In The News
The Center's executive director, Melanie Herman, is available for interviews with representatives of local and national print, broadcast and online media organizations. Center staff Erin Gloeckner and Emily Stumhofer are also available for interview, and have extensive expertise in specific areas of risk management. Melanie has long been a sought-after resource on issues ranging from state-of-the-art risk management, to youth protection, human resource management, crisis management, and more. To schedule an interview, contact Kay Nakamura at (703) 777-3504 or Kay@nonprofitrisk.org.
A select number of recent articles featuring interviews are featured below.
Great American Insurance Group Becomes Platinum Sponsor of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center — December 20, 2016
Melanie Herman, Calculated Risk Taker, Announced as Camp Finance Keynote Speaker — April 4, 2016
NYCON
Riverport Insurance Services Bestows First Platinum Sponsorship to Nonprofit Risk Management Center — March 9, 2016
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 9, 2016
Riverport Insurance Services Bestows First Platinum Sponsorship to Nonprofit Risk Management Center
LEESBURG, Virginia—The Nonprofit Risk Management Center celebrates its ongoing partnership with Riverport Insurance Services, the Center’s first Platinum Sponsor as of February 2016.
Riverport Insurance Services, a W.R. Berkley Company, bestowed a Platinum Sponsor gift of $25,000 to the Center for fiscal year 2016. Riverport is a longstanding Corporate Sustainer of the Center, and is the first sponsor to pledge support at the Platinum level. Riverport’s partnership will enable the Center to produce exciting new risk management resources for leaders of the nonprofit sector, including a risk-benchmarking app for nonprofit leaders to assess their own risk management programs against the programs of their peer organizations. more…
The Risks of Nonprofit Volunteering — October 15, 2015
The NonProfit Times
Melanie Herman & Emily Stumhofer
This article explores potential risks associated with nonprofit fundraising using volunteers. Both Melanie and Emily offer information about the diverse types of fundraising where volunteers may assist an organization, and about the potential strategies that can be put in place to mitigate potential risk issues, and make fundraising as safe and successful as possible.
7 tips for handling a crisis — October 8, 2015
The NonProfit Times
Melanie Herman
This article reviews Melanie Herman's popular 2015 Risk Summit session, Mamma Mia! Tools and Tips for Managing a Crisis.
Destination Downtown hosts statewide Main Street training — September 21, 2015
Work It, SoVa
Emily Stumhofer
This press release explores a recent speaking engagement where a variety of topics were covered, including volunteer risk management and managing governance risks.
Data Privacy Risks and Cyber Liability: The digital age is filled with 404 Errors and plenty of theft — June 30, 2015
The NonProfit Times
Melanie Herman & Erin Gloeckner
This article, by Melanie and Erin, provides some guidance for approaching the vast terrain of the cyber liability world, and includes several tips and insights for making an appropriate decision for your nonprofit.
Joining a Nonprofit Board? Learn the Risks — March 30, 2015
Agenda, A Financial Times Service
This article by Tony Chapelle provides information and guidance about some of the risks facing nonprofit board members, and how those risks can be managed effectively. Melanie weighs in on the difficulties in spotting potential risks for new board members.
Ignoring Stress in the Workplace Puts Your Mission in Peril — February 26, 2013
Community First Blog, ProSight Specialty Insurance
This article offers tips on taking a proactive approach to stress in a nonprofit workplace.
Managing Risk in the New Normal — December 14, 2012
EXEMPT Magazine
This article by Center CEO Melanie Herman explores 6 aspects of the risk landscape facing nonprofits in 2013.
Weighing the Appetite for Risk — October 23, 2012
The NonProfit Times
Editor Paul Clolery writes about Melanie Herman's three-hour workshop on "Enterprise Risk Management" at the Nonprofit Financial Executives Forum sponsored by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA).
The Kids Are All Right — September 1, 2012
Advisen Management Liability Journal
The beginning of the school year offers a reminder to children and teens that learning isn’t always easy, that hard work generally pays off, and that rules and limits often exist to keep us safe. The same can be said about the lessons, hard work, and rules and limits that collectively comprise a youth protection program in a nonprofit. Continued…
Executive Director Melanie Herman Named to The NonProfit Times 2012 Power & Influence Top 50 — August 1, 2012
The NonProfit Times
CONTACT: Chris Croll, Director of Marketing and Communications, (202) 785-3891 or chriscroll@aol.com.
August 1, 2012 — (Leesburg, VA) Nonprofit Risk Management Center Executive Director and risk management thought leader Melanie Lockwood Herman, Esq. has been recognized by The NonProfit Times as one of the 2012 “Power and Influence Top 50.” The organization Herman leads provides risk advice and resources to leading nonprofits nationwide. Under Herman’s leadership “The Center,” as it’s known, has been developing online tools, undertaking risk assessments, coaching Boards and executives, and delivering conferences, workshops and keynote addresses on a wide range of risk topics for over 20 years.
Herman, author of over a dozen books about risk management, legal exposures facing nonprofits, risk oversight and governance, human resource management and financial risk management, sees a rise in the level of attention being paid to risk management-related issues in both the nonprofit and business sectors. “Risk management capacity used to be a luxury budget item for only the largest organizations but thanks to our online tools and resources like, 'My Risk Management Policies' and 'My Risk Management Plan,' even smaller nonprofits can get access to the information they need to become more risk-aware. And the best news is that we’re seeing exponential growth in the number of nonprofit boards that have embraced their risk oversight responsibility.”
The Center helps organizations with issues ranging from social media risk management to youth protection, Enterprise Risk Management, human resource risk management, crisis planning and communications and others. The Center’s client list includes some of the nation’s most respected and influential U.S. based and international nonprofits in fields ranging from amateur sports, to human and social services, health, grant-making and the environment. The Center also works with the leading insurers serving the nonprofit market.
Herman is in good company in this year’s class of “Power and Influence Top 50.” She is joined by Bill Gates (Gates Foundation), Marian Wright Edelman (Children's Defense Fund), Neil Nicoll (YMCA of the USA), Judith Rodin (Rockefeller Foundation) and other luminaries in the nonprofit sector.
Great American Insurance Group
Enrolls as Corporate Sustainer for Nonprofit Risk Management Center — April 25, 2012
April 25, 2012 — (Leesburg, VA) The Nonprofit Risk Management Center (“The Center”) is pleased to announce that Great American Insurance Group’s Specialty Human Services and Executive Liability Divisions have enrolled as the Center’s newest Corporate Sustainer. As a Corporate Sustainer, Great American expresses its public support for the mission and educational programs of the Nonprofit Risk Management Center. In addition to joining the ranks of the Center’s elite sponsorship program, Great American will be among the corporate hosts of the Center’s 18th annual conference scheduled for August 26-28, 2012 in Chicago.
“Great American and the Nonprofit Risk Management Center have had a strong relationship throughout our history,” notes Melanie Lockwood Herman, Executive Director of the Center. “Several years ago we worked with the team in the Specialty Human Services Division to design a virtual risk management classroom for Great American’s nonprofit insureds, and we have been proud to feature Great American as an advertiser and sponsor of our popular publication, Risk Management Essentials. It is gratifying to see Great American enhance its support and we are absolutely delighted that the company has agreed to lend a hand in co-hosting our 2012 Summit. With its long-term commitment to providing affordable coverage for social services and other nonprofits in addition to sound risk management support, Great American’s support helps make the Center’s mission possible.” more…
Privacy, Smartphones and Nonprofit Risk — March 23, 2012
EXEMPT Magazine
Reputational harm, EPL among risks facing nonprofits — January 23, 2012
Business Insurance (print edition)
This article by BI writer Matt Dunning explores the "wide world of financial legal liability" for leaders of nonprofit organizations. In her conversation with Dunning, the Center's executive director, Melanie Herman, explains that allegations of wrongful employment practices continue to top the list of claims filed under nonprofit D&O policies, and that claims filed by "insiders" are more likely than many nonprofit leaders imagine.
Privacy, Smartphones And Nonprofit Risk — January 16, 2012
The NonProfit Times
“Nonprofits have faced a series of challenges raised by the use of modern technology starting with use of cell phones while driving on behalf of the organization. They have expanded over the years to include 'a reasonable expectation of privacy' both for clients and for employees and volunteers; distraction of nonprofit representatives from their duties and responsibilities while using smartphones, and inappropriate communications.”
Penn State Sex Abuse Scandal: From the Start, a Risk Management Nightmare — November 11, 2011
Property Casualty 360
“Many organizations refuse to believe their colleagues are capable of such heinous acts so they won’t see the signs. They start out with denial but when confronted with reality, start to get defensive. The best organizations recognize that the better course is to confront it and think about they could do to prevent it in the future.”
5 Ways A Safe Workplace Cuts Costs — August 26, 2011
The NonProfit Times
“It’s hard to picture a 'typical' nonprofit workplace. Nonprofits operate from traditional urban office environments, as well as summer camps in bucolic rural settings and even large warehouses filled with pallets of donated products. A nonprofit vehicle could be a minivan, a tractor-trailer, a forklift or a small bus. With all that variety in mind, it makes sense to go back to basics to improve the safety of facilities, people and the very mission of your nonprofit.”
Cape Cod Museum donation turns on legality — July 5, 2011
Cape Cod Times
"It sounds like this museum is in between the proverbial rock and a hard place."