ABSTRACT
An ongoing debate about the “best place” for nonprofit education has suggested multiple homes – business, social work, public administration, among others. In this chapter, we suggest that nonprofit education need not have a single location within the university but can be located across a university in multiple disciplines, departments, and curricula. Using interviews from eight other universities, and drawing from our own experience, we share several lessons for prospective and current directors on how to build a successful campus-wide effort for nonprofit education. These lessons revolve around different stages. In the early years, it is important to exhibit an academic entrepreneur mindset. You often need to focus on building early success that suggest your potential impact and growth opportunities, begin to build relationships that break through traditional campus silos, hone your communications and educate the campus community and others about this field, and identify campus cultures, histories, or trends that could augment your efforts. As you pivot to developing a larger enterprise, campus-wide efforts need to identify and expand a value proposition that builds on your institution’s incentive structures, engage students of all backgrounds, continue breaking through the usual campus silos through relationship building, and establish a long-term, sustainable approach.
