Now may be the golden age of nonprofit professional development. Evolving technology, accelerated by a public health crisis, has opened more education and training options at a lower cost and at a wider range of levels and subjects than ever before. 

Using these resources, you can easily indulge your interests as a nonprofit professional, taking your career in directions you never imagined. You can also meet the challenges of day-to-day work with content literally right at your fingertips. 

Let’s look at five resources that can empower you to do so: 

1. Academic Classes
2. In-Person Conferences and Seminars
3. Live Webinars and Online Conferences
4. Recorded Webinars, Podcasts, and Other Content
5. Private Classes and Tutoring

As we walk through these different types of nonprofit professional development resources, consider your needs and interests as a nonprofit professional to find the resource that will be most beneficial to you and help contribute to your organization’s overall development. 

1. Academic Classes

Over the last decade there’s been a proliferation of academic programs that, regardless of their title, can be labeled “nonprofit management.” There’s four good reasons for this:

1. Nonprofit management programs are easy to offer online, in-person or in a hybrid format. 
2. There is a greater demand for master’s degree-qualified leadership in the nonprofit sector, and it’s ideal when a leader has a master’s degree specific to nonprofit management rather than an MBA or a degree in organizational leadership. 
3. Working in the nonprofit sector is increasingly seen as a viable career path. 
4. Offering these programs let's schools claim that they have a socially-aware curriculum. 

While there are some undergraduate programs that focus on nonprofit management, most programs are at the graduate level. Some will offer a certificate program, as either a way to test the market for a more expansive program later, or as a gateway into a full degree program. 

You should expect these programs to have “academic rigor.” In other words, expect these programs to be more challenging than other forms of professional development. This rigor is achieved through traditional tests, papers, class discussions (whether synchronously online or in person, or through online discussion boards) and of course, grading. The best programs also offer a high level of interaction with your instructors. 

It’s also important to know that in academic institutions, nearly all your instructors will have a master’s degree and a doctorate degree. While academic degrees do not necessarily equate to proficiency in the subject taught, they’re a strong indicator of competence. 

All this said, academic certificate programs can vary widely. Some are a short list of core classes. You take the classes, receive passing grades, and you get the certificate. You will also generate an official academic record for courses that you may be able to transfer elsewhere. 

Others are more akin to a seminar series, where you simply attend the classes. Your attendance record, whether you paid attention or not, gets you the certificate. These programs will not generate any academic recognition for your accomplishments. If you decide later to get a degree, these courses will not count toward any program, even at the same school at which you took them. 

Regardless of what type or level of academic education you select, you will have tuition to pay. For undergraduate instruction, you may get a break if you are in-state vs. out-of-state. Many master’s programs are not state subsidized, so it's worth checking to see if as an out-of-stater you will pay the same as an in-stater. 

2. In-Person Conferences and Seminars

This is the most traditional method of nonprofit professional development. For years, just like in any industry, thousands of nonprofit managers, staff, and board members would flock to seminars scheduled either locally or afar. Even volunteers would participate, providing them with vital training that, according to Galaxy Digital, helps volunteers be more independent and efficient when helping out your organization. 

These learning opportunities haven’t entirely gone away, but the cost of travel, the ease of technological alternatives, and public health concerns have substantially reduced their availability. 

While sometimes academic institutions will offer conferences and seminars, this form of training is dominated by membership-based professional associations, although businesses that support nonprofits will also offer seminars and conferences, too. 

Fees for these programs vary. If offered by a professional association, all or a portion of the seminars may be covered by your base membership fee. For those that are not, you may get a “member’s discount.” Private companies will sometimes either subsidize their offerings entirely or provide a substantial discount to participants. 

While most conferences try to coordinate their programs based on a theme, they are essentially a series of seminars brought together in one place. If that’s the case, then what’s the advantage of a live conference? 

It’s who you meet.

Conferences tend to draw a higher number of participants than single seminars, and a well-designed conference will have plenty of opportunities for everyone to interact. So, they’re a great opportunity for making professional connections for resource-seeking or career advancement purposes. 

You shouldn’t ignore the vendors at a conference, either. Yes, vendors have an interest in selling you their services and products, like nonprofit HR consulting services or text fundraising software. However, know that many, if not most, are people who either have past nonprofit experience or a sincere interest in seeing nonprofits succeed. 

Also, and maybe most important, vendors, freelancers, and consultants are the “honeybees” of the sector. They know lots of others who do your same work. They can point you to some very valuable resources for almost anything you want to do. The instructors of these sessions usually gain their qualifications through experience. There are no degree requirements. 

Let’s not forget your instructors, either. The seminar presenters don’t necessarily come with advanced degrees, or any degree at all, but they are usually well-vetted by the sponsor organization for their practical experience in what they’re teaching. Take advantage of that experience by getting to know them, too. 

3. Live Webinars and Online Conferences

Online conferences and webinars, like nearly every new technology from automobiles to word processors, started by emulating their old-style competitors.  Online webinars began as videos of stand-up conference presentations. It was a good try, but everyone soon learned that there were much better ways to present in a medium that looked more like television than theater. 

Online education and training is still evolving. Instant polls and quizzes keep people engaged. Chat features include the introverts as well as the extroverts who dominated in-person learning. Work rooms engage people on a smaller scale. 

There’s also a greater awareness of how humans absorb information—starting with time. The best online programs are shorter and more focused, something that live seminars find difficult to accomplish because of the pull to provide “value” for the time spent in attending in-person. 

For all of the methodological differences, the core information offered at a webinar is largely the same as in-person instruction. Some would say that’s what really counts. In addition, live online instruction opens up greater opportunities because you don’t need to be near the place of presentation, cutting time and costs. 

More and more instructors are becoming more comfortable with online instruction and have learned to take advantage of the differences—starting with not needing to travel to make a presentation. 

As you might expect, it's much more difficult to interact with other learners in an online setting, despite new features like chat boxes and work rooms. Specific online conference software recognizes this difference and comes with “happy hour” times built in and easier access to vendors. 

4. Recorded Webinars, Podcasts, and Other Content 

There is an ever-growing wealth of content that’s recorded through video or audio (like podcasts) that is worth exploring. Most of these are targeted to specific areas. Nonprofit.Courses has collected these nonprofit professional development resources in one place. 

The advantages of this kind of educational content is easy to see. Most of it is free, developed as “content marketing” by consultants and vendors who serve nonprofits. Don’t think that because a course was built for content marketing, it’s not valuable. The purpose of content marketing is to show your expertise in an area, or to keep your brand top-of-mind to potential clients. Therefore, content marketers’  incentive is to give you meaningful information.

Also, access is easy—on whatever electronic device you prefer.

The timing is totally flexible. Whether you’re doing the dishes, taking the bus to work, or have some time between meetings, it’s there.

Like live online and in-person content, the qualification of the instructors is usually based on their experience, not their degrees. In fact, much of the content that’s recorded is based on instructors’ past live presentations. 

Yet for all the conveniences, learning from recorded content requires a high level of self-discipline, Start by looking for the actionable information. You also need to be proactive if you want to have any interaction with the presenter, and you may not have access to the people who asked questions in the session. 

Still, the advantages far outweigh any issues, especially if you need information quickly.

5. Private Classes and Tutoring

Not to be forgotten among all of your options is private instruction. Don’t overlook this method. A lot of consultants enjoy this work, and you may find that for the cost of a conference, you can get a lot of information that’s tailored to your circumstances.

In addition, some consultants have developed entire programs in specific areas that rival academic and professional associations for content in their area of expertise. Many of these programs also come with accreditation by a professional association for continuing education units or hours. Whether you use them to maintain a licensure or designation (such as a CPA or a CFRE) or not, the fact that they are available means that the program has met a delivery standard as reviewed by an outsider. 

The instructors of these programs are usually the consultant themselves, or sometimes supplemented by their close associates. Most are offered online as well as in person. Some may offer the first session free as a way for you to experience the program. 

While we’ve covered the most popular resources for nonprofit professional development in this article, don’t forget that with technology evolving, it's not likely to end here. 

Plus, an increasing number of programs are using more than one method—so be prepared for an exciting future in nonprofit education!

About the Author

Matt Hugg

Matt Hugg is an author and instructor in nonprofit management in the US and abroad. He is president and founder of Nonprofit.Courses, an on-demand, eLearning educational resource for nonprofit leaders, staff, board members and volunteers, with thousands of courses in nearly every aspect of nonprofit work. 

He’s the author of The Guide to Nonprofit Consulting, and Philanders Family Values, Fun Scenarios for Practical Fundraising Education for Boards, Staff and Volunteers, and a contributing author to The Healthcare Nonprofit: Keys to Effective Management.

Over his 30-year career, Hugg has held positions at the Boy Scouts of America, Lebanon Valley College, the University of Cincinnati, Ursinus College, and the University of the Arts. In these positions, Matt raised thousands of gifts from individuals, foundations, corporations and government entities, and worked with hundreds of volunteers on boards and fundraising committees, in addition to his organizational leadership responsibilities.

Matt teaches fundraising, philanthropy, and marketing in graduate programs at Eastern University, the University of Pennsylvania, Juniata College and Thomas Edison State University via the web, and in-person in the United States, Africa, Asia and Europe, and is a popular conference speaker. He has a BS from Juniata College and an MA in Philanthropy and Development from St. Mary’s University of Minnesota. Mr. Hugg has served on the board of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, the Nonprofit Career Network of Philadelphia and several nonprofits.