ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we bring a critical lens to current curricular approaches to philanthropy and nonprofit curriculum in higher education. We examine curricular models of top nonprofit management programs around the world to determine if important aspects of critical pedagogy and social justice are present in current course content. We argue that programs educating future leaders of nonprofit organizations have adopted too much of the curriculum of management schools at the expense of content that would provide the necessary knowledge and skills to enable future leaders to successfully carry out their advocacy and social movement responsibilities. An examination of our current curricular approach will show how programs in the United States and increasingly globally primarily embrace neoliberalism with its emphasis on managerialism, instrumentalism, and performativity, which maintain the status quo, privileging some while exploiting others. Education programs cast within this paradigm continue the post-colonial exploitation of marginalized people, including people of color, those who are poor, women, LGBTQI+, and those with disabilities. We take the position that curricular revisions need to turn away from capitalism and the market, drawing on feminist ethics of care, post-colonialist frameworks, and critical race theory to reposition nonprofit organizations and their leaders to pursue a praxis designed to shift the conversation from individual rights to community responsibilities.
