Winter 2023 Update:
We are not currently accepting new students to the Certificate program. Please click "Request More Information" below to join our mailing list for updates about the next offering.
Workshops, self-paced courses through our partner MindEdge, group trainings, and consultation services are still available.
Certificate Cost:
Full Program: $3500*
Individual Courses: $325 - 675 each*
*Early Bird Pricing Can Save You Money!
Completion Time:
Certificate: 9 months (90 Instructional Hours)
Course: 3-6 weeks
Other Offerings:
Self-Paced, On-Demand Courses: start at $79
Webinars & Workshops: $75 - $350
Learning Formats:
Online with Real-Time Classes
On-Demand Self-Paced

Build, Grow, and Maintain Your Nonprofit
Learn to manage people, build effective programs, and maintain a healthy and efficient nonprofit organization. Develop the knowledge, insights, and abilities to enter or advance your career in the nonprofit field.
Develop and hone your knowledge and abilities in nonprofit management. The program focuses on nonprofit leadership, financial management, and the broader operational aspects of nonprofits.
You'll benefit from the experience and insights of leading nonprofit professionals' course instructors and network with a distinguished peer group of nonprofit professionals, making contacts you'll value throughout your career.
Who would benefit from this certificate program and courses?
Courses are designed for those with some experience working or volunteering in a nonprofit organization; however, nonprofit experience is not required to enroll. You will gain knowledge and skills that will enable you to pursue or advance a career in the nonprofit sector.
Nonprofit professionals may use select classes that have been pre-approved by CFRE International for Continuing Education Points.
What You Will Learn
- Key management and operational issues, including legal and financial affairs
- Fundamentals of nonprofit governance, human resources management, and program development and evaluation
- Essential leadership, strategic planning, and change management skills
- Techniques for messaging and branding and best practices for using technology and social media
- Approaches to fundraising, including annual fund drives, major donors, events, sponsorships, and grants
Recommended Qualifications
No application is required.
Two years of college or one year of work experience in the nonprofit sector is recommended.
Career Outlook
The average Executive Director salary in Seattle ranges from $80,543 to $107,451

CERTIFICATE PROGRAM
This certificate is not currently accepting new students. Continuing students should email uwtpdc@uw.edu for registration information.
Earn a certificate in nonprofit management in as little as nine months. Students have up to two years to complete the required courses. Read more about certificates.
CERTIFICATE / STAND-ALONE COURSES
*Early Bird prices are available on selected courses.
This first course is a seamless study of the key leadership competencies and challenges faced in this professional sector.
This course will introduce nonprofit professionals to current concepts in measurement systems designed to improve the performance of a nonprofit organization.
Gain insight into current ethics issues and the systemic challenges of managing ethically in any organization
Learn the unique practical and lawful approaches to developing human resource policies for nonprofit organizations..
Learn strategies to efficiently manage the financial resources of a nonprofit organization.
This course provides an overview of the current state and changing environment of fund development. The course is designed for the nonprofit executive to understand the landscape of the industry and to be able to ask important questions in order to achieve an organization's fund development goals.
WEBINARS & WORKSHOPS
Race, Power, and Social Impact within Nonprofit Organizations
Tuesdays, February 21 & 28 / $350
Course Details and Registration
Advanced Strategies for Racial Equity within Nonprofits
Tuesdays, March 21 & 28 / $350
Course Details and Registration
SELF-PACED ON-DEMAND COURSES
Study at your own pace and prepare for exams with these on-demand courses offered in partnership with MindEdge. See the catalog.
Course Highlights
STUDENT HIGHLIGHT
Diane Lyons, '16
Diane Lyons, '16, reinvented herself through certificate programs with the UW Tacoma Professional Development Center.
INSTRUCTOR HIGHLIGHT
Dr. Toni Aspin
Dr. Toni Aspin is an experienced leader, consultant, coach, and educator. She is a CPA, earned a MBA in the Executive program at the University of Washington, Foster School of Business, graduated with honors from Pacific Coast Banking School, and, in 2017, earned a Ph.D. in Transformative Studies from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Her doctoral dissertation investigated how corporate governance might be reframed to reflect a participatory worldview and envisioned what the impact of this shift might look like in boardroom dynamics.
Over her 30-plus-year career, she has held leadership roles in both the profit and nonprofit sectors including for the Seattle Symphony, One Reel, and Richard Hugo House. Since 2011 Toni leads her coaching consultancy practice focused on leadership development and organizational effectiveness practices. Toni is recognized for creating a robust learning environment grounded in shared practices of multi-perspectival inquiry and inclusive thinking.

We are proud members of:
501Commons
South Sound Planned Giving Council
Frequently Asked Questions
You can find more information about this program by viewing a recorded Info Session.
Give us a call at 253-692-4618, e-mail us at uwtpdc@uw.edu or stop by our office at 1551 Broadway, Tacoma. Our office is open from 8:00 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.