2010 PPB Risk Management in the Not-For-Profit Sector

Welcome to the first study of its kind in Australia - click here to download the full results - where we have taken an in depth snapshot in relation to the state of risk management practices in the not-for-profit sector.  We hope you get some value out of the findings and are able to use the learnings that come out of the study to enable you to have a deeper understanding of how your own organisation is placed in comparison with your peers in the sector as well as how you compare with the Australian and New Zealand Standard on Risk Management ISO 31000:2009.

Many of you will be familiar with the former Risk Management Standard – AS 4360.  In November 2009, Standards Australia updated this standard and it has been released as a global standard with some significant amendments to the old standard – especially in the structure of the new standard.

In this study, we have identified the key components of the new standard and sought the views of our survey participants as to how they deal with the various risk management concepts that the new standard seeks to address.

We plan to use the results of this survey as the basis for future surveys of risk management practice in the not-for-profit sector.  We believe that the benefits of our approach will offer great value to participating organisations and the sector in general.

In this inaugural year of our study, we have taken a very wide approach, attempting to capture a snapshot of the level of capability and maturity of risk management practices through a wide cross-section of not-for-profit participants.

We have examined a wide range of issues – from policy and cultural considerations, right the way through to more practical considerations such as how risks are determined and monitored within organisations, ownership and accountability for the risk process and the types of risk that the sector is dealing with.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our participants for your open and candid responses and we trust that the results of this study provide value to our participants and the broader not-for-profit sector.

We invite any comments or feedback about this study and we look forward to building on this body of work in the future.  We believe this is an important initiative in a critical sector and PPB is proud to present the findings of our 2010 PPB not-for-profit risk survey.

Lisa Bundesen, Partner with PPB