Deck 1: Nonprofit Management As a Profession and a Field of Study

Question 1

The requirement that nonprofits meet the expectations for measurable results has increased the need for:

A) empowered customers.
B) funding to state governments.
C) management.
D) voucher-type payments.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

There has been a shift in thinking about nonprofits that emphasizes:

A) increasing the salaries of managers to levels comparable to their business peers.
B) valuing the financial bottom line over achieving the nonprofit's mission.
C) hiring managers with MBAs.
D) building the strength of organizations themselves.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

This organization was founded in 1970 and began to accredit public administration degree programs.

A) The Commission on Private Philanthropy and Public Needs
B) The Yale Program on Nonprofit Organizations
C) The National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration
D) The Nonprofit Academic Centers Council

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Managers of nonprofit organizations must measure their success by:

A) the number of volunteers they can recruit in a fiscal year.
B) successfully providing goods and services to customers, thereby increasing the organization's resources.
C) their ability to manage staff resources without the advantage of a top-down business management hierarchy.
D) their ability to achieve a mission and to meet their financial bottom line.

Question 5

The complexity of the nonprofit manager's job and the multiple pressures inherent in the job frequently result in:

A) enrolling in professional management refresher courses.
B) frustration and burnout.
C) six-figure salaries.
D) honorary degrees.

Question 6

Concomitant with the increase in nonprofit management literature in the 1990s and 2000s, what also grew rapidly?

A) Government-funded programs to educate nonprofit managers
B) Educational programs related to nonprofit management
C) Academic journals that specialized in nonprofit management
D) Competition for philanthropic missions by for-profits

Question 7

Most nonprofits obtain revenue from:

A) multiple sources.
B) government contracts only.
C) the sale of products and services.
D) corporate sponsors only.

Question 8

Nonprofit management literature is drawn from which of the three areas?

A) Social science research, customer complaints, and reports prepared by practitioners
B) Social science research, organizational theory, and community feedback
C) Internal Revenue Service financial reports, organizational, theory, and social science research
D) Social science research, organizational theory, and practitioner reports

Question 9

The perception that nonprofits are less well managed than businesses is:

A) cultivated mostly by for-profit corporations.
B) not based on any research and is a myth.
C) provides the basis of many nonprofit management courses.
D) cultivated mostly by government agencies.

Question 10

Throughout most of the history of management as a recognized discipline, most theorists have:

A) maintained that businesses required more educated managers.
B) stated that government organizations have the most need of managers with distinctive skills.
C) argued that common management principles would apply equally to all organizations.
D) claimed that only business managers have any need of professional development.

Question 11

Those who view nonprofit organizations primarily as social institutions portray nonprofit managers as:

A) leaders with strong business backgrounds.
B) stewards of their organization or servants of society.
C) social entrepreneurs.
D) the glue that holds the rest of the organization together.

Question 12

Which decade marked a turning point in public policy, with government outsourcing more of the delivery and management of social and human services to nonprofits, which resulted in the increased need for professional management in nonprofit organizations and an increased number of students interested in working for nonprofit organizations?

A) The 1960s.
B) The 1970s.
C) The 1980s.
D) The 1990s

Question 13

According to Higgins, nonprofit organizations have:

A) many volunteers.
B) constituents that don't really know what they do.
C) board and staff members with different goals and agendas.
D) constituents with only one perspective.

Question 14

The beginning of management as a field of study dates approximately to the:

A) late 19th century.
B) early 18th century.
C) 1960s.
D) 1980s.

Question 15

One overarching force that has driven the nonprofit management revolution of recent decades has been:

A) the introduction of competition resulting from changes in funding patterns, growth of the sector, and increasing demands for accountability.
B) the need to hire formally trained managers.
C) the invasion of for-profit business into philanthropy.
D) the development of the MPA degree programs in universities, which differentiated the study of public management from the discipline of political science.

Question 16

Most small businesses:

A) are better managed than most nonprofits.
B) are more successful than most nonprofits.
C) eventually evolve into corporations.
D) fail within the first five years of their existence.

Question 17

The double bottom line concept means CEOs must:

A) meet organizational goals and objects.
B) achieve the mission within financial means.
C) be accountable to their donors and the Internal Revenue Service.
D) increase the value of the business and the wealth of its owners.

Question 18

According to Herman, one of the differences of managing a nonprofit versus a for-profit corporation is:

A) nonprofit decisions must be consistent with the mission and ethical values of the organization.
B) nonprofits are not allowed to make any profits.
C) nonprofit stakeholders are the same as stockholders.
D) none of the above.

Question 19

The nation's first school of management was the:

A) Mandel Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Case Western Reserve University.
B) Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
C) Yale Program on Nonprofit Organizations.
D) Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Question 20

Demands for accountability and the need for systems and procedures to comply with greater scrutiny and regulation also have contributed to the need for:

A) dramatic growth of organizations.
B) trained managers.
C) philanthropic contributions.
D) long-term investments in nonprofits.

Question 21

One of the sources for nonprofit management literature comes from academics at colleges and universities.

Question 22

Capital markets would provide nonprofit organizations funding based on:

A) the number of new clients recruited.
B) capacity.
C) sustainability.
D) rationality.

Question 23

The revolution in nonprofit management has been caused, in part, by an economic downturn that led to a reduction in funding and an increase in the need for services.

Question 24

Which university was the first to offer a bachelor's degree in philanthropy?

A) Harvard University
B) University of Wisconsin
C) Indiana University
D) University of Maryland

Question 25

According to Frumkin, the "expressive" purpose of nonprofits is to:

A) serve as social institutions.
B) serve as government institutions.
C) serve as business sector institutions.
D) as social enterprises.

Question 26

Bill Shore recommends that philanthropic foundations:

A) change their focus to funding nonprofit programs.
B) change their focus to funding operational costs of nonprofit programs.
C) change their focus to funding nonprofit capacity.
D) change their focus to funding research.

Question 27

Which authors suggest that it is time for nonprofit organizations to shift their focus from "telling time" to "building clocks?"

A) Letts, Ryan, and Gross
B) Shore and Letts
C) Collins and Porras
D) Herman and Anheier

Question 28

The University of Georgia, Institute for Nonprofit Organizations offers graduate school coursework through the departments of social work, political science, and management. This is an example of studying the field of nonprofit management applying a(an):

A) entrepreneurial approach.
B) interdisciplinary approach.
C) natural science approach.
D) inspired approach.

Question 29

Most small businesses fail within the first two years of business.

Question 30

Most nonprofits receive revenue from government funding only.

Question 31

Individuals who believe that nonprofit organizations should apply business methods of management perceive nonprofit organizations as:

A) social institutions.
B) government institutions.
C) social enterprises.
D) education institutions.

Question 32

Mendel argues that nonprofit studies must go beyond traditional accountability and include political studies.

Question 33

Who wrote that nonprofit organizations require a multi-faceted, flexible approach to management?

A) Christine Letts
B) Bill Shore
C) Robert Herman
D) Helmut Anheier

Question 34

A recent shift in thinking about nonprofits has focused more on the capacity and sustainability of the organization as opposed to its programs and services.

Question 35

Compare and contrast the nonprofit management from business management.

Question 36

Who was the first individual to suggest that management be a distinct field of study with its own literature?

A) Bill Shore
B) Christine Letts
C) Henry Towne
D) Helmut Anheier

Question 37

One of the ways that nonprofit organizations differ from for-profit corporations is their stakeholders.

Question 38

The beginning of management as a field of study dates approximately to the late 19^th century.

Question 39

Bill identified an opportunity to meet the needs of young mothers in a new way. He applied an innovative fundraising technique to secure the funds to open a counseling center where his new program was offered. According to your author's definitions, Bill is demonstrating the characteristics of:

A) social innovation
B) social intrapreneurship
C) social science
D) social counseling

Question 40

The perception that nonprofit organizations are less well-managed than businesses is _________.

Question 41

Analyze how the revolution in management influenced the way nonprofit organizations are managed.

Question 42

Compare and contrast the perspectives of scholars and practitioners regarding the plight of nonprofit sector management.

Question 43

Analyze the debate about whether nonprofit management programs are best taught in business schools, schools of public affairs and administration, or in colleges of arts and sciences. Which do you think is the most appropriate setting? Why?

Question 44

Identify the various stakeholders a nonprofit must be accountable to. Explain why.

Question 45

Determine which type of organization-a business or a nonprofit- where success is more difficult to come by? Why?

Question 46

Identify the differences between a for-profit business providing a good or service to its customers and a nonprofit providing a good or service to its customers. What does the act of satisfying customers in each instance do to its resources?

Question 47

Identify perspectives and agendas that might be found in a nonprofit organization and explore how they may impact the job of the CEO.

Question 48

Interpret the two primary perspectives reflected in the contemporary nonprofit management literature.