Smart Risk Management for Greater Impact will help you understand and manage risk in your organization.

As many funding organizations begin to re-examine their risk tolerance in light of the pandemic and the global uprising for racial justice, PEAK Grantmaking offers this self-paced online course to help grants managers expand their knowledge about risk, as they implement more flexible and streamlined grantmaking practices.

Supported by resources from PEAK Grantmaking and Open Road Alliance, and created with input from our members, this course will help you better understand and manage risk throughout the grantmaking lifecycle, and help you answer these questions:

• How can we streamline our processes while being thoughtful about potential risks?
• How do our values show up in our policies and practices related to risk?
• How does a low tolerance for risk feed into practices that support bias in the grantmaking process?
• How can we have better conversations with our grantees about potential risks and mitigation or contingency plans?

This course features self-paced interactive learning, narration, and real-world scenarios that reinforce concepts and provide context during the learning experience. Resources and take-away samples will support your continuing work after you complete the course.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THIS COURSE

Smart Risk Management for Greater Impact is comprised of four modules:

• Module 1: Evaluate Your Organization’s Risk Tolerance 
• Module 2: Remove Barriers—Application Process and Requirements 
• Module 3: Manage Risk After Awarding a Grant 
• Module 4: Review and Action Plan 

After completing the course, you will be able to:

• Examine your organization’s values, policies and practices, and grantee requirements through a risk management lens
• Consider how to develop higher risk tolerance by shifting from a focus on compliance to a more holistic examination of the organization’s appetite for risk
• Understand how low risk tolerance can promote bias in the grants management process and reduce impact
• Develop risk mitigation and contingency planning strategies
• Partner with grantees throughout the grantmaking lifecycle to assess risk pre-grant, monitor risk, and modify the grant if necessary

We estimate this course will take about 90 minutes to complete. You may start and stop the course at any time and go back to review sections.