Mentoring in an Online Environment

This chapter aims to illustrate how online mentorship can be as effective or even more effective as in-person mentorship. Individuals have been mentored online for years; however, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has become more popular out of necessity. Mentorship can happen in any number of settings. The focus for this chapter will be on different areas that foster mentor/protégé relationships. These include competency-based education programs, doctoral studies, instructional design, adjunct and fulltime faculty, and nonprofit leadership.

Promising Pathways: Investigating Personal Factors Promoting Nonprofit Executives

The nonprofit sector has been critiqued for failing to systematically develop leadership to meet the sector’s professionalizing needs. The personal profile of who sits in the nonprofit executive position can be insightful about what experience and training have been deemed appropriate for nonprofit leadership and may reveal career pathways to the executive position. In this paper, the career backgrounds of 185 nonprofit association executives are reported upon, investigating if the credentials and experience held by these executives helped expedite their career pathway to the top position. The findings indicate that nonprofit sector experience was a significant predictor of time to the executive position, but that other career variables, such as education, credentials, and other previous experiences did not significantly impact the time to the position. This study adds to what we know about the professionalization of the nonprofit sector and raises questions about what signals readiness for the sector’s executive position.

A Rural Perspective on COVID-19 Responses: Access, Interdependence and Community

Much of the press on the pandemic has been focused on urban environments where the virus was quick to spread and the numbers of cases are high. Beyond the greater risk for COVID-19-related health complications, rural populations are particularly susceptible to disruptions in the economic infrastructure of their communities. This study explores the impacts of COVID-19 on rural communities and the responses of nonprofit and other community infrastructures. Using a strengths-based approach and mixedmethods design, this qualitative research asked rural residents and nonprofit leaders about their needs, challenges, and assets as a result of COVID-19. Themes relative to access, interdependence, and community emerged from a priori categories. The research offers implications for both nonprofit education and rural nonprofit leadership.

The Social Meaning of Money in Nonprofit Organizations: A Case Study of Formal and Informal Earmarking of Money

By studying mechanisms, justifications, and valuations, this article analyzes the social meaning of earmarked money in a nonprofit organization. Focusing on the social meaning of money implies gaining insights into the moral underpinnings and justifications of the origin and generation of money as well as processes by which various streams of money are earmarked. Based on previous literature as well as our own research, we offer two models for understanding and studying processes that earmark and justify the earmarking of money. We illustrate the relevance of these models in a case study of the nonprofit organization IOGT-NTO in Sweden. We conclude the article by presenting key implications for nonprofit leadership and future research, including the recommendation that leaders need to analyze earmarking processes as well as how these processes affect organizations and to what ends money may be used.

Revisioning: African-American Women and Nonprofit Leadership

African-American women represent an untapped resource and bring with them transformational characteristics and resilience that are vital to the increasingly complex world of nonprofit leadership. This sector will lose 75% of its leaders soon with the retirement of baby boomers. It is crucial that nonprofits consider the next chapter in leadership. This paper is based on a mixed-methods study of the leadership styles and resilience of African-American women leaders in nonprofit organizations. Including these women in the leadership pool makes sense to the future and continuing success of nonprofit organizations.

Responding to Change in Higher Education: The Case of the Nonprofit Leadership Studies Program at Murray State University and Program Identity

Nonprofit studies programs have grown over the past three decades in both number and size. Although scholars have devoted increasing attention to both the field of study and its infrastructure, not much attention has been devoted to the administration of these programs. This study reviews the over three-decade-long history and development of the nonprofit leadership studies program at Murray State University and reflects on the various challenges the program has faced, including enrollment concerns, program reorganization, and declining resources. This analysis highlights the importance of developing a clear program identity, which in this case was shaped around the concepts of service learning and student philanthropy. The conclusions extrapolate broad recommendations that can serve as a road map to similar programs that face common budgetary and enrollment challenges in a changing higher education landscape.