Beginning in January, Central Michigan University will offer a focus in philanthropy and fundraising for students earning a Master of Science Administration degree.

Patricia Chase, director of the MSA program, said the non-profit sector is expected to grow by 27 percent this year due to an upward trend in economic stability.

“People who work in non-profit organizations hold off retirement until things start to look up,” she said. “With things finally starting to look up, many of the people who put off their retirement are retiring now, leaving the non-profit job market wide open.”

The program is predicted to help satisfy this rising trend in the non-profit job market. Originally offered through Global Campus, the program will begin to add on-campus classes in the Spring 2014 for those who prefer face-to-face learning. The degree will consist of the core requirements of a regular MSA degree, branching off to focus in philanthropy and funding in the second half.

The degree will focus, specifically, on non-profit functions such as managing monetary gifts, writing grants, overseeing donor relations and much more.

“Central is one of the national leaders in starting this program,” Chase said. “We will be one of the first universities to focus on getting jobs in the non-profit sector of the work force.”

According to Chase, the university has received more than 100 inquires after just a couple of weeks of advertising their new program. For now, however, the university is looking to fill a cohort of only 20-30 students for the first run.

“If I were to be running a non-profit organization, I know that I would want my money going to somewhere where the person in charge was not only handling my money correctly, but also using it with integrity,” Chase said, citing the importance of an ethics course within the program.

For the university to initiate its new program, it first had to have a research team collect national data on the trends of non-profit organizations and the needs of these organizations. From there, the university not only looked at the need, but the student interest level. Chase describes the process as “a huge team effort.”

“The goal is to help students learn to build a strategic plan, learn financial management, human resources and public relations that will help grow a cause,” she said.

A non-profit organization that works closely with many students on campus is the Special Olympics. Officials say they are ready and looking forward to working with students who will be working within this degree program.

Heidi Alexander, administrative assistant at Special Olympics Michigan, said she thinks the students who go through the program could have a major impact, but won’t detract from the organization’s main focus.

“Our passion is our cause; the athletes are the most important thing to us,” she said.

While CMU is one of the first universities to make a program like this, Chase said she expects increased interest from the upward trend of non-profits.

“When I was a non-profit director, I would have loved to have learned what I was supposed to do or where I was supposed to start,” she said. “That’s why I think this will be such a good program.”