Building Bridges Initiative

Nonprofit Management Professionals Return to School
for Personal not Financial Reasons

Battle Creek, Michigan – Analysis of a recent study funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has suggested that, overall, nonprofit professionals are furthering their education for reasons other than salary increases. Though not generalizable to all nonprofit professionals, this research seems to contradict prevailing theories that point to economic gain as a primary factor in continuing education.

The research, conducted by Applied Research (East Lansing, Michigan), surveyed 256 nonprofit management students in certificate and master’s programs at six universities across the country. The six universities are part of a larger Kellogg Foundation initiative entitled: Building Bridges between Practice and Knowledge in Nonprofit Management Education. The research findings are published in a paper entitled “Building Bridges Initiative Cluster Evaluation: Survey of Nonprofit Management Students.” Click here to view the paper on the Building Bridges Initiative web site.

Guided by human capital theory - which links an individual’s current investment in continuing education to an expected increase in psychological and monetary income during the rest of their working life - researchers constructed a set of questions to measure why nonprofit management professionals chose to return to school. At the time of the research, the nonprofit management students were enrolled in graduate or certificate programs. Researchers asked students to indicate how important seven factors were in shaping the decision to continue their education. The following table summarizes the results.

Factors	Important	Not Important
Personal Development	97%	1%
Skill Acquisition	90%	4%
New employment opportunities	83%	8%
Increase income	51%	27%
Career Change	47%	32%
Promotion with current employer	23%	63%
Suggested by employer	11%	80%

Results suggested that, overall, students rate personal factors as more important than economic factors in influencing their decision to continue their education. Personal development and skill acquisition were rated as the most important factors shaping student decisions. Following closely was the desire for new employment opportunities. This factor likely captured both personal need for change and opportunity for change as well as some economic elements. In general, respondents’ written comments corroborated the finding that they were motivated by personal factors. Students said they were pursuing an educational program to develop the “skills and knowledge to do my job well,” for a “desire to learn theory after years of practice,” out of a “general desire at mid career to 're-engage' academically,” to “put a sound theoretical and research background together with pragmatic skills,” and because they “need new skills and ideas and enthusiasm.”

While not as important as personal factors, about half of the students did indicate that an increase in income was important.

In addition to examining the motivation for returning to school, researchers explored other influential factors such as employer support of the continuing education decision, the length of time students took to make the decision to return to school, and the geographic proximity of education.

Employer support. Most nonprofit management students were employed full- or part-time in the sector and most indicated that employers’ suggestions had relatively little impact on their decision to continue their education. In fact, less than one-third (31%) said their employer suggested or encouraged them to further their education. Once enrolled, however, employers were at least somewhat supportive. Half (50%) of employed students said their employer provided some type of financial support for their education and 44% of the students said their employer provided time-off for their education. Just 4% of employed students said their current employer was not supportive of their educational efforts.

Length of time and number of programs considered. The decision to return to school was often made over several years. Respondents were asked how long they had considered a return to school. Over one-third, 36%, considered it for less than a year, 24% for a year, 20% for two years, 13% for three-five years, and 7% for longer than five years. Almost half of the students, 49%, considered 2-3 programs and a similar percentage, 45%, considered only one program.

Geographic proximity. The respondents are essentially “place-bound” with most, 71%, seeking a program within a one-hour’s drive. Less than one-fifth (19%) considered a program outside their geographic region. Researchers are not surprised by the importance of local access given that many students are working, have careers, and would face high relocation costs to enroll in a program at another location. Distance learning programs are an alternative to students who are geographically bounded but only 13% of the students indicated they had considered such programs.

An initial report from this survey covered the statistical makeup of the nonprofit management student population. Future research findings from a third section of the survey, which solicited students’ opinions about their reasons for selecting a nonprofit management program, will be available as soon as final data analysis is complete. For more information on the Building Bridges Initiative and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, see the attached fact sheet.

The complete paper, "Building Bridges Initiative Cluster Evaluation: Survey of Nonprofit Management Students" is available on the Building Bridges Initiative web site. Click here to view the paper.

Fact Sheet for the Building Bridges Initiative and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation

The Building Bridges between Practice and Knowledge in Nonprofit Management Education Initiative, now in its fourth year, supports the development of comprehensive educational programs for managers and leaders in nonprofit and third sector organizations.

Grantees have designed projects and programs to conduct research, train future nonprofit leaders, or increase knowledge about nonprofit management practices.

The W. K. Kellogg Foundation was established in 1930 to “help people help themselves through the practical application of knowledge and resources to improve their quality of life and that of future generations.” Its programming activities center on the common vision of a world in which each person has a sense of worth, and accepts responsibility for self, family, community, and societal well being. It is believed that each individual has the capacity to be productive, and to help create nurturing families, responsive institutions, and healthy communities.

To achieve the greatest impact, the Foundation targets its grants toward specific focal points, or areas. These include: Food Systems and Rural Development; Youth and Education; Health; and Philanthropy and Volunteerism. When woven throughout these areas, funding is also provided for leadership; information and communication technology; efforts to capitalize on diversity; and family, neighborhood and community development programming. Grants are concentrated in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the southern African nations of Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, Swaziland, and South Africa.