Resource Results for "Governance Risk"
Boards on Board: Managing Governance Risk
Volunteer boards are vital partners at all nonprofit organizations. An important aspect of any board’s role is to safeguard the mission and assets of the organization. Join Melanie Lockwood Herman, executive director at the Nonprofit Risk Management Center, as she shares strategies to help streamline risk management and compliance at the board level. Watch this … Continued
Everything I Know About Risk Management I Learned by Teaching Risk Management
By Melanie Lockwood Herman “Whenever we want a far-reaching impact, teaching others to teach can be a high-leverage strategy.” I’ve just finished reading Effortless by Greg McKeown. In Chapter 12, “Lift,” I was struck by a subhead that reads, “When You Learn to Teach, You Teach Yourself to Learn.” McKeown goes on to explain … Continued
Risk and Resilience: The Board’s Role
By Melanie Lockwood Herman This month we’ve been fielding a variety of questions about the board’s risk role. Across the board, members of nonprofit governing teams want to support the missions they admire. Board members want to help an organization: 1. weather COVID-19, 2. bolster resilience, and 3. prepare to survive and thrive during the … Continued
Name the Elephant: Coping with the Biggest Risk to Your Mission
By Melanie Lockwood Herman This week I’m reading An Insider’s Guide to Risk Management, by David M. Rowe. In Chapter 8, Product Innovations and Insurgent Competition, Rowe explores the intersection of change and risk management. One of the themes in the chapter is what Rowe describes as the tendency to “concentrate so much on the … Continued
Heartfelt Risk Lessons From an Authoritarian Piano Teacher
By Christy Grano If you learned to play a musical instrument as a child, like I did, then you may agree that music appreciation does not always happen in the first few lessons. How many of us wish that our 10-year-old selves had recognized the magic of musical expression, rather than avoided practice? Like many … Continued
Got Growth? Managing Risk When Your Nonprofit is on the Rise
By Christy Grano and Melanie Lockwood Herman For several years our NRMC team has had the opportunity to work with a number of nonprofits that have grown rapidly from a small capable corps of nimble and idealistic pioneers to strong, sustainable organizations with functions, departments, and even signs of bureaucracy. We’re grateful for the opportunity to … Continued
The Risk of Regret: Not Every Mission Really Lives
By Melanie Lockwood Herman In Everybody Dies But Not Everybody Lives, rapper and spoken word artist Prince Ea challenges us to be open to risk-taking: “There was a study done, a hospital study on 100 elderly people. Facing death, close to their last breath they were asked to reflect about their life’s biggest regret… Nearly … Continued
Say Cheese! Serving Up Risk Communication
By Erin Gloeckner “How can you govern a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?” – Charles de Gaulle Some argue that with this inquiry, French general and politician Charles de Gaulle lamented the Cold War era work ethic and priorities of his French compatriots. Others assert that de Gaulle was referencing the historic nature … Continued
The Garden of Risk Oversight: Positioning the Board to Cultivate Strategic Risk-Taking
By Melanie Lockwood Herman When considering the myriad risks facing a nonprofit organization, one could identify many risks that should be safeguarded against, mitigated, or prevented if possible. Strategic risks are another animal altogether, or more appropriately, a garden of risks that—if properly tended to—will grow to fruition and advance the nonprofit’s mission and vision. … Continued
Not So Great Governance? Resolve to Reinvent the Board
By Melanie Lockwood Herman In contrast with family members, friends and staff who are devoted to their favorite teams and specific sports, I have a less loyal and more general interest in sports. And while watching live or televised events, I’m easily distracted by subliminal messages about teamwork and leadership that play out on the … Continued