Marketing Inclusion in the Curricula of U. S. Nonprofit Management Programs

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the degree to which marketing was integrated into the curricula of U. S. nonprofit management programs. Seventyfour program directors of U. S. nonprofit management programs responded to a national survey. They answered questions pertaining to the academic location of the program, their own academic fields, the number of marketing and marketingrelated courses in their programs, their perceptions of what topics are considered part of marketing, and the relative importance they assigned to marketing in relation to other topics. Major points are the following: (1) Program directors are primarily from the public administration field (26 percent); (2) the nonprofit management programs had, on average, about one course dedicated to nonprofit marketing, and two marketing-related courses such as fund-raising or public relations; (3) program directors ranked marketing as sixth among 13 core subjects, indicating that a moderate importance is assigned to marketing in the curricula; (4) findings indicate that nonprofit management programs might benefit by recruiting nonprofit marketing professors to teach these courses and participate in curriculum development.