As staff leaders and board members, how do we respond when our organizational values are tested in real time? Executive orders, legal threats, and funding pressures are forcing this question every day now across the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors.

 

Often, boards turn to the language they know—financial, legal, and operational risk; they seek to protect the institution. But their proximity to risk is different from that of staff, communities, or leaders on the ground. And that difference shapes how risk is understood, prioritized, and acted upon by the organization. It can result in very real risks going unexamined and in an under-recognition for what is truly at stake.