More than 250 colleges and universities now offer degrees or certificates in charity-related fields, such as nonprofit management or philanthropic studies. This academic arena is booming.

The news fills Jeff Brooks, creative director of an advertising and marketing agency serving nonprofit organizations, with dread.

“My blood runs cold at the thought of the coming wave of nonprofit ‘doctors’ (and ‘masters’) into our profession,” Mr. Brooks writes at his Donor Power Blog.

While saying he’s not anti-education, he fears that all these newly degreed fund raisers and charity leaders will have heads full of classroom theories that might not fit the cold reality of the charity world.

“Real-life nonprofits are like this: Each one is different from all the others,” Mr. Brooks writes. “Running each one is a matter of understanding approximately a zillion details. A good framework of theory might help, but only a little.”

Fund raising is one area where he’s particularly wary of too much book and lecture-hall learning: “Locking yourself into an academic theory that has never seen the light of day will only make it harder to actually motivate people to give,” he says.

His final advice to graduates of these programs is this: “don’t accept anything as true until you’ve seen it work empirically.”

(For more about academic nonprofit training, see The Chronicle’s Continuing Education Guide)

What are your thoughts on the growth of nonprofit studies programs? Will they do more harm than good, or more good than harm? Click on the comments link below to share your thoughts.