course material

By Emmanuel A

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Sep 14, 2016

Good and interesting course.

By Allen L

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Jan 22, 2021

There were signification technical issues (such as dead or inactive links some of which were required reading/reference) with this course as well as the exceptionally dated submissions and contributions within the Forums. It would seem that there were few active participants in the course - which could very useful to know when beginning it (including geographics as to where the participants were from - ideally in a dashboard for a quick review... and the opportunity to easily connect with select peers... other than trying to navigate through numerous forums - where again the initiated threads by Moderators dated back over 4 years in some cases). Additionally, some of the readings and references were also dated. Finally, having Faculty engage with participants rather than simply reading powerpoints would be much more more beneficial (the slides would be part of require readings and reference in advance of the video with Faculty who could then speak to it at an overall level or expand of them). Overall, however, the content was very well laid out and did a good job addressing the topic of the course.

By Rose N

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Nov 5, 2018

Just needed a brush up and some resources for helping our board get oriented - Thank You