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RISK eNews

NRMC’s 2023 in Review

By Rachel Sams 

Nonprofits faced lots of opportunities and challenges in 2023, and NRMC helped them navigate that landscape of struggles and joys. More than thirty years after its founding, NRMC remains proud to empower and inspire effective risk management across the nonprofit sector. We’re here to help nonprofits embrace mission-advancing risks and build greater resilience. Here’s a look back at some of the highlights of our year. 

Education

NRMC seeks to educate, inform, and connect the nonprofit risk management community. Here are some of the ways we furthered our educational mission this year. 

  • We held our first in-person Risk Summit since 2019! This gathering of risk professionals, held at the Lansdowne Resort in Leesburg, Virginia, featured keynoter Anthony Dicks on the power of storytelling in risk management. Attendance exceeded our projections, and longtime risk pros mingled and shared stories with many first timers. 
  • We graduated the fifth cohort of participants in our in-person Risk Leadership Certificate Program (RLCP). This year’s RLCP cohort of eight, a diverse group of risk professionals, learned new tools to grow in risk management at their organizations and in the nonprofit sector. 
  • We graduated the second and third cohorts of our Emerging Risk Leaders Certificate Program (ERLCP), a virtual course that helps nonprofit professionals equip themselves to learn more about risk management.  

Consulting

NRMC has an incredibly diverse consulting practice. Our work ranges from enterprise risk management engagements for large international nonprofits to comprehensive risk assessments for national and community-based organizations. Here are some of the highlights of our consulting work this year. 

  • We led an Enterprise Risk Management engagement for an international nonprofit; the engagement included the design of a custom ERM framework and delivery of a series of workshops to train staff teams in risk unpacking and action planning. 
  • We worked with an international human rights and social justice funder to update its travel safety and security policies. 
  • We guided the risk team of a humanitarian organization through a process to refresh risk tools and approaches, culminating in the delivery of an ERM Toolkit and video. 
  • We worked with a nonprofit that has an almost entirely new leadership team on a risk assessment to bring their policies and practices in line with their new ethos. 
  • We conducted a risk and governance assessment for a small private school. 
  • We designed a simplified incident reporting framework and tool for a large civil rights organization.  
  • We designed a new, compelling risk briefing format for a large cultural arts nonprofit. 
  • We conducted a limited scope risk assessment focused on volunteer risks for a national animal welfare nonprofit. 
  • We facilitated a review and updating of youth protection policies and practices for a statewide educational organization. 
  • We delivered more than 30 custom workshops, webinars, and keynote presentations to audiences representing the extraordinary diversity of the nonprofit sector. Demand for in-person presentations was up in 2023 and this year we were excited to be back on the road with stops in Phoenix, Charleston, Duluth, Saratoga Springs, Columbus, and Saskatoon. 

Affiliate Membership

NRMC has a robust community of Affiliate Members who receive access to educational resources, discounts on NRMC resources and conferences, and access to NRMC staff who provide RISK HELP: unlimited answers to risk management questions by phone or email. Here are some of the highlights from affiliate membership this year. 

  • We welcomed 21 new members to our Affiliate Member Program in 2023. 
  • We held six member webinars on in-demand topics, including fundraising risk and conflict de-escalation. We received more than 300 registrations for these webinars. The recordings of these programs were added to our Webinar Vault available exclusively to members. 
  • We provided Risk Help assistance to many dozens of members; our calls and email exchanges focused on a wide array of topics ranging from applying a risk lens to a strategic planning process to handling challenging staff turnover.  

Looking Ahead 

NRMC forecasts one of its busiest years for education programs and consulting ever in 2024. Our annual Risk Insights white paper, coming in January, will spotlight change management, an anchoring premise for the many issues nonprofit risk leaders will need to address next year.

We want to express our heartfelt thanks to platinum sponsor Great American Insurance Group for the GAIG team’s unwavering support, encouragement, and spirit of collaboration year-round. We are also grateful for to our corporate sustainers, whose support enables us to deliver robust education offerings: AHT Insurance, Chubb, Hub International, and Philadelphia Insurance Companies. 

And thanks to all of you for reading the Risk eNews and supporting NRMC! We wish you a happy holiday season and a joyful 2024. 

Rachel Sams is a Consultant and Staff Writer at the Nonprofit Risk Management Center. She spent time in 2023 learning about the risks of artificial intelligence, but more time learning from the skills, passion, and commitment of the incredible humans in the nonprofit sector. Reach her with your ideas and questions about tackling 2024 risks at rachel@nonprofitrisk.org or (505) 456-4045.