How to manage a flock

Gregory Nemec

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Ask a church pastor what they wish they’d learned in seminary, and you’re likely as not to hear “how to lead a nonprofit.” That’s what the leaders of Andover Newton Theological School heard from alumni when they rebuilt their curriculum after affiliating with Yale Divinity School in 2017. Dean Sarah Drummond ’93 says Andover Newton had sometime offered courses in accounting, finance, leadership, and fund-raising when they were a freestanding school, “but we always knew we could be doing more.”

Now, the school requires its students to take two or three courses on leadership, including at least one course at Yale’s School of Management. Students can choose from more than 20 preapproved courses—including Introduction to Nonprofit Accounting, Negoti­ations, and Introduction to Marketing—or find their own. “We’re right down the street from the finest school of management in the country,” says Drummond, ”with such a legacy of teaching nonprofit management. Why would we not do this?”