As donor dollars tighten, expectations change, and community needs expand, nonprofits may feel growing pressure to deliver greater impact with fewer resources. In times of uncertainty, the most resilient organizations maintain stability by focusing on what they can control: implementing strong risk frameworks, cultivating internal talent, and allocating resources strategically.
On May 20, 2025, Grassi Nonprofit advisors David M. Rottkamp, Partner and Practice Leader, and Vanessa M. Gordon, Audit Principal, joined the Better Business Bureau® Foundation of Metropolitan New York for a webinar on today’s nonprofit risk environment. Their session, Reimagining Your Nonprofit’s Strategic Vision: Navigating the Evolving Landscape, highlighted how nonprofits can use risk management as a strategic lens to support informed decisions, balance innovation with stability, and remain mission-focused.
What Does the Risk Environment Look Like for Nonprofits Today?
The webinar explored several interrelated external risks facing modern organizations:
- Funding Instability: Financial uncertainty—driven by inflation, shifting donor priorities, and reduced public support—requires nonprofits to strengthen their strategic partnerships, build better donor relationships, and strengthen their financial resilience capabilities. Explore our guide for more information on building resilience when funding fluctuates.
- Evolving Service Delivery Expectations: Communities now expect hybrid, high-touch, personalized services. Despite limited resources, nonprofits can meet these demands by investing in collaboration tools, pursuing partnerships, and refining program models.
- Workforce Dynamics: As current leaders retire and a new generation seeks purpose-driven work, succession planning, mentorship, and staff development are more critical than ever.
- Technology and Cybersecurity: Outdated systems and limited IT capacity increase vulnerabilities. Nonprofits can respond by implementing digital roadmaps and training programs to help improve security and efficiency. Read here about how nonprofits are embracing digital transformation today.
- Governance and Compliance Pressures: As volunteer availability shrinks and board recruitment becomes more difficult, skills-based recruitment, structured governance, and board training can help strengthen engagement and oversight.
When Risk Is Everywhere, How Should Nonprofits Prioritize?
Rather than immediately reacting to what seem like the easiest issues to address, nonprofits benefit from stepping back to develop frameworks that focus attention on the risks most likely to impact their mission.
Intentional prioritization, delegation, and response are the cornerstone of effective risk management. This also means balancing innovation with stability, so the organization can continue to evolve while staying grounded in its purpose.
People as a Source of Resilience
Investing in people remains one of the most powerful strategies for building resilience. Focused talent development can:
- Develop leadership pipelines by identifying high-potential team members, assigning them to lead time-bound projects or initiatives, and pairing them with experienced mentors to prepare them for future roles.
- Reduce key-person risk and boost agility through cross-training across roles and departments, ensuring staff can step in and adapt during transitions or disruptions.
- Create mission-driven growth opportunities by engaging staff in strategic projects, cross-functional collaborations, and decision-making processes that enhance skills and reinforce a sense of purpose.
Creating a Continuity Plan
Fewer than one in three nonprofits have a formal succession plan, yet leadership transitions, planned or sudden, can disrupt operations, delay decisions, and erode stakeholder trust. To strengthen leadership continuity and begin forming a succession plan:
- Create both emergency and long-term succession plans that address unplanned departures and predictable transitions like retirements.
- Distinguish between executive and board leadership roles, as each carries distinct risks.
- Develop transitional roles that give future leaders hands-on experience before taking on formal responsibilities.
- Engage the board by establishing a succession planning committee and conducting regular leadership risk assessments.
- Weigh the benefits of internal promotion against external recruitment to maintain alignment and bring in needed expertise.
Demonstrating Impact and Securing Board Support
As donor behavior shifts toward impact-driven giving, nonprofits should prioritize demonstrating results and showing that they are making a tangible difference. To stand out in the crowd, nonprofits should deliver impact reporting that blends quantitative outcomes with compelling storytelling. Blending both data types helps build trust with funders, engage stakeholders, and communicate value to boards and supporters.
How Your Nonprofit Can Strengthen from Within
External disruptions may be unavoidable, but true resilience starts internally, through the right frameworks and a proactive approach to risk. By prioritizing risk strategically, nonprofits can shift from reacting to challenges to anticipating and adapting to them.
For more information and tailored guidance on how your nonprofit can navigate today’s risk environment, contact your Grassi advisor or reach out to David M. Rottkamp, Partner and Practice Leader, or Vanessa M. Gordon, Audit Principal in Grassi’s Nonprofit Practice.
