Graduate Certificate in Nonprofit Management
at the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies

The certificate program in Nonprofit Management has two focuses. First, it will cover the skills in management, economic decision making, marketing, fundraising, and financial management that graduates can use (but which they are unlikely to get on the job) in any part of the nonprofit sector: social service provision, education, health, the arts, the environment, international relief, or religion. Second, while most nonprofit management certificates have an exclusively practitioner focus, the Georgia State program will prepare students interested in pursuing nonprofit studies within graduate programs in Public Administration, Policy Analysis, or Economics.

This certificate will serve two main groups of professionals: those currently in the nonprofit sector who want to acquire new skills or need a credential to advance professionally, and those outside the sector wishing to enter.

• Many professionals in the nonprofit sector seek to improve their skills in ways not available thorugh on-the-job training, such as those in strategic management, leadership theories, and managerial economics.

• As the nonprofit section "professionalizes," there is an increasing demand from employees currently in the sector for a credential that lies between in-house training programs and actual academic degrees.

• The third sector's rise in importance in the local and national economies is indicative of a net movement of labor out of government and the private sector and into nonprofit organizations. Sector-changing employees provide a constant source of demand for the skills and credentials appropriate for such a switch.

Regulations for the Certificate Program

1. Applicants must meet the admission requirements of degree-seeking students for the M.P.A. program in terms of test scores, transcripts, the application fee, forms,and goals statement.

2. Required Courses:
   • PAUS 8210 Introduction to the Nonprofit Sector
   • PAUS 8231 Nonprofit Leadership and Management
   
   
3. Elective Courses (choose two):
   • PAUS 8221 Nonprofit Fundraising
   • PAUS 8241 Marketing in the Nonprofit Sector
   • PAUS 8261 Nonprofit Financial Management
   
   
4. Awarding of the Certificate.

   After completing the requirements of the certficate according to these regulations, the student must make a written request to the Department of Public Administration and Urban Studies in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies to have the certificate awarded. The request and an official Georgia State transcript must be sent to the departmental coordinator. The faculty advisor then reviews the student's record. If all requirements have been met, the certificate, signed by the Certificate Program Coordinator and the Chair of the Department, will be issued to the student.

Download the certificate procedures forms.