Northeastern’s Graduate Certificate in Fundraising and Development prepares students for careers in the increasingly strategic areas of fundraising, grant writing, and development by empowering them with the expert-level skills, techniques, and practicalities of raising funds.

Through targeted coursework, students build a solid foundation of knowledge on fundraising and development - including donor research management, grant writing, building effective performance assessments, and measuring social impact. Students will also produce professional-level work to add to their personal portfolio, utilize current industry tools, and be able to participate in experiential projects.

This certificate program provides practical, hands-on skills while allowing students to develop digital competencies inspired by the professional world – including new courses on data literacy, technological literacy, entrepreneurship, and cultural agility applied to the nonprofit sector.

Upon completion, students are well positioned for either a career in fundraising and development or for transitioning to a more comprehensive curriculum within the MS in Nonprofit Management

Program objectives

• Identify and interpret key issues and challenges of sustainability experienced by stakeholders of the nonprofit world and consider their implications for managerial practice.
• Interpret the major theories, methods and approaches to financial resource acquisition, development, and management in nonprofit space, and illustrate and articulate why a nonprofit organization merits philanthropy.
• Use knowledge of grant writing cycle, components of a proposal package, and effective strategies to produce a grant proposal ready for submission to a funding source.
• Explore donor engagement best practices and tools to engage donors, from identification through annual support to significant and legacy giving.
• Use practical tools and metrics to plan, control, and maintain a sustainable decision-making system for short-term outcomes and long-term goals for social impact. Support Fundraising and Development functions in how to use data and analysis into qualitative narrative.
• Integrate traditional and nontraditional ways to promote nonprofit organizations to an array of actual and potential audiences for a variety of purposes. Discuss strategies to motivate regular giving from donors to support programming and operations.

Unique Features

• Opportunity to engage in a co-op education program or an integrative experiential learning project
• All classes provide learners with opportunities to produce professional-level documentation they can add to their portfolio.
• Credits earned completing this certificate can be applied to Northeastern’s MS in Nonprofit Management
• Unique specialization in fundraising and development with a skills-focused curriculum taught by industry experts

Credits earned from this certificate may be applied toward the Master of Science in Nonprofit Management.