As the non-profit sector becomes more professional, young people are keener on qualifications tailored for it. According to Roseanne Mirabella of Seton Hall University, the number of courses at American universities in non-profit management and philanthropic studies rose from 284 in 1986 to 651 in 2016. Charity work is also becoming more popular among graduates who studied other subjects. In 1980, 8% of newly minted Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government took jobs in the non-profit sector. By 2015 that had risen to around 30%.

Demand for trained fundraisers has grown rapidly, says Michael Nilsen of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, a trade group active in eight countries. Jen Shang of the University of Plymouth measures the effect of tweaks to marketing materials on donor satisfaction and future giving. She shares her findings with students in America, Britain and China. To attract a new giver, she has shown, a charity should emphasise the good it does. The focus should then switch to the donor. Rewriting a thank-you letter to say “your donation has saved children like Tera” instead of “we have saved children like Tera” can boost future giving by roughly 10%.

More businesslike charities should be better equipped to survive and thrive. They should also do more good. A literature review in 2014 by academics at the Vienna University of Economics and Business found numerous studies showing that better-qualified managers were associated with higher and more stable revenues. But charities also face new competition from a surprising source: the rise of the charitable business.

Read the full article about nonprofit management from The Economist