Jayce Sudweeks, Georgia Southern University
Jayce Sudweeks, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Public and Nonprofit Studies
Georgia Southern University
Five Nonprofit Leadership Challenges: A Proposed Typology of Common Issues that Nonprofit Leaders Face
Journal of Nonprofit Education & Leadership, 2023 | Vol. 13 Issue 2, p31-58. 28p.
Nonprofit leaders face many challenges and would benefit from a typology that helps highlight the core issues organizations experience. The Nonprofit Studies Minor at North Carolina State University identified five nonprofit leadership challenges, through a combination of practitioner experience and academic research, that could serve as a typology. The challenges identified are earning the public trust; aligning mission, methods, and resources; capitalizing on issues associated with diversity; balancing individual interests and the common good; and moving beyond charity to systemic change.
This research, co-authored by Dr. Richard M. Clerkin (University of North Carolina Wilmington), Dr. Sapna Varkey (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine), and Dr. Jayce Sudweeks, revisits the academic literature to assess whether these challenges encompass the research agenda of nonprofit and voluntary action academic studies. Using qualitative content analysis, we examined abstracts from three major nonprofit journals from 2005-2017. Results indicate that the five leadership challenges were present in the abstracts of all three journals. Chi-squared analysis showed statistically significant differences in the presence of leadership challenges based on journal, location of the study, and unit of analysis.
Both Dr. Clerkin and Dr. Sudweeks have successfully used this typology as a key framework in their undergraduate and graduate courses in nonprofit management. Students have found the typology very helpful in classifying and analyzing the myriad of issues facing nonprofit organizations. It allows students to quickly identify the issue and then begin to understand how to apply concepts taught in the courses to address the issue. Student feedback often includes comments about the power and usefulness of the Five Nonprofit Leadership Challenges.
Dr. Jayce Sudweeks joined the faculty of Georgia Southern University in the Fall 2019 as an assistant professor in the Department of Public and Nonprofit Studies. He received his Ph.D. in Public Administration from North Carolina State University in August 2019. His dissertation entitled, Should We Let Them Go: A Narrative Policy Framework Analysis of the Policy Narratives Surrounding the Release of Genetically Modified Mosquitos in Brazil and the Florida Keys, examines the role of policy narratives on the decisions to release genetically modified mosquitos in Brazil while releases in Florida were delayed.
His primary research interests are the management and leadership challenges faced by nonprofit organizations. Professor Sudweeks holds both Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degrees in Molecular Biology from Brigham Young University. He has presented his research at and is a member of the Association for Research on Nonprofits Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA), the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA), and the Southeastern Conference of Public Administration (SECOPA). Dr. Sudweeks teaches graduate courses in nonprofit administration, strategic management, and foundations of public administration. He teaches undergraduate courses in nonprofit management, strategic management for nonprofits, international nongovernmental organizations, and social entrepreneurship and innovation.