NPL 273 Introduction to Nonprofit Leadership

Getting to Know Them

Minnesota is blessed with a large number of very active nonprofit corporations. For the last 11 years, the Minneapolis StarTribune has run a survey of the 100 largest nonprofit corporations in the State. You can see the entire list, or you can look at it by category at the Star/Tribune’s website (if you are not already a member, you may have to subscribe to read the story—but it’s free!). I would recommend that you go to the library and read the entire story; it is Sunday, January 14, Section D (Business), pp. D1, D7, and D8-9.

Select one of those nonprofit corporations, and locate its website. If it is not posted on the website, you might also want to locate the corporations IRS Form 990 and the annual report (these are available from the corporation, and on microfilm from any Foundation Center Library Collection—in Minnesota, there is one at the Hennepin County Library and one at the Rochester Public Library and one at Southwest State University’s Library). Find out:

Who established the corporation (it might have been a group of people, or a single donor) and who is involved in it now.

When the corporation was established

Where the corporation is located, and whether it has moved over its lifetime

Why was the corporation established, and how has that changed over time

How is the corporation governed and staffed

What does the corporation do? What programs does it operate? What is its operating budget? Capital budget? What properties does it own?

Write up your findings (minimum 250 words, no maximum) and post them to the class using the Discussion Board site set aside for this project (this does not count as one of your Discussion postings for this week) so that the rest of the class can learn from what you found. It will probably be easier to write up your findings on your wordprocessor and then paste it into the Discussion posting.

MSU