News Releases
November 15, 2006
Nonprofit Leaders Formulate Risk Management Hallmarks
Fourteen leaders from the nonprofit sector met under the auspices of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center on November 13 in Washington, DC, to refine risk management hallmarks of excellence, part of an ongoing initiative, generously funded by St. Paul Travelers Foundation, to empower U.S. nonprofit organizations to adopt sound and practical risk management strategies. Members of the task force included professional risk managers and representatives from four statewide associations of nonprofits.
The task force is charged to provide ideas and insight regarding ways to improve risk management practices throughout the nonprofit sector via the promulgation of standards and best practices. Members will critique drafts prepared by the Center’s staff to ensure that the end products offers practical assistance that can be applied by a wide range of nonprofits.
The end products of groundbreaking project will be a multimedia library of training tools that will assist nonprofit organizations of various sizes and missions to incorporate prudent risk management practices into their everyday operations. The Center’s objective is to demonstrate that there are many tools that will assist, but not overwhelm, nonprofits in serving their clients.
“We are deeply grateful to the St. Paul Travelers Foundation for its leadership in supporting this vital project,” says Melanie Herman, executive director of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center. “Many of the statewide associations that participate in the Center’s Satellite Office program have adopted standards and principles of sound nonprofit management. We look to this project to elaborate on the tremendous work that has already been accomplished by offering practical and helpful follow-up items for nonprofits committed to enhancing their risk management programs.”
The members of the task force worked collectively discussing how nonprofits can evidence excellent risk management programs and provided a “reality check” for some of the work undertaken by the Center in the months preceding the meeting. After agreeing on 15 hallmarks of an exemplary risk management program, the group began identifying associated best practices and implementation strategies related to each hallmark.
The November meeting followed an earlier session held in September at the Nonprofit Risk Management and Finance Summit in Pasadena, CA, where a larger group of nonprofit leaders first learned about the initiative and began identifying distinguishing traits of an excellent risk management program.
For more information on the Corporate Sustainers Program, contact Melanie Herman at (202) 785-3891 or via e-mail.