FALL 2025 APPLICATION DATES
Priority Deadline: March 18, 2025
Final Deadline: June 3, 2025
ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS

Master of Public Administration: Nonprofit Sector Management

Designed for working professionals, the MPA option in Nonprofit Sector Management speaks to the sector’s evolving needs and prepares you for its top administrative positions. Taught by CSUN faculty as well as industry leaders, this program presents you with the business tools and concepts to manage the nonprofit sector.

In the program, you'll master a number of core skills – management, strategic planning, fundraising, grant writing and more – while expanding your knowledge of trends in the nonprofit arena. The program improves your critical thinking skills, business acumen and decision-making ability.

You'll work on real-world scenarios that prepare you for a variety of possibilities in the sector. You’ll also engage in practical exercises and learn tools for ethical and competent financial management. And through cases studies and exposure to topical business scenarios, you’ll learn to use academic models to solve everyday issues.

Courses include extensive work on the following topics, all developed for use in nonprofit agencies and organizations:

  • Management (human and financial)
  • Stakeholder relations
  • Budgeting
  • Fundraising and resource development
  • Program implementation
  • Policy
  • Grant writing

Certificate in Nonprofit Sector Management

A unique benefit of this program is the ability to earn a certificate in Nonprofit Sector Management. This certificate is a built-in feature, requiring no extra classes or course work. In other words, when you receive the master’s degree, you also receive the certificate.

Work-Friendly Scheduling

You’ll take only one course at a time, enabling you to focus on the demands of each without distraction. In addition, the program is delivered fully online, providing you with significant flexibility to complete course work at times and in places that fit your schedule.

Cohort Learning Format

With this format, you’ll proceed with the same classmates from the start of the program to the finish. A strong learning community, the cohort supports your goals, connects with you professionally and helps you graduate on time. It also guarantees enrollment in all your courses.

VIP Support

We provide academic and administrative support from application to graduation, freeing you to focus on your studies, your personal life and your career. Once admitted to the program, our support team will enroll you in your courses, answer your questions and offer one-on-one assistance.

 

I chose the MPA Nonprofit Management program at CSUN because it allowed me both work and attend classes full-time. I was already working for a nonprofit health organization and knew the nonprofit sector was it for me, but wasn't convinced I was in the right role. The program made an immediate difference in my work environment. I found myself thinking bigger and more critically about staff structure and board involvement, topics that were not in my purview. My new boss took notice and a promotion and relocation to Washington, D.C. happened before I even finished my degree. The program helped strengthen my management skills and my knowledge about the field. More importantly, it fueled the desire to stay in the nonprofit sector. Kristi Koon, Director of Direct Response Marketing, The ALS Association