What Can History Contribute to Nonprofit Education?

The field of nonprofit studies and teaching has grown significantly over the past 40 years and is increasingly adopting a cross-disciplinary perspective. However, until recently, history has been largely absent from the curriculum. This paper attempts to redress the imbalance. While acknowledging th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of nonprofit education and leadership 2020-01, Vol.10 (4)
Main Author: Davis Smith, Justin
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Curricula
Graduate studies
History
Nonprofit organizations
Philanthropy
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The field of nonprofit studies and teaching has grown significantly over the past 40 years and is increasingly adopting a cross-disciplinary perspective. However, until recently, history has been largely absent from the curriculum. This paper attempts to redress the imbalance. While acknowledging that the past cannot provide a ready-made template for the future, it argues that history is essential for our understanding of the way in which the nonprofit sector has developed and can provide lessons for future courses of action, as well as helping to reconnect voluntary organisations to their founding values and missions. The paper draws on a range of examples from the history of the sector in the UK and the experience gathered by the author in teaching a history of philanthropy module to students on the charity master’s programme at the Business School (formerly Cass), City, University of London.
ISSN:2374-7838
2157-0604
DOI:10.18666/JNEL-2020-10790