Cleveland State University

Cleveland State University's Master of Nonprofit Administration and Leadership (MNAL) is a two-year degree designed to prepare students with knowledge of core management functions and competencies such as fundraising, financial management, human resource management, philanthropy, proposal writing, program development, program evaluation, and applied management.

The MNAL is an interdisciplinary collaboration of the Levin College of Urban Affairs, the College of Business, and the School of Social Work as well as other programs at Cleveland State University. This degree provides students with the tools to build management skills and knowledge of nonprofits in order to improve their employment opportunities, advance in their organization, or to make a career change.

Admission Requirements

• Application Form

• Application Fee
• Undergraduate Transcripts
  • Minimum 3.0 Undergraduate GPA
• Two Letters of Recommendation
• GRE Test Scores
  • Average Verbal & Quantitative Test Scores at 40th percentile and an Analytical Writing Score of 4.0
  • Students with a graduate degree from an accredited U.S. college or university are exempted from this requirement. 

*Admission to the program is based on a combination of a candidate’s undergraduate GPA and the GRE score.  

-International students are required to have met at least one of the following English language proficiency requirements:

• TOEFL iBT (Internet-Based): 78 & at least 17 in each section
• TOEFL PBT (Paper-Based): 550
• IELTS: 6.0 and at least 5.0 in each section
• PTE (Pearson’s Test of English): 50
• iTEP: 3.8

Admission Deadlines

All applications must be submitted and complete on the following application deadline dates:

• Domestic Students
  • Rolling
• International Students
  • Fall Semester – May 15th
  • Spring Semester - October 15th
  • Summer Semester - March 15th

Career Outcomes

• The Northeast Ohio area has one of the highest concentrations of nonprofit organizations nationally with more than 6,000 nonprofits in Cuyahoga County. In a 2005 Monthly Labor Review, the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that the nonprofit sector was the only source of employment growth in U.S. cities between 1995-2003, growing at a rate of 16% over this period. Studies by organizations such as the Annie E. Casey Foundation and Bridgespan, a nationally recognized nonprofit policy institute, project that the demand for senior managers in the nonprofit sector will quadruple over the next two decades.

• Nonprofit Administration and Leadership graduates work in organizations such as museums, health care, planning and community development, public policy, education, arts, civics, social sciences, environmental, and professional associations. 
• These are some of the local companies that are hiring CSU grads: VolunteerMatch, The Trust for Public Land, Cleveland Sight Center, VirtualVocations, United Way, Citizen's Climate Lobby, and Taproot Foundation.