It is an open secret that charities and business have never been closer. Big charities now rival many corporate firms in turnover and career prospects. In the private sector, concepts such as corporate social responsibility and social enterprise have blurred the lines between making money and doing good.

Business schools are quick to reflect change and in the past five years a host of new qualifications have emerged aimed at pairing business rigour with charity mission. At London South Bank University, the Masters in Voluntary Administration (MVA) is dubbed “an MBA for the not- for-profit sector”. It comprises the usual components - finance, management, marketing and strategy - but also covers fundraising, social policy and charity law.

“There's a lot in common between the charity sector and enterprise,” says Professor Alex Murdock, the MVA course director. Management education is vital to the sector: charities appear in employment tribunals more often than people would expect. “Many don't handle HR well - there's a tendency to run on values,” he says. Students include a banker planning to move to a charity and a lawyer who is a trustee in his spare time. Business backgrounds are welcomed but Professor Murdock looks for evidence of commitment, such as volunteering, in course applicants.

Sarah Illingworth, an MVA graduate and a director at People Unlimited, a nonprofit recruitment firm, spent a decade in the private sector before moving to the voluntary sector. After years of working with charities, she realised that she needed theory to underpin her experience. “How do you make a balance scorecard work when you are not making a profit? We need people with transferable skills but the sectors have very different ways of working,” she says. In a saturated MBA market she feels that the charity-focused qualification sets her CV apart.

Amid the 300 MBA students at Cass Business School at City University, a growing cohort study at the Centre for Charity Effectiveness. Professor Paul Palmer, the director of charity courses, says that the MSc in voluntary sector management is popular with students looking to understand a distinct sector. “People in charities are motivated by different things,” he says. Managing volunteers as well as paid employees and trustees instead of board members has its own challenges, so business tutors contextualise teaching for the voluntary sector and guest lecturers pay regular visits. Students come from charities, companies and finance firms and ages range from 25 to over 50. One commutes from Canada. “A diverse class adds to the value of the course,” Professor Palmer says. Positive responses to the courses have led to an MSc in international NGO management being planned for this year.

Gordon Lester worked in sales and management before doing an MBA “to understand the language of business”. In 2005 he moved to become a branch director at a charity, looking after 7,000 volunteers, and decided to go back to business school. “The MBA was highly commercial. I needed to make it real for the voluntary sector.” After completing the first year of the Cass MSc, Lester was made chief executive of the North Devon Hospice. He plans to finish the course next year.

The approach at Henley Management College differs. Its MBA is tailored to the private, public and third sectors equally. Core modules are traditional but case studies are from all three sectors to reflect modern day management, says Stephen Lee, professor of non-profit management, who spent 20 years in the third sector.

“Public-Private Partnerships and sustainability don't reside in a particular sector,” he says. Ten per cent of the students come from a voluntary sector background. “We want to create leaders who can take the reins in a very challenging global business environment,” he says.

Source: www.timesonline.co.uk