MA in Public Management Degree Details and Courses

This course is designed to introduce students to the public policymaking process, to the basics of policy analysis, and to the substance of some of today’s major policy debates. The first half of the course focuses on establishing a framework in which to analyze public policy formulation within the United States. The class also reviews the tools for developing and implementing policy. The second half of the course turns to policy analysis of some critical contemporary issues. Building on earlier readings, we will study current debates in economic/tax policy, education, health care, social security, and national security. (Core requirement for the MA in Public Management. Elective option for Government. Analytics students)

This course focuses on financial aspects of public sector organizations and institutions. The objectives of this course include helping students (1) learn the basics of public sector accounting and the construction of their financial reports, (2) become more intelligent users of the financial statements of public sector organizations such as sovereign, state, and municipal institutions, and (3) better understand the factors that affect the financial condition and financial performance of such entities.

More specifically, the course focuses on (1) the financial reporting concepts and standards that are applicable to public sector organizations; (2) ratios and other summary indicators used by analysts to evaluate the financial condition and financial performance of public sector and nonprofit organizations; (3) the analysis and interpretation of financial statements of selected public sector organizations; (4) fundamental finance principles; and 5) basic principles of budget formulation.

Economic thinking provides an important set of tools for almost every aspect of public policymaking. This course aims to offer students a basic understanding of economics and its importance in public policymaking. The first half of the course will offer students an understanding of microeconomic and macroeconomic theory, including a discussion of when markets can work to achieve policy goals and when “market failures” call for government intervention. The second half of the class will use these economic tools and theories in order to survey several specific policy areas, including health policy, tax policy, and the national debt. (Core course for the MA in Public Management This course counts toward the Economic Security concentration (GSS). Elective option for Government Analytics students.)

(The purpose of the class is to help equip students to operate effectively in both the public and private sectors. The class will cover three major topics: (1) an overview of managing public and private organizations, with special attention to their differing missions, capabilities, and environments; (2) a survey of important relationships between the public and private sectors; and (3) the need for improved coordination between the public and private sectors to achieve important public purposes. Students will be encouraged to make the course an interactive one and to share their personal knowledge in the context of the issues discussed. Students will be expected to complete a significant paper on a relevant topic approved by the instructor. (Core course for the MA in Public Management and the MA in Government/MBA program)

The main purpose of this class is to train students to be informed consumers of quantitative studies, in addition to teaching the tools of basic statistical work. The emphasis in this class is on application and understanding of existing results, rather than on theory or derivations. The course material will cover basic descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, and data collection. The key learning objective is for students to finish the class with a better understanding of the statistical and econometric results they may encounter, both in papers they read in other classes, as well as in the course of their work. The second key objective is for students to have the skills to employ basic quantitative tools in their own work in the fields of public policy and global security studies. As much as possible, assignments and readings used in class will be drawn from the public policy and security fields. There is no mathematical or statistical pre-requisite for the class. (Core course for the MA in Public Management and the MA in Global Security Studies.)

This is the final required course in the MA in Public Management program, and students can only take the capstone course in their final semester and after having completed all the other core requirements (Students graduating in the summer semester must take the course in the preceding spring semester). In the semester prior to taking the capstone course and conducting the project, students identify a project topic. The adviser for the paper will be the faculty member teaching the course. To complete the course, students must write a 30- to 35-page capstone paper.

The course explores public sector innovation from the perspective of strategic visioning, policy development, and program leadership, employed for successful new venture implementation. Learning modules progress from foundational ideas through the use of practical methods and applied tools. First, students compare and contrast transformational public service governance policy models (e.g. New Public Service) as government leaders who must execute these periodic and/or evolving innovation concepts and agendas. Second, students examine organization program readiness for change adoption with respect to capability, capacity and competencies. Third, students apply their emerging understanding and knowledge of public innovation to their own organizations and scenarios, either inside or outside their workspace, environment or ecosystem. Specific ideation, design and analytic techniques shall be considered critically, in context, enabling course participants to formulate their own professional repertoire for guiding public innovation and transformation. Cases studies are used throughout the course to introduce students to the real-world application of innovation principles, demonstrate best practices, and provide measurable evidence for the innovation value proposition.

This course will assist leaders in identifying their personal approach to leadership; provide tips on motivating staff by building trusting relationships and shoring up their credibility; suggest influence and persuasion strategies that leaders need to employ when working with bosses, colleagues, direct reports, and critical stakeholders, including funding agencies; develop strategies to build effective work teams; and consider approaches to monitor organizational performance in an ongoing fashion.

This seminar will examine the political support for bureaucracy, how bureaucracy functions in contemporary government and society, and selected current controversies over the purpose and reach of bureaucracy. How does bureaucracy enhance or frustrate liberal democratic ideals? We will take up case studies involving current political issues, such as civil rights enforcement, the war on terror, the role of regulatory agencies, judicial policymaking, relevant student experiences, and the instructor's own experience in various federal and state agencies.

(Formerly Program Development & Evaluation in Nonprofits.) A major goal of this course is to help students become more proficient in recognizing, evaluating, and encouraging the kinds of benefits or outcomes intended by our society’s variety of nonprofit and public programs. We will examine what needs and opportunities are addressed by four major types of programs: those serving individuals, those serving communities, those serving networks or systems, and those serving other organizations. Evaluating each requires different lenses and different tools; we will explore the role of culture and context in choosing particular approaches to evaluation. A view of programs as interconnected rather than isolated will be encouraged. A second goal is to help students become more proficient in managing an evaluation process: We will explore purposes and uses of evaluation, the essential elements of an evaluation inquiry, and ways to communicate and use evaluation results. We will explore the variety of quantitative and qualitative strategies useful for evaluating progress in an organization’s attainment of its intended outcomes or benefits. Students can expect to become more proficient in discussing issues of nonprofit and public “program effectiveness,” and strategies for improving nonprofit and public program designs. Elective course for the Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

The political scientist James McGregor Burns said “one of the most universal cravings of our time is a hunger for compelling and creative leadership.” Today, the craving for sound leadership is felt even more keenly than before, but examples of excellence in leadership are scarce. With both populism and authoritarianism on the rise globally and polarization at high levels domestically, it has become especially urgent to understand what true democratic leadership entails – both its power and its limits. This course will expose students to leadership models in America, starting with the founders and the conditions they set for future democratic leaders. In addition to examples of political leadership, students will study leadership in the area of social reform. Students will assess these models through primary readings, biographies, lectures, and film depictions. The course will help students to identify which models of creative leadership may be helpful in addressing current problems of contemporary politics

Conflict is part of organizational life. People in public sector agencies and nonprofit and for-profit organizations disagree over the meaning of regulations, the use of financial resources, office space, leave time, and many other issues. Managers must have the ability to diagnose disputes and to negotiate effectively to resolve conflicts. This course provides the theoretical background and conceptual framework needed for successful negotiation and mediation. Through presentations and discussions students become familiar with the tools necessary for conflict resolution in their agencies and organizations. Analysis of a party's interests, identification of the necessary style, awareness of communication skills, and planning and feedback are part of the process of becoming an accomplished negotiator.

Corruption is ubiquitous. It is a universal phenomenon that has always been around and that can be found almost anywhere. Recent years have seen much focus on the relationship between it and democratic governance. Indeed corruption and politics more generally, are inextricably and universally entwined. In this seminar we will take an in-depth look at the relationship between the two. We will ask: What is Corruption? Is it always the same thing everywhere, or does it vary depending on context or place? Do pork barrel politics and political clientelism count as corruption? What are the implications of corruption? Is it necessarily always a bad thing or can it be beneficial? Is the corruption experienced in developed countries qualitatively different from that in developing ones such that democracy suffers more in developing countries? We will seek to answer these and other questions by taking a critical look at the politics of corruption. We will look at the origins, extent, character and significance of corruption from both a developed and developing country perspective. We will cover various theories relating to corruption as well as look at a number of empirical cases.

This course introduces the student to the literature, theories and approaches to evaluating organizational programs, policies and procedures. Students will acquire a broad perspective on types of program evaluation, including formative and summative evaluation, process evaluation, monitoring of outputs and outcomes, impact assessment, and cost analysis. Students gain practical experience through exercises and assignments involving the design of a conceptual framework, development of indicators, analysis of quantitative and qualitative evaluation data, and development of an evaluation plan to measure impact. In addition, topics such as experimental, quasi-experimental, and non-experimental study designs are introduced in the context of a variety of settings, including schools, welfare agencies, mental health organizations, criminal justice settings, environmental programs, nonprofit organizations, and corporations. Prerequisite: 407.709 Quantitative Methods

Risk management has always been in the vanguard of data analytics because risk measurement is a critical element in calculating risk/return tradeoffs. This course will examine both qualitative and quantitative analytical methods commonly used in risk management. Qualitative tools include impact/likelihood analysis; event and fault trees; threats, vulnerability, and consequences (TVC); and failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA). However, a key lesson in risk management is that what gets measured gets managed. As a result, a major part of the course will focus on quantitative tools, including modeling and stochastic simulations. We will use the @Risk software to build realistic risk models, including one in assessing project management risks. The objective of the course is to equip students with practical tools they can apply in risk-based decision making. Prerequisites: 470.681 Probability and Statistics; working knowledge of Excel

The goal of this course is to convey the history, size and impact of the nonprofit and philanthropic sector while providing the fundamentals of nonprofit management and the founding of a nonprofit organization. Successful nonprofits today must have strong management systems in place in order to assure quality programs for service and impact. These systems include management of finances, strategic planning, human resources, information technology, marketing, performance measures and other aspects of operations. The course will help the student understand the current thinking regarding "best practices" in managing and improving nonprofit organizations and appreciate the interplay of environmental and organizational factors that influence managerial decision-making. Throughout the course, there will be a comparative perspective that looks at the scope and status of nongovernmental organizations in other countries and the influences on those organizations by their own governments, foreign aid and international philanthropy. Elective course for the Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

This course will provide an overview on project management as it pertains to nonprofit work. The course will teach students how to manage the five aspects of project management: project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and evaluation, and closure. Students will learn the full project cycle from start to finish, drawing on actual examples of projects funded by a diverse range of donors, public and private organizations, and foundations. The course will also utilize templates relevant to project management for students to use as a resource in the field. The class will touch on issues relevant to project management such as project scope, objectives, stakeholders, planning, financial tracking, grants compliance, and closing. Elective course towards the Project Management, Evaluation and Leadership track for the Masters in NGO Management.

This course introduces students to the R programming language. The R language is one of the most popular tools used today for performing data analytics, statistics, machine learning, data visualization, and much more. By the end of this course, students will understand fundamental programming concepts that apply to all programming languages. These concepts include variables, functions, loops, data structures, and data types. The course will also cover the use of these tools to solve challenging data problems that students may encounter in their academic or professional careers. Note: The course overlaps a small amount with 470.681 Probability and Statistics, but this course focuses much more heavily on the fundamentals of programming. No prerequisite.

470.774 Nonprofit Governance & Executive Leadership: Students will advance their understanding of self-governing nonprofit organizations by focusing on nonprofit boards' expectations, challenges, and opportunities and their executive leadership. This course covers the primary responsibilities of nonprofit boards according to law, custom, and best practices, and it includes ethical concepts, public attitudes, and contemporary legislative and regulatory issues. The course explores theories of effective governance and executive leadership. It examines how ethical considerations relate to perceptions of excellence and shape how staff and volunteer leaders manage people and money. In the discussions, there will be opportunities to explore the roles of boards in the context of the nonprofit environment. This is a core course for the MA in Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Management and Certificate in Nonprofit Management.

State politics and policymaking offer a fascinating contrast to the gridlock in Washington that gets all the media attention.

This is a particularly timely issue to study as most states gear up for the new legislative session. How are Biden’s policies affecting current debates in statehouses? What impact are the 2020 elections having on policymaking at the state level? How has the Trump presidency affected states? We will explore these questions and more in this class.

This course examines the major theories of organizational leadership and their application in the intelligence community. The course will explore structural, human resource, political, and symbolic frameworks for interpreting organizational issues; the psychology of intelligence organizations; the role of organizational culture; performance measurement; and the intersection of knowledge, motivation, and organizational capacity in formulating effective responses to challenges of internal integration and external adaptation.

In the wake of the financial crisis, bank bailouts, and stimulus plans, the relationship between American economic power and national security is especially salient. In this course, students investigate core topics in international political economy, analyzing the security implications of each. Topics include trade relations, international finance, monetary relations, poverty, and development. (Core course for the MA in Global Security Studies. Recommended elective for MA in Public Management)

Americans traditionally have viewed the courts as—in the words of a constitutional scholar—"the least dangerous branch of government." They are seen as reflectors, not agents, of change. But in an age of government downsizing, the role of the courts bears renewed examination. Students explore the historical and philosophical roots for the notion that American courts, and whether the lawyers who appear before them, can and should make law and policy, and the alternatives to this function. Students consider prominent areas of public policy that have been shaped by the courts, such as civil rights, family and domestic law, environmental and safety regulation, and the regulation of business and commerce. This course counts towards the Legal Studies Concentration.

This course examines the role of race and ethnicity in U.S. national politics focusing on political development, political behavior, and public policy. Treated as both a persistent “dilemma” and as central to U.S. national identity, race and representation questions have been pivotal in American political development from the Founding to the present. Tracing that development over time, this course focuses, too, on how race-based differences manifest in differences in voting, public opinion, and other behavioral aspects of politics as well as the ways that racial attitudes have been embedded in public policies and reinforced by their implementation.

This course covers the ways in which analytics are being used in the healthcare industry. Topics include data collection opportunities created by the ACA and other laws, the use of analytics to prevent fraud, the use of predictive modeling based on medical records, the insurance industry's increasing use of data and the ethical issues raised by these practices. Prerequisites: none required (470.681 Probability and Statistics recommended)

This class will examine the role of Congress in the making of American foreign policy. In particular, this class will discuss the role of Congress in war powers, economic sanctions, human rights advocacy, the approval of international agreements including treaties, international affairs budgets and spending, investigations and oversight of the conduct of foreign policy by the executive branch as well as the impact of Congress on the general direction of American foreign policies and priorities. Special attention will be given to the role of Congress in U.S. policy toward Iran over the past few decades, the use of military force in Iraq and Syria, the role of the legislative branch in U.S policy toward China and Taiwan and the promotion of human rights as a component of American foreign policy. The class will seek to examine the specific actions of Congress on these matters, and their causes and consequences. The class will use books, articles and original source material from committee deliberations and floor action. As we examine these topics, we will come back to larger themes – the balance of power between the executive and legislative branches, the impact of partisan and bureaucratic politics, and the changing role of the United States on the world stage. All this will be discussed with a mind to the role of foreign policy practitioners.

This course examines enduring issues in political theory – including poverty, inequality, opportunity, citizenship, compassion, obligation, justice, and the role of government, markets, and charity - and their expression in contemporary social policy. The course provides foundations for understanding the theoretical and political dimensions of social policy - and the implications for policy solutions.

This course examines the process of drafting legislation and the consequences of legislative language in the implementation and adjudication of federal policies. Focusing on the various stages of the legislative process, this course considers the expert and political sources of the legislative language in the U.S. Congress and the importance of language in coalition-building for policy passage. Examining the interactions of Congress with the other branches of government, the course also considers how presidents, the executive branch, and the judiciary interpret statutory language.

Bridging the divide between political science theories of policymaking and the actual workings of the policy process in the institutions of national government, this course examines the individual contributions of each of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of government as well as the interactions and struggles between those branches. How do these various institutions set the policy agenda, develop and deliberate policy alternatives, make authoritative policy decisions, and implement those decisions? In what ways are the interactions between these institutions best considered conflict or cooperation? Also, how do outside actors and institutions -- the media, interest groups, public opinion, parties and campaigns -- affect policymaking in these various institutional settings? Drawing on the Constitutional design and historical development of these institutions as well as contemporary practice, this course examines the purposes, processes, and outcomes of policymaking from an institutional perspective.

This course examines how states (primarily the United States) and other political entities harness military capabilities to pursue of policy objectives. It exposes students to levels of strategy—grand strategy, strategy, operations, and tactics—in a national security context. The course will then focus on the practical implications and unique characteristics of military strategy. Students will critically examine topics such as civil-military relations, land warfare, naval warfare, theories of airpower, insurgency and counterinsurgency, and nuclear warfare. The goal is to understand the embedded assumptions of the various theories, the characteristics of the military capabilities animated by them, and, through discussion and case studies, the strengths and limitations of each.

Data analytics are an essential part of program and policy evaluation. Policymakers increasingly rely upon analytics when making critical policy decisions. In this course, students will conduct a variety of policy focused data analyses using R. Students will utilize a variety of descriptive and inferential data analysis techniques to inform the design and execution of a policy. Students will utilize data-driven analysis to produce policy memoranda in a variety of domains relevant to today’s practitioners. A good understanding of basic economics and statistics, and an understanding of American government institutions and programs, will be necessary for a student to participate effectively in the class discussions and complete the assignments. Please contact the instructor with any questions.

Prerequisite: 470.681 Statistics and Political Analysis

Since World War II, American trade policy has been implemented through agreements with a growing array of foreign governments to encourage global economic integration by lowering barriers to international trade. The course will begin with a look at the foundation of this approach to trade policy at the end of World War II and the relationship the Roosevelt and Truman administrations saw between integration and security policy. It will then introduce students to the American trade regime of the early 21st century and the WTO, and examine the ways the U.S. governments has adapted this regime to regional challenges arising from relationships with Japan, China, and the Muslim world, and to policy issues, like resource dependence, sanctions and export controls. The course will have a midterm exam on America’s trade regime and the concepts that have shaped it, and a final paper, in which students will examine an issue of their choice in depth. (Recommended elective for MA in Public Management)

This course introduces students to the field of intelligence, particularly as practiced in the United States. After a brief overview of the historical foundations of modern intelligence, it discusses how intelligence was conducted during the 20th century including collection, analysis, counterintelligence, covert action, and oversight. It then discusses the disruptive influences of September 11, the Iraq War, and new technologies. The course concludes with a discussion of the “democratization of intelligence."

Intelligence analysis is fundamentally about understanding and communicating to decision makers what is known, not known, and surmised, as it can best be determined. Students will read seminal texts on intelligence analysis, discuss the complex cognitive, psychological, organizational, ethical, and legal issues surrounding intelligence analysis now and in the past, and apply analytic methodologies to real-world problems.

This course describes the principal challenges facing the making of American Defense Policy and explains previous and current policies declared and practiced to meet them. The course is designed to inform students on the most pressing defense issues confronting the United States, and to present them a framework for defense policy analysis. It emphasizes understanding those defense policies, analyzing them, and considering and weighing alternative approaches to achieving national objectives of deterrence and defense. The course fosters an understanding of the array of U.S. military capabilities providing plausible responses to the use of military power in support of U.S. foreign policy objectives. It examines those policies in the areas of nuclear, conventional, and irregular forces, and weighs alternatives in shaping the size and structure of those forces to meet national objectives.

Data science is a methodology for extracting insights from data. This course is an introduction to the concepts and tools that are used in data science with an emphasis on their application to public policy questions. The course covers some advanced data mining and machine learning processes including classification and decision trees, random forests, cluster analysis, and outlier detection, while also providing you with training in the basics of data management and data exploration. All of the work in the course will be conducted to prepare you to proficiently conduct predictive analytics in a real-world setting. Some familiarity with R programming language and the RStudio environment is necessary. Prerequisite: 470.681 Probability and Statistics

This course will introduce students to today’s most pressing public policy issues, with an emphasis on writing to achieve impact. Public policy professionals must be familiar with a variety of key issues and be able to effectively make a case for a position. This course will examine such topic areas as health care, energy/environment, fiscal policy, international trade, and education and identify core issues and the politics that characterize each of these policy areas. As part of our study, students will learn the art of writing policy memos, issue briefs, op-eds and speeches. When you complete the course successfully, you will be able to demonstrate a basic understanding of five public policy issues through various forms of writing. You will be able to effectively and succinctly write policy memos, issue briefs, op-eds, blogs and speeches, addressing a specified audience, clearly identifying the problem, and making a case for a position or solution.

This course examines the nexus of energy, natural resources, and the environment with conflict, war, terrorism, crime, development, diplomacy, politics, and technology. Students critically examine the ways that increased competition for environmental and energy resources, strained resources, and changing conditions can threaten national security. The course also examines how such threats may be mitigated. (Core course for the MA in Global Security Studies)

Washington, D.C. is the laboratory for anyone studying American government and politics or analyzing the policy making process here. DC Lab: Politics, Policy, and Analytics will give any graduate student in one of the programs of the JHU Center for Advanced Governmental Studies the opportunity to bring theory and practice together through an intensive week of lectures, seminars, and site visits in the nation’s capital. Sessions will include guest speakers from JHU faculty, think tank scholars, and agency officials. The goal is to experience Hopkins in Washington and assess what is observed to better inform each student’s studies of the political process. Special Note: This course will require one week of residency in Washington, D.C. for the week of May 12-17, 2019.All travel and accommodations (food and lodging) in DC will be covered by the student. In addition to the course tuition, a $300 course fee will be charged to help cover costs for course incidentals.

The federal budget process is an enormously complex mixture of administrative routines and mechanisms designed to bias decisions, avoid blame, or reduce conflict. This course explores the structures of federal budgeting in terms of its varied goals and in the context of the wider governing process. The course will review the budgetary process in both the executive and congressional branching, as well as the interaction of those two systems. In order to gain understanding of the difficult policy choices and political pressures policymakers face, students will be asked to do a simulation of a budget process within the executive branch. The role of entitlements, scoring issues, and tax policy will be examined in the context of the debate over budget policy. The course will start with a short primer on finance theory. (Recommended elective for MA in Public Management. Elective option for Government Analytics students.)

Benjamin Franklin famously observed that "nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." Since Franklin's day, however, both the form and prevalence of taxation has undergone a dramatic global transformation. This course will review the history of U.S. federal taxation and delve into the practical mechanics of taxation. It will provide students with an understanding of the processes, institutions, and political influences that shape tax policy. Finally, it will examine alternative methods of taxation and consider what the future may hold for federal tax policy.

This course introduces students to the fundamentals of statistical analysis as well as the R programming language and RStudio environment. Students will learn the building blocks of descriptive and causal inference, including summary statistics, survey sampling, measurement, hypothesis testing, linear regression and probability theory. Students will also learn how to create data visualizations in R, including times series plots, scatter plots and bar graphs. In addition, students will focus on interpreting statistical findings and presenting results in a compelling manner. By the end of the course, students will be able to conduct a statistical analysis to answer a meaningful policy question and will be prepared to take more advanced methods courses. Prerequisites: none

The course examines how terrorist groups finance their operations. It also explores current policy approaches to curb financial support to terrorists through the application of U.S. and international sanctions, in particular how multilateral fora, such as the United Nations and the Financial Action Task Force, disrupt and deter terrorist financing. At the completion of this course, students will have a better understanding of the key tools, including law enforcement, diplomacy, and intelligence, that are used to counter terrorists’ financial networks and activities. Through this course, students will develop proficiency in a series of analytic methods used to study terrorist financing and counter financing. Students will use structured analytic tools such as weighted ranking methods, scenario trees, causal flow diagramming, hypothesis testing, and utility analysis, as well as game theory and logic to form analytic judgments. Prior coursework or professional experience in intelligence, (counter) terrorism, or finance recommended.

There are two main approaches for implementing government domestic policy: fiscal and regulatory. This is a one-semester course in economic regulation. Economic regulation includes use of market entry and price controls to deal with market imperfections, such as natural monopolies in which competitive markets fail. The course would cover:· the nature of markets and market failure,· a political economy/public choice analysis of the genesis of government intervention,· an evaluation of corrective policies, and· an analysis of alternative regulatory strategies.In addition to the regulation of natural monopolies, potentially competitive markets, and the problem of regulatory capture, the course would cover alternative types of environmental regulation for controlling external social costs. The class would prepare the successful student to examine and interpret problems, policies, programs, and events at all levels of government using the powerful tools of economic analysis applied to government regulation.?

The course explores issues of financial management in state and local government, mostly in the United States. Students will study the political economics of property, sales, and income taxation. Non-tax revenue sources such as lotteries and user fees will also be explored. Other financial management strategies and techniques will be assessed as well, and they may include intergovernmental grants, project-based finance, capital project finance, municipal debt valuation, and local economic development. The course is designed for students who desire a practical overview of real-world challenges at the state and local level.

From the perspective of a nonprofit leader, this course provides a solid foundation in understanding key financial tools such as audits, financial statements, budgets and tax documents. Using these tools, students will analyze and assess the financial transparency, accountability, and health of various national and international organizations, determine the financial strengths and weaknesses within those organizations, learn how to use that information in the decision-making process, and finally, practice making informed recommendations to organizational leadership. This course is not designed to make students financial experts or practitioners. Instead, it is designed to enlighten students on key financial management concepts that improve their ability to be informed leaders, participants, and donors in the nonprofit sector. Students will also explore the responsibilities and consequences of international nonprofits engaging in activities in the US, as well as implications for US nonprofits operating abroad. This is an elective course for the Certificate in Nonprofit Management.