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Protect Your Not-for-Profit Against These 13 Damaging Risks

Sikich

Jan 15 2015

3 min read

In 2012, a well-known foundation ran into a series of dilemmas, from eliminating much-needed community grants to increasing its CEO’s salary by 64 percent. These events created distrust among the foundation’s supporters, leading to a decline in active participants and monetary contributions.

Risks like the above can potentially keep your organization from achieving its objectives and overall success. For many not-for-profit organizations, risk management is an ongoing, challenging process that needs special attention due to the harsh ramifications certain threats hold. As a not-for-profit leader, understanding your organization’s potential risks is the first step in creating an efficient process to manage and monitor risk.

The 13 risks that could be detrimental to the success of a not-for-profit:

Questionable decision-making by organizational leaders
Loss of positive reputation
Increase in competition
High turnover of key staff
Employee theft
Conflicts of interest within the board
Management of the organization’s website and social media
Data breaches, such as cyber and banking
Increased costs of insurance coverages and banking safeguards
Intellectual property that could benefit competitors
Regulatory changes
Loss of donors or members
Lack of facility security

To reduce or eliminate the amount of damage the above risks can cause, it’s critical to identify your risk factors and guard against them. The best way to prevent risk is to know where they exist, internally and externally. Define the areas that are most susceptible and create solid policies and procedures, which provide a clear call to action and outline who is responsible to address risk concerns. Other information such as how to properly secure confidential documents, sensitive data and tangible property should be in place. You’ll then want to thoughtfully train your employees and board members.

Insurance is a necessity for all not-for-profit organizations, and policies are available to cover anything from meeting and event cancellations, to cyber breaches and financial reporting errors and omissions. It’s important to have a dedicated person in charge of the insurance coverages―someone who has a deep understanding of the organization’s coverage limits, deductibles and exclusions, so you aren’t caught off-guard should a risky situation arise.

Once your organization has identified and insured any potential risk, you must next control it. Consider a separation of duties to the extent of outsourcing payroll, legal, IT and human resources in an effort to remove any potential risk. A separation of duties can alleviate risk by allowing a third-party to objectively assess your organization and review your processes in a way you may have not considered. All organizations can be susceptible to risk, but you don’t have to accept it.

This publication contains general information only and Sikich is not, by means of this publication, rendering accounting, business, financial, investment, legal, tax, or any other professional advice or services. This publication is not a substitute for such professional advice or services, nor should you use it as a basis for any decision, action or omission that may affect you or your business. Before making any decision, taking any action or omitting an action that may affect you or your business, you should consult a qualified professional advisor. In addition, this publication may contain certain content generated by an artificial intelligence (AI) language model. You acknowledge that Sikich shall not be responsible for any loss sustained by you or any person who relies on this publication.

About the Author

Sikich

Sikich is a global company specializing in technology-enabled professional services. With more than 1,900 employees, Sikich draws on a diverse portfolio of technology solutions to deliver transformative digital strategies and is comprised of one of the largest CPA firms in the United States. From corporations and not-for-profits to state and local governments and federal agencies, Sikich clients utilize a broad spectrum of services* and products to help them improve performance and achieve long-term, strategic goals. *Securities offered through Sikich Corporate Finance LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Sikich Financial, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. 