Author: Sara Gibson
Nonprofit organizations face a myriad of risks that can cause losses stemming from working with vulnerable populations, fundraising, volunteer programs, hosting events, hiring third-party vendors, having employees and/or a board of directors, and owning/managing buildings and other assets.
With so much that can go wrong from so many places, it can feel overwhelming. But do you know what the easiest incident to handle is? The one that never occurs. The second? The one we've planned and prepared for.
That's why risk management is vital to your organization's success. Five steps — identifying hazards and exposures that can affect your organization, assessing the hazards, developing controls to prevent losses and mitigate losses, and then implementing the controls and monitoring their effectiveness — will keep your employees and volunteers, the people you serve, and your buildings and assets safe. And if the worst case scenario happens (think a fire or lawsuit), you'll have a roadmap to guide your organization's response and mitigate the loss rather than having to react and potentially panic.
Not only does a solid risk management program keep your people and property safe, but it can save your organization money that would be better spent on your programs than paying out losses. As an added bonus, insurance carriers place a heavy emphasis on risk management, and if we can demonstrate the strength of your organization's risk management programs, it can have a positive effect on getting coverage placed.
At Gallagher, we're here to help. Our National Risk Control's Religious and Nonprofit Working Group is a diverse group of industry risk-control specialists who collaborate to create innovative and custom risk management solutions exclusively for Religious and Nonprofit Organization clients. We can help identify specific risks affecting your organization as well as industry-specific emerging risks, and then build out risk mitigation strategies and solutions.
