Haunted by nonprofits: Five themed mini-teaching cases for Halloween and Día de los Muertos

ABSTRACT

Halloween provides an opportunity to teach public administration and nonprofit management concepts in a fun way, which increases student retention and understanding. Teaching cases are an evidence-based pedagogical tool that facilitates active learning and brings together perspective-taking, critical thinking, and problem-solving. This article presents five themed mini-teaching cases perfect for Halloween that can be taught individually or together: emotional labor in dark tourism; risk management for nefarious volunteers; cemetery management; financial management through zombie philanthropy; and nonprofit demise. The lessons integrate real-world scenarios with public administration concepts in a timely, fun, and evidence-based delivery method. Each case includes a scholarly interpretation through a public administration or nonprofit management lens, learning objectives, discussion and test questions, and reading and viewing recommendations. These five lessons provide a wide-reaching, foundational application for any public administration and nonprofit management classroom.

KEYWORDS:

• Cemetery management
• emotional labor
• nonprofit demise
• nonprofit finance
• risk management
• teaching case

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Details of the reading and viewer materials are available in the reference list.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Kimberly Wiley

Kimberly Wiley is an Assistant Professor of Nonprofit Leadership and Community Developed in the Department of Family, Youth, and Community Sciences at the University of Florida. She is a public policy, nonprofit management, and qualitative methodology scholar.

Elizabeth Searing

Elizabeth Searing is an Assistant Professor of Public and Nonprofit Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Searing’s primary research focus is the financial management of nonprofit and social enterprise organizations, but she also conducts work on comparative social economy and applied ethics for the social sciences

Sarah Young

Sarah Young is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Research Director of the Kennesaw State University CARES Program. She is a nonprofit management, public management, and community engagement scholar.