Risk Management

This page covers:

Related pages:

• Risk Management: Set Up Risk Registers

• Risk Management: Key Relationships

• Risk Management: Customization Options

Risk Management in Amp Impact

The Risk Management feature in Amp Impact is meant to help organizations assess the risk associated with their initiatives and assess the severity, status, and probability of each risk. The main objective is to track project or grant level and implementation or execution risks – in other words, risks to achieving impact in a given grant, portfolio, or program. This is distinct from managing organizational risks, such as managing the risk of a foundation’s endowment, governance, tax compliance, or other items. While organizational risk management is important, these risks are far removed from the impact and the primary grant-making function of a foundation or the primary programmatic function of an iNGO. 

The Risk Management functionality in Amp Impact has two key components:

1. It is related to assessing and managing risks at the program or grant/portfolio level for international NGOs or Funders respectively;

2. It is related to implementation and execution-focused risks; that is, risks that may impede achieving impact in a given program, grant or portfolio 

This consists of Identifying and Defining Risks, creating Mitigation Strategies for those risks, collecting risks in Risk Registers based on their categories, and conducting periodic Risk Assessments for Identified Risks.

Why Risk Management?

Risk Management is often an underdeveloped practice, particularly in grant-making organizations, to the detriment of impact and return on investment. For example, research by Open Road has shown that 76% of Foundations don’t ask about project risks during the application process. Of those foundations that do conduct some kind of risk assessment, many do not do so systematically, and fewer transform that information into data, knowledge, and learning. Fewer still share those learnings with their peers, grantees, or the wider sector.

Moreover, because risk management is not commonplace, any foundation that wishes to develop its own risk management procedures currently must do so through bespoke, in-house efforts. These customized efforts whether using Excel, bespoke Salesforce adaptations, or propriety software, require significant investments of time, money, and human capacity. Even for those that do implement such systems, having each organization develop its own tool, rubric, and process is onerous, time-consuming, and inefficient.

Similar to how we can’t claim impact if we aren’t measuring it, we can’t maximize that impact if we don’t account for risk. We built this feature to help organizations manage risks as part of their program/portfolio management.