How We Could Measure Community Impact of Nonprofit Graduate Students’ Service-Learning Projects: Lessons from the Literature

Abstract

Nonprofit management education scholars are asking the question, “How do we measure community impact of nonprofit programs?” One way to study the community impact of nonprofit management education is by studying the impact that service-learning projects have on the nonprofits for which they are developed. This paper synthesizes literature that studies the community impact of nonprofit graduate students’ service-learning projects. This paper also describes capacity building and evaluation tools and theories that can enhance future studies of community impact. Future studies of community impact should include analysis components from the fields of nonprofit management education, service learning, capacity building, and nonprofit evaluation, and take into consideration specific factors that may affect study outcomes.