Top Risks Facing Nonprofits
Moderated by Margie Wang, JA Worldwide, Inc. Speakers included: Allison Sesso, Human Services Council of New York, and Melanie Lockwood Herman, Nonprofit Risk Management Center.
The panel led a presentation and group discussion on the top risks most likely to threaten nonprofits' success and practical tips to help steer clear of legal liability and other consequences of misunderstood or overlooked risks.
- Nonprofit Human Services Closures. The Human Services Council of New York convened a commission to examine systematic problems contributing to the instability of so many nonprofit human services organizations. It offered solutions to be an active partner with government in addressing this problem.
- Programs should be developed in consultation with human services providers in order to drive more meaningful results.
- Government and philanthropy should fund core functions and indirect cost, and account for cost increases and mandates that strip money.
- Nonprofits and their boards should adopt financial evaluation tools and risk assessment methods to better evaluate risk, and the sector should develop rating systems to evaluate government agencies and individual procurements to inform providers.
- Top 10 Risks Facing Nonprofits. For many nonprofit leaders, four factors are key in ranking risks: likelihood, potential impact, lace of preparedness, and who’s worried about the risk event (e.g., staff, board, management). A risk is a future event that could significantly impact an organization's ability to achieve key goals and objectives. Some risks include:
- Unhappy stakeholders and poorly managed conflict
- Breach of privacy
- Careless contracting
- Inadequate succession planning
- Near-sighted fiscal oversight
Effectively Scaling Programs
Moderated by Margie Wang, JA Worldwide, Inc. Speakers included: Mark McKeag, The Bridgespan Group, and Tiffany Cooper Gueye, BELL.
The panel led a presentation and group discussion on key findings from the field regarding what is allowing some nonprofits to scale successful programs and services through their networks. The discussion covered:
- Scaling Network Impact. Human services networks define scale by the size/growth of affiliates, communities served, beneficiaries reached, market penetration and beneficiaries achieving positive outcomes. Networks can accelerate efforts to scale impact by:
- Strengthening local affiliates/offices
- Avoiding a “one size fits all” approach
- Using data to identify and learn from high performers
- Investing in driving demand
- Exploring complimentary services
While scaling a national network can significantly grow your reach, the need to serve communities remains enormous. An approach to successfully scale programs includes leveraging partnerships with schools, philanthropic stakeholders and evidenced-based programs. This can occur simultaneously while delivering meaningful outcomes and high-quality programs. An example of this type of partnerships was presented at the Summit – BELL and YMCA of the USA.
- Resources:
