Nonprofit Organizations: History and Evolution

Catalog description

A study of the history, development and current role of nonprofit organizations as a distinguishing feature of American society. PADM 517 Nonprofit Organizations: History and Evolution (3) This course is designed to trace the evolution of nonprofit organizations in the United States from colonial times to the present, focusing on the definition, legal foundations, missions, and accomplishments of these entities. The course will offer a review of various nonprofit sectors including healthcare, education, religion, human services, advocacy and the arts. Course objectives are to: - increase student knowledge and understanding of the history and nature of the broad spectrum of nonprofit organizations; - stimulate critical thinking about the role of nonprofit organizations in addressing public problems; and - examine and understand trends and challenges for nonprofit organizations in a market economy. The course will include a combination of lectures, group discussions, review of readings, and student research. Course requirements involve a primary text, Lester M. Salailloil, An7erica's Noiiprofit Sector, A Pri7i7er, 2iid ed. New York: The Foundation Center, 1999, and secondary readings from such areas as history, law, economics, and public administration, e.g., Gronbjerg, Kirsten A., "The U.S. Nonprofit Human Service Sector: A Creeping Revolution," Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2, June 2001, pp.279-297. Hammack, David C., "Introduction: Growth, Transformation, and Quiet Revolution in the Nonprofit Sector over Two Centuries," Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2, June 2001, pp. 157-173. Independent Sector and National Center for Nonprofit Boards, What you Should Know about Nonprofits. Najam, Adil, "The Four-C's of Third Sector - Government Relations: Cooperation, Confrontation, Complementarity, and Co-optation," Nonprofit Management and Leadership, Vol. 10, No. 4, Spring, 2000, pp. 375-396. Smith, Jr., J. Kellum, "Prologue," in Brown, William G., Thomas L. Nygren, Sarah E. Turner, Elizabeth A. Duffy, The Charitable Nonprofit: An Analysis of Institutional Dynamics and Characteristics, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, 1994. pp. xxxix-xxxvi. Weisbrod, Burton A., Conclusions and Public Policy Issues: Commercialism and the Road Ahead, "in Weisbrod, Editor, To Profit or Not to Profit: The Commercial Transformation of the Nonprofit Sector, Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom, 1998. Young, Dennis R.," Alternative Models of Government-Nonprofit Sector Relations: Theoretical and International Perspectives," Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly , Vol. 29, No. 1, March, 2000, pp. 149-172.