Governance & board development
Strategic risk assessment and management for nonprofits
When your board asks about your top risks, you can't give a structured or confident answer — risk management is informal and largely reactive.
What you'll achieve
A clear, board-approved risk register with mitigation strategies that gives leadership and funders confidence in your governance.
How a Nonprofit Builder consultant helps
- Facilitate a structured risk identification and assessment process with leadership and board, build a risk register, and design a practical review rhythm.
Key deliverables
- Strategic risk matrix, mitigation strategies and owners, early warning indicators, board risk workshop, recommended risk review schedule.
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From the resource library
Free tools and guides to get started
- 3.4C039
Good Governance: A Health Check
A board self-assessment tied to the Code of Good Governance (3rd edition) in Northern Ireland. It has 92 questions across 5 principles: understanding the board's role, working as a team, control and risk, integrity, and openness and accountability. Boards rate each item not met, part met or fully met, record evidence against suggested prompts and fill in an action table for each principle with actions, owners and dates.
Start hereCurrentTool or templateFree - 3.1C029
Ten Basic Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards
A short book that sets out the 10 core responsibilities of a nonprofit board and places them in the context of current governance challenges. It separates the board's role from that of the chief executive and senior staff, and it has 2 appendices: one on the individual duties of board members and a sample self-assessment for board members. It is part of BoardSource's 6-book Governance Series and is used in board induction and role descriptions.
ClassicKey manual or guideBook
All 13 resources on governance and boards All 7 resources on starting a nonprofit