The Nonprofit FAQ

What is the practical difference between Certification and an MBA?

Jane Garthson wrote: I just finished [a certification program] at York University. It was great, and great value, and an enormous amount of work. As I see it, the main differences between the MBA and certificate programs are: - the MBA costs a lot more - the MBA take much longer to do - the reason the MBA takes longer is that many participants have no hands-on nonprofit management experience; the certificate course builds on the knowledge people bring to the course - the MBA is recognized better by those who don't know better BRAND@melia.qut.edu.au added Tue Nov 15 1994: Jane and Scott, Glad to hear you had positive experiences with certificate programs. What I would like to know more about is details about *how* the certificate has aided you and why you chose that route over a full masters of nonprofit management. A few years ago, when mulling over some career choices, the general opinon of NPO leaders I talked with was that certificate programs added very little value to an staff member unless 1) that person already held a masters in a closely related field (MSW, MPA, MBA) or 2) that person had extensive experience (10+ years) in nonprofits. In the years since then, I've experienced general consensus that in leadership positions, the majority of NPOs want people with a well rounded graduate education. There apppears to be a level of skepticism surrounding graduate certificate programs by personnel committees, executive directors and even many academics. To what extent have NPOs been receptive to your certificate and is your certificate complimented by other graduate level education? What positions did you hold before and after your certificate program? Did the education makes a difference? What would you say to someone who is debating the certificate vs. masters issue? It might be time for some of us to revaluate our thoughts regarding certificate programs. Scott made a strong point about the relatively small cost of his certificate education - there may be real value for money factors that need to be reexamined. I'd like to hear your thoughts in greater depth. Regards, Michael PS - Jane, regarding your comment about grad programs being so lengthy because few of the students had "hands on" experience - when I was pursuing a Masters of Nonprofit Organizations, of the 30 people accepted into the program I think only 4 were coming straight out of their undergraduate program. Maybe half of us were over the age of 30. My classmates were quite a mix of program managers, fundraising officers, community organizers and other mid-level nonprofit staff. There was even an executive director or two. While there are some grad programs with large numbers of inexperience students, I don't think that's the reason for lengthy degree curriculums. Posted in 1994