Why Nonprofits Should Not be Afraid of Risk

Lee Jones
General Manager
Squareweave

In simple terms, nonprofits should not be afraid of risk, as the acceptance of risk offers the prospect of reward.

Risk is why we invest our hard-earned cash in risky things like property and the stock market, instead of leaving it in the bank. Our risk appetite is a reflection of a combination of our real-world circumstances, and the degree of risk we are willing to take to achieve our goals.

Almost all of us face these considerations – for example when thinking about our superannuation investment choices we consider our age, employment security, debt/savings status, dependents, partner status and savings goals. We then make intentional choices about the amount of risk we are willing to take.

Nonprofits are in the same situation. They face complex risk environments.

In this blog post I’m not addressing the standard processes of assessing and mitigating operational risks – it’s assumed that the reader is aware of risk management basics and the need to get these up and running in their enterprise.

What I’m interested in is the way nonprofits are held back in the digital space by a failure to adopt an opportunity risk stance. Specifically, I’m interested in understanding what the barriers are, and how nonprofits might overcome these blockers and drive digital disruption instead of themselves being disrupted.

Read more: Squareweave – Why Nonprofits Should Not be Afraid of Risk – A Call to Action

Posted in NFP, The future is now and tagged , , , , .