KDEC 9030 - Leading for Justice: Nonprofit Management, Philanthropy, and the Law

This course examines how institutions acquire legitimacy, exercise authority, and organize collective life within democratic societies. Focusing on the American context, where philanthropy, voluntary associations, religious institutions, mutual aid traditions, and social movements have long played central roles in public life, the course explores the relationship between law, power, public trust, and democratic responsibility.

Approaching philanthropy in its oldest sense as the public love of humanity, the course draws from legal theory, democratic thought, sociology, Black intellectual traditions, and contemporary institutional practice to examine philanthropy, mutual aid, civic association, institutional trust, and collective responsibility through legal cases, historical analysis, and contemporary examples.

Key questions include:

• What gives institutions legitimacy?
• Who gets to define public problems and imagine solutions?
• How do communities organize care, obligation, and collective action?
• What forms of institutional life make justice imaginable?

No prior readings or coursework required. Students should be prepared to engage with legal cases, historical texts, institutional examples, and cultural materials. The course draws from law, democratic theory, history, philanthropy, and Black intellectual traditions. Weekly readings average 40–60 pages.

Seminar-based course combining discussion of legal materials, historical analysis, institutional case studies, and engagement with cultural and archival materials. Sessions are organized around questions of legitimacy, stewardship, public trust, democratic responsibility, and public purpose. Drawing from law, democratic theory, sociology, philanthropy, and Black intellectual traditions, students will engage legal cases alongside essays, speeches, oral histories, and contemporary institutional examples in a discussion-centered learning environment.

Session 1 – Public Love and the Democratic Imagination

Introduction to the course and its central themes. Exploration of philanthropy in its broadest sense as a form of public love and collective responsibility. Examination of the relationship between democratic life, civic association, and institutional purpose.

Session 2 – Democratic Improvisation and Civic Life

Study of the distinctive role of voluntary associations, religious institutions, and civil society organizations in the American democratic tradition. Examination of how communities organize collective action beyond the state.

Session 3 – Recognition, Citizenship, and Belonging

Exploration of legal and social boundaries of membership, citizenship, and democratic inclusion. Consideration of how institutions define belonging and shape public life.

Session 4 – Governance, Stewardship, and Moral Authority

Introduction to nonprofit governance and fiduciary responsibility. Examination of stewardship, accountability, and the sources of institutional legitimacy.

Session 5 – Philanthropy, Power, and Democratic Contradiction

Analysis of philanthropy as both democratic experiment and concentration of private power. Discussion of debates surrounding influence, accountability, and the public good.

Session 6 – Black Institutional Life and Collective Stewardship

Examination of mutual aid societies, cooperatives, churches, and other traditions of Black institutional development. Consideration of alternative models of governance, care, and collective responsibility.

Session 7 – Institutional Failure and the Crisis of Trust

Exploration of institutional breakdown, public distrust, and legitimacy crises. Analysis of how institutions lose authority and how trust can be rebuilt.

Session 8 – Narrative, Memory, and Public Legitimacy

Investigation of the relationship between narrative, historical memory, and institutional authority. Discussion of how stories shape public understanding, institutional legitimacy, and democratic life.

Session 9 – Ritual, Symbolic Life, and Democratic Recognition

Study of ceremony, symbolism, collective memory, and cultural practice as dimensions of civic and institutional life. Examination of how communities create meaning and belonging.

Session 10 – Institutional Imagination and Democratic Futures

Consideration of how institutions adapt, innovate, and respond to social change. Exploration of the role of imagination in shaping democratic possibilities.

Session 11 – Inheritance, Stewardship, and Collective Responsibility

Examination of intergenerational responsibility, succession, and institutional continuity. Discussion of what communities inherit and what they choose to preserve.

Session 12 – Institutions Worthy of Trust

Synthesis of course themes. Reflection on legitimacy, governance, public purpose, and the qualities that make institutions durable, accountable, and worthy of democratic trust.

Group presentation based on a legal case, institutional example, or historical case study: 20%