Why should we care about risk management in our nonprofits? Or maybe we should ask what is risk management in the first place? It is more than just an insurance policy and that list on your shelf about what to do in case of a fire. Anyone involved with money in a nonprofit is probably familiar with risk and managing risk; who signs the checks, reads the reports, makes sure those reports get filed to the right place at the right time? Anyone involved with the program side of a nonprofit is probably familiar with risk and managing risk too; who makes sure our volunteers are taken care of? Are we keeping our participants safe? Anyone on the board of a nonprofit organization is probably familiar with risk and managing risk as well; are we meeting our mission? Are we paying our top level staff correctly? Do we understand our financial reports?
I always try to stress that risk management is everyone’s job and there is no better organization to help us under stand risk and help us manage it that the Nonprofit Risk Management Center. Their annual Summit is coming up on September 18 – 20 in Seattle and I encourage you all to take a look at the programs they are offering this year. Members of The Nonprofit Center will get a discount on registration, and if you register before August 6 you will save even more. I look forward to seeing you there.
