Finding a nonprofit organization or ministry to work with is one of the most important investments you can make in your education. It gives you a place to apply what you learn, build useful projects, and develop relationships with people doing the work you hope to do.
Without that connection, studying nonprofit management can be a little like taking an online course on riding a bicycle without ever getting on one. You may understand the techniques, but understanding and doing are not the same thing.
Whether you already serve in a church, work for a nonprofit, or are just beginning to explore ministry leadership, the goal is the same: connect your coursework to a real organization and learn by serving it.
Key Takeaways
- Real organizational projects connect nonprofit management knowledge with practical skills and professional relationships.
- Your current nonprofit or ministry may support many assignments, but additional partners may be necessary.
- Effective outreach requires reaching the right person and explaining how your project can serve the organization.
- Internships combine supervised work with reflection, journaling, and other structured learning assignments.
Why Practical Experience Matters in Online Learning
We often describe learning in three domains: the head, the heart, and the hands. The technical terms are cognitive, affective, and psychomotor learning.
- Head learning develops knowledge and understanding through courses, books, and other study.
- Heart learning develops attitudes and values through reflection, mentoring, and participation in community.
- Hand learning develops practical ability through actually doing the work.
Online education is well suited to head learning. But heart and hand learning require more than completing lessons. Reflective assignments, journaling, faculty mentoring, and life in a work or church community help connect education to personal growth.
For practical learning, we emphasize a constructionist approach: people, especially adults, often learn best by building something. You learn the tools and techniques while creating a useful result. In nonprofit management, that might be a fundraising plan, a human resources toolkit, or a grant proposal.
Think about pilot training. You would probably feel uncomfortable boarding a plane if the pilot had completed years of online study but had never flown. Pilots need more than information. They need simulation, supervised practice, and experience.
We use a similar progression for nonprofit leadership:
- Practical assignments provide opportunities to apply concepts in real organizations.
- Internships provide sustained practice with supervision.
- Employment in a nonprofit or ministry provides ongoing experience and responsibility.
Managing an organization that transforms lives is complex work. A strong education should help you move from knowing about that work to being able to do it.
Know What Your Course Projects Will Require
Before approaching an organization, understand the kinds of projects you may need to complete. You are not simply looking for a nonprofit name to put on an assignment. You need a relationship that supports practical learning.
Across City Vision’s nonprofit management courses, projects include:
- Cross-Cultural Management and Ministry: a cross-cultural strategic plan.
- Nonprofit Human Resources: a manager’s HR toolkit.
- Organizational Behavior: an organizational culture assessment.
- Leadership in Diverse and Under-Resourced Communities: a diversity strategic plan.
- Nonprofit Startup and Board Development: a board development manual.
- Nonprofit Financial Accounting and Nonprofit Managerial Accounting: reviews of organizational financial information.
- Marketing: a marketing plan.
- Grant Writing: a grant proposal.
- Nonprofit Fundraising: a fundraising plan.
- Social Entrepreneurship: development of a new program, product, or organization.
- Nonprofit Strategic Planning: a strategic plan.
Not every organization can support every project. A small church with one part-time pastor may offer meaningful ministry experience without having the structure needed for a separate HR toolkit, board manual, and grant proposal.
That does not make it a poor learning environment. It means you may need more than one organizational relationship to complete the full range of assignments.
Start With Your Current Situation
If You Already Work or Lead in a Nonprofit or Ministry
If you are a staff member or volunteer leader, your current organization is usually the natural starting point. Volunteer leadership counts. You do not need a paid position to have meaningful access to organizational leaders and activities.
You may be able to use your organization for many projects. Still, look ahead for possible gaps. Grant writing, accounting, fundraising, or board development assignments may require an outside organization if your current setting does not offer those opportunities.
For an initial interview, consider speaking with someone in your organization whose position you might like to hold someday. That makes the assignment useful both for understanding the organization and exploring your own professional direction.
If You Do Not Yet Have an Organization
If you are not currently on staff or in volunteer leadership, begin finding one or more organizations as soon as possible. Do not treat this as an administrative detail to postpone until a project deadline.
In our Introduction to Nonprofit and Ministry Management course, spending 20 to 40 hours developing these connections can be time very well spent. It may be difficult, but the relationship you establish can strengthen your entire educational experience.
We have also found that students who do not develop nonprofit relationships and effective practical experience have more difficulty finding jobs. The search itself is part of your professional preparation.
Build a List of Organizations That Fit
Start by creating a list of nonprofits, churches, or ministries you might want to work with. Use web searches and nonprofit directories to identify possibilities. For additional research into U.S. tax-exempt organizations, the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search is a useful reference.
Consider both the mission and the practical fit. Can you identify a person to contact? Does the organization have activities relevant to your assignments? Is it structured enough to support the kind of project you need?
Organization size matters. A national headquarters may be difficult to navigate because reaching the appropriate person can take substantial effort. At the other extreme, an entirely volunteer-run organization may have no one regularly answering the phone.
Look for an organization where you can reach someone who has both the interest and the ability to work with you.
Local organizations offer particular advantages. They can help you build relationships in the community where you may eventually seek employment. But geography does not have to stop your search. If local options are limited, contact organizations in a nearby city or explore working remotely with an organization elsewhere.
Step 1: Reach the Right Person
Many students are uncomfortable cold calling. That is understandable, but making a professional introduction is an important networking skill. Your effectiveness depends partly on how many organizations you contact and partly on how clearly you explain the opportunity.
The first challenge is not persuading someone to accept a project. It is reaching the right person.
Research a Named Contact Before Calling
Visit the organization’s website and identify someone whose role makes sense for your request. Possible contacts include:
- A volunteer or internship coordinator.
- A human resources staff member.
- The executive director of a smaller organization.
- A program leader or someone in a role you hope to hold.
People whose responsibilities include working with volunteers, interns, or outside partners may be especially helpful starting points.
When you call, ask for the person by name. If the person answering asks why you are calling, explain briefly that you are a City Vision University student completing an assignment involving a nonprofit organization.
The person answering may be screening sales calls. A clear explanation helps distinguish your educational request from a sales pitch.
Do Not Confuse Voicemail With a Conversation
Leaving messages at 20 organizations is not the same as speaking with people at 20 organizations. Do not assume that a voicemail will generate a response.
Try calling at different times of day, and consider organizations of different sizes. The objective is a real conversation with someone who can help, not simply a record of attempted calls.
If you have called more than 50 organizations and actually reached more than 20 without finding a willing partner, talk with your faculty member. Both conditions matter. At that point, it is worth reviewing your organization choices, contact strategy, and explanation of the project.
Step 2: Make the Interview Useful to the Organization
Your immediate purpose may be to complete an interview assignment. But the conversation has two additional purposes: helping the organization understand the value of working with you and beginning a professional relationship.
That relationship might eventually support another course project, an internship, or employment. Even if none of those develops, knowing people in an organization doing meaningful work has value.
Focus on how your learning and your projects can serve the organization. An organization is more likely to want another project with you if the first one is genuinely helpful.
Before the interview, review your assignment’s instructions, sample script, and question list. Take notes during the conversation so you can complete the assignment accurately and remember what you learned.
A useful way to frame your request is to explain:
- Who you are and what you are studying.
- What the current assignment involves.
- How the project could be useful to the organization.
- That you are interested in learning through practical service.
You do not need to secure a commitment to every future assignment in the first conversation. Start with a manageable opportunity and do it well.
As the relationship develops, ask whether your contact can help you find the right person for a later project. Someone who helps with your initial interview may not handle grant writing or finances, but they may know who does.
Approach the Relationship With a Servant’s Heart
There is a difference between asking an organization to help you finish school and offering to contribute while you learn. We encourage the second approach.
From my experience working with hundreds of interns, outstanding work gets noticed. When an intern makes a strong contribution, an organizational leader may look for a way to hire that person.
That is not a promise of employment. It is a reason to take the opportunity seriously. Your work allows people to see your ability in practice rather than only reading about it on a résumé.
There is also a real concern about exploitation in unpaid work. A servant’s heart does not make that concern disappear. The purpose is meaningful service and practical learning, not an assumption that unlimited unpaid work will eventually produce a job.
Approach the organization as a place to contribute and grow. A potential employment connection is an opportunity, not the only measure of success.
Consider an Internship or Practicum
Once you have an organizational relationship, an internship or practicum may provide a more sustained learning experience.
The course structure described here requires three things:
- Completion of Introduction to Nonprofit and Ministry Management.
- Room for an elective course in your degree program.
- A supervisor at an appropriate nonprofit, church, or ministry who will sign the supervision agreement.
Your current employer may be an appropriate site. You do not necessarily need to find a separate organization if your existing position meets the requirements.
The recommended work commitment is about 10 hours per week. Within the approximately 17-hour weekly course workload described for City Vision courses, the remaining time is devoted to journaling, reflection, reading, and other assignments. The practical work is part of the course workload, not simply additional time on top of it.
The basic structure includes weekly reflection on your work, a work log approved by your supervisor, and reading relevant to internships. This connects experience with intentional learning rather than treating hours worked as the whole educational outcome.
The course plan described availability every term beginning in 2021 and an option to take the practicum a second time under a different course number. Confirm current availability, eligibility, and supervision requirements with your faculty member before making arrangements.
Make the Search Part of Your Education
Finding an organization may take persistence. You may need several conversations, a wider geographic search, or more than one partner to support your projects.
But that effort is not separate from learning nonprofit management. Identifying organizations, reaching decision-makers, explaining your contribution, and developing relationships are professional skills themselves.
Start early. Find the right person. Lead with service. Then use your coursework to build something useful. That is how head learning becomes practical ability, and how an online education connects with the real work of transforming lives.