Although nonprofit managers have always implicitly or explicitly dealt with risks,  assessment and management of strategic risk is a relatively new area of interest in the field of nonprofit management thinking. The practicalities of employment, health and safety, child protection and other areas of potential liability  that can be covered by insurance are well-catered for  by organizations like The Nonprofit Risk Management Center. 

How nonprofits assess and address risks that arise from the field or environment in which a nonprofit works, the unpredictability of external events, or flaws in its strategies or programs has received less attention.

NCNE's latest collaboration with the Foundation Center, "Wise Decision-Making in Uncertain Times"   contains a chapter that explores ways of thinking and decision-making about risk. Along with some other papers, we have included as a member-only item in 'Thinking and comment' a new article that Dennis Young prepared for the 2006 International Society for Third Sector Research annual conference.