Capstone Projects
Nonprofit Management and Philanthropy 670
Capstone Projects
2008 Projects
Beyond Policy and Procedure: A Study in Frontline Supervision for the Nonprofit Sector
The focus of this project was researching the need for frontline supervision professional development in nonprofit organizations. While doing this, the student created a win-win situation by using the research from her capstone project to provide a training solution in her workplace. Following the presentation of her capstone project to her employer, the research was used to design a series of professional development training sessions including topics for frontline supervision. The learning outcome from the project was the development of best practices for frontline supervision as tailored to the unique nonprofit operating context. In addition, the student’s own organization received valuable assistance in how to better acknowledge, appreciate, advocate, and advance all levels of staff, which ultimately benefits the clients they serve.
Nonprofit Formation and Business Plan Development
This capstone project was used as an opportunity to research organizational needs for a start-up, nonprofit organization. The project identified various types of operational support needed for a start-up, nonprofit organization and the key components of a business plan. The student was able to apply the capstone project learning to select an appropriate business model for her newly formed nonprofit organization. Her project culminated in a comprehensive business plan outline with action steps and a timeline for implementation.
Organizational Lifecycles—Roadmaps for Success
Organizational lifecycles are stages of development that organizations progress through as they mature. They are marked by specific patterns of behaviors, challenges and opportunities. This capstone project analyzed organizational lifecycle theory as it relates to real-life application, generally, and specifically as it relates to organizational leadership. The research evaluated the importance of the lifecycle model as an effective leadership tool for predicting, planning, and managing growth and development of start-up nonprofits. The project concluded that the lifecycle model can be an effective tool for leaders to use to plan for change, to adapt one’s role accordingly and to support organizational culture development. The project culminated in the development of a leader’s guide for using organizational lifecycles as a planning and management tool.
Launching a Small Business with a Social Mission
Socially responsible enterprises are becoming more popular as nonprofit organizations search for new ways to fund social missions and for-profit businesses look for ways to better serve communities. This capstone project considered alternative models that might be useful for meeting this objective for the student’s own small business-interest focusing on signature wreaths. The three models studied were: a nonprofit organization with a social enterprise, a for-profit business with a corporate-responsibility focus and a hybrid version of the two models. Based on her review of the models and application to her business interest, the student selected a for-profit business model with a social mission to help inner-city youth with employment and cultural needs.
Can Collaboration at Re-Entry Reduce Recidivism Rates for Non-Violent Offenders in Connecticut?
Through collaborations with nonprofit and for-profit businesses, the Connecticut state government is working to transition non-violent offenders from prison back to the community to reduce recidivism and provide safe communities. This capstone project researched Connecticut’s re-entry model, which starts when the offender enters the judicial system and continues through his/her probation period or direct release. The research discusses how this program will be tracked, monitored and measured to determine success, and concludes with recommendations for revisions in the model.
Stabilizing a Faith-Based Nonprofit Organization: A Real-Life Case Study
This capstone project was used to evaluate effective methods to grow and stabilize a real-life, faith-based nonprofit organization. Using the lifecycle model for analysis, the student identified management strategies to apply for the various life cycle stages. By examining its history, current state and future needs, the student was able to make recommendations to address the unique challenges faced by faith-based, nonprofit organizations as they struggle with sustainability and growth issues.
The Impact of Globalization on Corporate Philanthropic Practices and Implications for Nonprofits
As corporations respond to changing business conditions and globalization, they are changing their philanthropic policies and practices. This capstone project examines the impact of the following elements on corporate philanthropy and gift-giving practices: globalization, market competition, corporate growth, environmental concerns, in-kind gifts, employee volunteerism and natural disasters. The project concludes with recommendations for corporate-funders and grant-seekers as they adjust to this new philanthropic climate.
Best Practices in Nonprofit Board Governance
This capstone project studied best practices in board governance practices and policies. The project reviewed studies showing correlations with the use of best practices in governance policies and procedures and the ability to maximize mission objectives. Various best practice models were evaluated for application and the research findings were used to make governance recommendations for a local, nonprofit organization.
Nonprofit and Local Government Collaborations
This Nonprofit and Local Government Collaborations capstone project studied the benefits and conflicts that occur when local government joins in collaboration with nonprofit organizations for the purpose of fundraising. Collaborations, such as “friends of” organizations that are formed to help local governments, blend two organizations that can bring about great benefit to local communities as well as create management issues due to their roles and structures. This project compared two organizations that have formed this type of collaboration to examine the possible benefits and conflicts.
Year 2009 Projects
Estate Tax Repeal and Charitable Giving: Will Estate Tax Repeal of the So-called “Death Tax” Impact Charitable Giving?
As the baby boomers move into retirement, we anticipate the largest, intergenerational transfer of wealth we have ever seen in the past. However, impacting this transfer is the political struggle that surrounds this issue. Republicans want the estate tax repealed and Democrats do not. This capstone project examines this highly controversial tax issue and its impact on taxpayers making charitable donations today and who will make charitable donation bequests upon death.
How Founder’s Syndrome Impacts the Life Cycle of an Organization and What Can the Nonprofit Organization Do?
Founder’s syndrome has been identified as an important factor in the failure of many small, nonprofit organizations. The syndrome occurs when the founder is unable to adapt to organizational growth and continues to control the operation of the organization. This capstone project analyzes the benefit of using the life cycle assessment tool to identify the development stages. The study reveals the benefits of using the life cycle model as a guide to adapt leadership, adjust planning and strategy, develop procedures and policies, prevent issues from occurring and build capacity as the organization moves through the five development stages. Life cycle assessments allow organizations to identify their development stage and build capacity accordingly.
Stewardship and the Christian Faith
This capstone project examines the principles of Christian stewardship and its importance to faith communities. Included in this study is a review of giving statistics, obstacles that prevent giving, and ways that faith-based organizations and churches can bolster giving. This study identifies causal issues, including overwhelming debt, lack of biblical understanding, and lack of awareness, as some of the reasons for not giving. The study concludes with recommendations for faith-based organizations that want to increase their stewardship and giving emphases and results.
The Trend of Corporate Social Responsibility and the Impact to Nonprofits: Risky Business or Smart Investing?
Corporate social responsibility is a growing trend that can result in a blurring of the lines between for-profit and nonprofit organizations. This capstone project identifies the key drivers of corporate social responsibility trends, the blending and merging of for-profit and nonprofit sectors, and alliances and partnerships of the two sectors. The project analyzes several examples of social responsibly alliances between for-profit and nonprofit organizations and discusses the reasons why the alliances either produce beneficial or risky outcomes.
Unique Fundraising Challenges Faced by Mental Health Nonprofit
This capstone project focuses on two major fundraising challenging facing mental health nonprofits organizations: government funding and generating constituencies. The project reports on the “hodgepodge” of government funding issues such as: the inadequacy of funding, lack of planning for post-deinstitutionalization, and the negative impact of cyclical political terms. In addition, the paper discusses the difficulties in raising a sizable funding constituency due to the sigma of mental health illness. Using a case study, the student illustrated several possible solutions to overcome these barriers.
Compensation Parity for Nonprofit Employees: A Review of the History, Logic, and Methods for Improving Nonprofit Compensation
The impact and effectiveness of nonprofit organizations depends in large part upon the effectiveness of their employees. For this reason, compensation is an important and challenging issue for most nonprofits, especially in these difficult economic times and in light of shifting demographic factors. This study reviews the history, logic and methods for improving nonprofit compensation. Peter Senge’s system model and W.K. Kellogg’s logic model are applied to assess the inputs, strategies, outputs, outcomes and impact regarding nonprofit compensation. The project concludes that both policy and perception changes are essential for long-term, impactful modifications in nonprofit compensation practices.
Accounting for Overhead: Raising the Stakes through Cost Allocation
Given most consumers cannot afford the nonprofit goods and services they receive, and nonprofits frequently use their resources to subsidize the sale of their products, this capstone project is built on the assumption that there is a fundamental “disconnect” in the nonprofit business model, especially as it relates to how nonprofits and foundations perceive the treatment of overhead expenses. This project demonstrates how the three major models for cost allocation—the direct, step, and reciprocal methods—might be applied to the nonprofit context in order to more fully and accurately account for indirect costs. According to the project’s conclusion, such information is critical to take into account before applying for a grant as well as in negotiating with funders over the handling of overhead expenses.
Leveraging Nonprofit, Private Sector and Government Coalitions to Develop an Affordable Housing Incentive Zoning Model for Snohomish County, WA
The goal of this project was to develop an affordable housing incentive zoning model that can be used to successfully lobby Snohomish County and Municipal governments to implement an affordable housing ordinance. The project reviewed the historical context for advocacy in the nonprofit context and applied R. Smucker’s model for effective advocacy practices to this real-life issue. The project also considered a variety of factors that are important in crafting an incentive zoning model. The project concludes with specific recommendations for a Snohomish County incentive zoning model that are currently under consideration by the Snohomish County incentive zoning subcommittee, a group formed and sponsored by the United Way of Snohomish County.
Business Ethics: Who Should Decide: A Case to Support Leadership Development of Ethical Decision-Making Standards in Nonprofit Organizations
This project seeks to answer four key questions: 1) How does the historical context inform and shape the adoption of ethical decision-making standards? 2) How do ethical decision-making standards for nonprofits benefit society? 3) How might we think about various ethical standards using the legal/illegal/ethical continuum? 4) What should be included in a code of ethics? Drawing upon the historical context as well as more recent pressures such as Sarbanes Oxley, the project suggests that nonprofits have essential, ethical obligations and responsibilities to the public and to key stakeholders, such as employees, and that such obligation must guide how organizations govern themselves as well as how they fundraise. The project provides specific ethical guidelines for each of these areas and concludes that nonprofit leaders play a critical role in setting and reinforcing the organization’s ethical climate.
Apples and Oranges: A Review of Programs and Models that Ensure Nutritionally Healthy Food Choices in Urban Areas of Poverty
This project applied the principles described in the book Forces of Good: The Six Practices of High-Impact Nonprofits (Crutchfield and Grant, 2008) as a framework for assessing three nonprofit programs that focus on reducing hunger. The main goal of the project was to determine which program is having the greatest impact on encouraging nutritional, healthy food choices in urban areas of poverty. Drawing upon research that suggests that malnourishment is a growing problem among American youth who live in poverty, the project reviews the approaches currently being applied by the three organizations studied to combat this problem. The project provides specific examples of how each organization is effectively applying the six high impact practices to encourage more nutritional, healthy food choices in urban areas of poverty.
