5 Key NonProfit Risk Management Strategies

  

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Welcome to my first of many monthly interviews with influential people in the nonprofit community. My goal will be to have them share something that they are successful at in hopes you can learn some best practices and implement in your organization.

Nancy Woodruff Ment, CEO
Andrus Children's Home: Yonkers, NY
Andruschildren.org
Nancy's Bio
LinkedIn

As CEO, Nancy has been instrumental in reshaping the organization’s profile through two key mergers, with the Center for Preventive Psychiatry and with Family & Community Services, Inc. Ms. Ment came to Andrus in 1987 as the Director of Clinical Services. Her career has encompassed numerous operations and executive positions in child welfare and mental health in the greater New York area. Please click her name above to get more biographical information.

1) Tell me a little about your leadership team and how risk management fits in? 
For the past 25 years, I have been in a leadership position with ANDRUS and the CEO for the last nine years. We have grown from a single site, single service for 57 children taking no public revenue to a multi-site, multi-service organization serving 2,500 children and families annually and dependent upon public sources for about 85% of our revenue. To accommodate change on that scale, we have had both to engineer and absorb change on our leadership team to be certain we have the skills and capacity in place to manage the risks that come with an expanded mission. Our management team can adapt to the world around us. We have found that it isn’t good enough to have leaders with narrow skill sets, however refined they may be. We need people who think broadly, scan for areas of vulnerability, understand how pieces fit together and value a robust team approach in addressing risk. 

2) What are some of the key areas of risk that you focus on and why? 
ANDRUS serves children who are inherently vulnerable. Our treatment philosophy is anchored in the belief that children should always be and feel safe. Safety, for us, begins with having the right people to fulfill our commitment to safety. We focus on HR processes to recruit, screen, train and supervise staff. We closely monitor our medical and psychiatric care practices because of the risk they carry. Physical plant maintenance, financial management and regulatory compliance is increasingly onerous. We devote an incredible amount of resource to addressing any concerns children, families and funders express about the care we provide. Respectful and timely attention to small matters fuels prompt corrective action, assures a reliable referral base, can prevent a lawsuit and best of all, gives disenfranchised clients the sense that their feelings matter.   

3) What are some of the outcomes you have seen by focusing on risk? 
We have built more depth and diversity on our leadership team with people who thrive on the challenges that this work and these times present. Our planning processes are more comprehensive and effective because we try to anticipate where risks lie. We have also found ourselves spending more on the front end to prevent expense at the back end.

4) What resources do you use to assist you and your team with Risk management? 
We have strong legal representation, auditing services, benefits consulting and insurance brokerage.  We have a kind of unspoken rule of thumb that any consultants and specialists we use are people we admire both personally and professionally. The work we do is highly driven by values and we want to engage with others who reflect the character and integrity for which we want to be known. Running a not for profit like ANDRUS demands nonstop on the job training. We seek consultants who are reliable in making sure we always have the most current information, the best options for managing risk and take the time to help us learn. 

5) What is the one strategy you use the most when managing risk?
Time. Even if you have a good knowledge base and access to the best advice, there is no substitute for simply taking the time to think through an issue and create an effective plan.

*Special thanks to CEO Nancy Woodruff Ment for her insight on risk management and team leadership. If you would like to view Andrus' website, just click the ANDRUS logo above.