Undergraduate Certificate

Undergraduate students interested in concentrating their learning on leadership in the nonprofit industry can do so through the Nonprofit Leadership certificate.

This certificate develops your leadership capacity to better work, serve and lead in nonprofit organizations. Drawing from leadership development theory and best practices, graduates will gain tangible skills in understanding the nonprofit sector and the unique considerations of leading within it.

Why choose nonprofit leadership?

Certificate requirements

Check out course descriptions below or download the PDF.

LEAD 420: Theories of Nonprofit Leadership

3 credit hours

Understand the essential features of nonprofits in the U.S., including both sector-wide and individual organizational elements. You will design a nonprofit organization focused on an issue you care about; creating a mission, assessing risk, developing a budget, programs and governance structure, exploring volunteer management and more.

LEAD 350: Culture and Context of Leadership

3 credit hours

Leadership behavior and practice varies across cultures and contexts. You will unpack cultural identity, life experience and world views on leadership relationships. We will practice inclusive leadership through advocacy for social change.

LEAD 499: Nonprofit Organization Internship Seminar*

3 credit hours

Apply internship experiences to nonprofit competencies and prepare students to enter the nonprofit job market.

*An internship experience is required before you take LEAD 499. Details below.

Choose one elective

LEAD 212: Introduction to Leadership Concepts
LEAD 225: Fundamentals of Global Food Systems Leadership
LEAD 405: Leadership in Practice
ENTRP 340: Introduction to Entrepreneurship
ENTRP 520: Social Entrepreneurship
HDFS 301: Helping Relationships
MANGT 420: Principles of Management
MANGT 450: Strategic Management of Nonprofit Organizations
POLSC 507: Introduction to Public Administration

Internship experience

The goal of this experience is to get an overview of the organization and develop a deep understanding of how a single organization functions. The program will support students in locating and obtaining nonprofit internships through advising and notifying students of internship opportunities.

Understanding that every situation is different, internship experiences will be approved on a case-by-case basis. Generally, each internship should be at least 150 hours, spread out over any amount of time and be with a 501(c)(3)* or other approved organization.

Locating an internship site

To get started in finding an internship experience, download this list of previous example sites(PDF). To help narrow your ideas, download this worksheet(PDF) to think through some important considerations.

*A 501(c)(3) is a tax-exempt nonprofit and the most common type of nonprofit in the U.S.

Complete your minor

Contact us

Chance Lee, Ph.D., nonprofit leadership program director
chance@ksu.edu | 785-532-6085 | Meet Chance