The latest Giving USA report offers encouraging news: charitable giving in the U.S. reached an estimated $617.2 billion in 2025, crossing the $600 billion mark for the first time. That headline is worth celebrating. But for nonprofit leaders and boards, the more important question is: What does this mean for long-term financial resilience? The answer is nuanced. Giving is growing — but not evenly, not predictably, Read More
Best Practices for Nonprofit Board Members: Building Financial Resilience That Lasts
Why Board Financial Leadership Matters More Than Ever Many nonprofit board members assume their role is to review financial statements and approve budgets. Those responsibilities are important, but they’re not enough. Strong missions require strong finances. And strong finances require boards that actively shape financial resilience, not just monitor it. The difference shows up in how organizations respond to Read More
Quick Guide to Forming an Endowment Investment Committee
Nonprofit organizations that have existing or possible endowments have a lot of considerations to make. When it comes to assisting an endowment’s growth, investing can be a great addition to individual donations. Forming an investment committee is one of the most important steps toward effective financial planning and long-term sustainability. Not every nonprofit will have a large selection when it comes to finding Read More
Nonprofit Risk Management: Expect the Unexpected
A large institution that provides hundreds of millions of dollars in grants every year shared a secret with me. They would be reevaluating nearly 1,000 recurring grants to determine whether their nonprofit recipients were fiscally and operationally sound enough to carry out their intended impact. In other words, nonprofits that have been counting on a large grant year after year might get nothing very soon. True Read More
Nonprofit Boards: Learn to Build Them Well
At our monthly Social Impact Advisory Group meeting, we heard from nonprofit governance and leadership expert, Mary Hiland, who empowered our group with understanding why boards matter, spotting the source of most board trouble and how to recruit and develop boards. Our host, Stephanie Shaterian, moderated audience questions which are also provided in this article. The following presentation was edited for length and Read More
Predicting Nonprofit Financial Resilience
They were flying the Cessna outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, so the story goes. Richard was training for his Instrument Flying Rules (IFR) test, certifying him to fly in poor visibility such as clouds, fog, rain or dust. My father, an experienced recreational pilot and already instrument rated, flew as co-pilot to help his friend prepare. Richard was wearing the standard IFR hood that covered his eyes from the Read More
Thoughts on the Need for a Nonprofit Reserve and Risk Management
Mary Hiland of Inspired Nonprofit Leadership interviews Maya Tussing to discuss nonprofit risk management, why nonprofits need a reserve, how much is required and other insights. INTRODUCTION Welcome to Inspire Nonprofit Leadership, where you'll hear insights and useful strategies as well as lessons learned from other nonprofit leaders and valuable tips from a variety of experts. Here to help you Read More
Nonprofit Risk Severity and Likelihood
In a previous video we defined risk for nonprofits in order to establish a good financial plan. Every risk has two important features: Severity and Likelihood Severity describes degree of pain, loss or pressure that results from a particular risk. And it could be measured in lots of ways: money, health, reputation, time. You name it: if it can be lost, it’s a way to measure risk severity. Low severity risks can be a Read More
What is Nonprofit Risk?
What you don’t know, can’t expect, or can’t control will hurt you. The recent pandemic has shown us that. Nonprofit organizations that investigate what could go wrong, how bad it could be, and how to prevent or correct problems BEFORE they happen are more resilient when crises hit. This process is called Risk Management. But let’s back up. What is “risk” actually? The textbook definition of Risk is an unintended, Read More
Jet Skis and the Perception of Risk
This summer I drove a jet ski for the very first time and it made me think about nonprofit risk. My family rented a couple of jet skis for a 30-minute ride at a Mexico vacation spot. My daughter was perched on the back of my vehicle, egging me on to go faster and faster to catch up to my husband who was lapping us many times over. The problem was, I was scared out of my skull—eyes laser-focused on the water, knuckles Read More
