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IRM Charities Special Interest Group

Tools for stakeholder

mapping

www.theirm.org/charities Developing risk professionals

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About the Institute of Risk Management (IRM)

The IRM is the leading professional body for Enterprise Risk Management
(ERM). We drive excellence in managing risk to ensure organisations are
ready for the opportunities and threats of the future. We do this by providing
internationally recognised qualifications and training, publishing research and
guidance, and setting professional standards.
For over 30 years our qualifications have been the global choice of
qualification for risk professionals and their employers. We are a not-for-profit
body, with members working in all industries, in all risk disciplines and in all
sectors around the world.

About the Charities Special Interest Group

The IRM Charities Special Interest Group was established over 10 years ago to
provide practical guidance for charities about managing risk and opportunities
for sharing knowledge, tips and best practice amongst sector professionals.
Our overall aim is to increase the sector’s knowledge of risk management best
practice, explore practical solutions for managing sector challenges (such as
new regulation requirements), and provide a forum where risk professionals
can meet to learn from one another and share up to date risk management
practice.

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2nd Floor, Sackville House
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Tel +44 (0)20 7709 9808
Email enquiries@theirm.org

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Institute of Risk Management

About this guide

Effective communication is crucial in managing the risks to a charity’s key asset,
stakeholder trust. In a complex, uncertain context, whether a small, medium or large
charity, we need to provide assurance to a range of stakeholders that their interests - and
the interests they represent - are protected. Once lost, trust may not be easily recovered.

The purpose of this tool is to share best practice in stakeholder engagement across
charities by providing a basis for organisations to map their key stakeholders and consider
different communication strategies when interfacing with them.

An example of a stakeholder map is provided to illustrate a charity’s typical stakeholders,

as identified by representatives from several charities at a recent IRM Charities Special
Interest Group workshop on the topic.

The importance of any stakeholder will vary according to the nature of the charity and its
context. Examples provided within this document are for illustrative purposes, and it will
be necessary to tailor any mapping for your charity. Stakeholder maps should be regularly
reviewed to ensure that they remain aligned to a charity’s evolving priorities and the
changing internal and external environment.

Our authors and editors

This guidance has been produced through the input of those members of the IRM
Charities Special Interest Group (SIG) that attended the April 2018 event.

The main authors are:

Anita Punwani CFIRM, Amap Services

With editing undertaken by:

Alyson Pepperill CFIRM, Gallagher
Roberta Beaton, Nursing and Midwifery Council

www.theirm.org/charities Developing risk professionals

Institute of Risk Management

Introduction
As well as providing assurance to the governing body, statutory authorities, donors and
partners that a charity is operating according to its legal and financial obligations and on
target to achieve its objectives, the interests of other stakeholders are also key.

External stakeholders such as beneficiaries, the media and members of the public have
high expectations of charities. As the result of several high-profile cases in the media
where charities behaved inappropriately, there is now more awareness and scrutiny of the
charity sector and how we manage our operations.

New ways of communicating - including the instant nature of feedback, notably from
social media - means that understanding and managing stakeholder relationships
is an important activity for any charity. The impact of getting this wrong can result
in a charity’s reputation or brand being damaged, but getting this right can result in
significant opportunities for the charity including more donations, increased support and
better public awareness of the issues the charity is tackling.

What is stakeholder mapping?

In the context of a charity, the following definitions are considered useful for stakeholder
mapping:

Definitions
Who is a stakeholder A person, group or organisation with an interest in the charity.

Who are ‘ongoing’ Stakeholders who show an interest on a ‘business as usual’

stakeholders? basis

Who are ‘emerging’ Stakeholders whose interest emerges at a particular time,

stakeholders? notably during a crises

What is a stakeholder map? An illustration of an organisation’s key stakeholders, both

‘ongoing’ as well as ‘emerging’.

What is stakeholder trust? A stakeholder’s expectations of the charity in relation to its

behaviour, competence and performance.
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All types and sizes of organisations may want to develop a ‘Stakeholder Map’ to capture
the key stakeholders in the context in which it operates.

This map will:

• support people across the organisation to understand who the key stakeholders
are,
• provide a basis for identifying and assessing the type of influence each may
have on the organisation,
• enable strategies to be developed for managing engagement with each
stakeholder.

It is important to note that the interest a stakeholder may have in the organisation
will vary over time, including during a crisis. A crisis being a situation which poses a
significant risk to the operations, financial position, reputation or key stakeholders of the
charity.

Why conduct stakeholder mapping?

There are a number of benefits to stakeholder mapping:
• Understanding who our stakeholders are - and which have the most influence
or will add the most value to our work - allows us to prioritise communication
activities;
• Understanding this enables us to allocate resources towards the stakeholders
who are critical to our work, whilst taking an overview of everyone that needs to
be kept informed;
• Mapping out stakeholders enables us to consider whether we want to engage
a stakeholder more or less actively at any point in time and consider ways to
achieve this;
• Providing the opportunity to think about different ways we may want to tailor
our communications for different stakeholders as one size won’t fit all;
• Understanding who our key stakeholders are and how we will engage with them
enables us to manage specific risks relating to the ‘people’ aspect of running
a charity, in terms of handling communications, relationships, perceptions and
checking satisfaction.
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Stakeholder engagement
How to develop a stakeholder map
Organisations of varying size and in different sectors use stakeholder mapping to identify
stakeholders. This exercise may be undertaken as a workshop, using flipcharts (or big
piece of paper) and post-it notes to generate a long list of individual stakeholders (one
stakeholder per post-it note).

The key questions to pose are ‘Who are our stakeholders?’ and ‘How important are each
of these to our work?’

Stakeholders can be categorised, with an example of categories as they relate to charities

provided in the diagram.

Stakeholder Map - Example

REGULATORS PUBLIC BODIES

- Sector specific - Local authorities/emergency services
- Cross sector - Central government OTHER PROVIDERS
MEDIA - Local government - Not-for-profit sector
- International - Private sector
- National - Public sector
- Local
- Social
Trustees
CONTRIBUTORS Membership BENEFICIARIES
DONORS/FUNDRAISERS Senior managment secretariat - International
- Individual Insurers Middle management - Local
- Institutional Auditors Staff
- Corporate Professional
advisors
Affiliates/ COMMUNITY
members - Former staff
PARTNERS SUPPORTERS
- Families
- Corporate - Individuals - Ambassadors - Neighbours/locals
- Not-for-profit/philanthropic - Patrons - Connected - Tenants
- Suppliers/service providers - Volunteers celebrities - Activists
- Academic institutions - Public/society
- Celebrities

The diagram illustrates the stakeholders generated from a long list of stakeholders as
identified by the representatives of several charities at an IRM Charities SIG workshop on
26th April 2018. It sets out the categories and types of stakeholders with whom a typical
charity might interface. It includes both ongoing and emerging stakeholders.

To note, the darker shading indicates key stakeholders internal to the organisation,
namely trustees, management, current staff, and the lighter shading references the wider
organisation to include stakeholders who also have an ongoing interest, for example the
secretariat or overseas members of an international charity, volunteers and ambassadors
as well as insurers and auditors.
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‘Regulators’ could be viewed as sector specific, such as the Charity Commission or the
Care Quality Commission, or more cross sector, such as the Information Commissioner’s
Office.

‘Public bodies’ could emerge when a particular situation draws their interest or
involvement in the charity, for example the emergency services, the tax office (e.g.
HMRC), politicians, MPs or Local Councillors.

A more advanced workshop can be structured to consider:

• Who are our stakeholders?
• What are their needs?
• What are their areas of interest in the charity?
• How much influence do they have over what we do?
• Which of these stakeholders are key to our work?

There are stakeholders that will have significant influence, such as decision makers,
those directly affected by operations, or those that have a strong customer voice. Clear
and accurate communications will be required to maintain their buy-in; ultimately, they
can make or break an organisation and we need to engage them closely. Face-to-face
communications may be required to maintain their interest and support.

In terms of influence, it should be noted that stakeholders may be further categorised as

being largely supportive or a risk to an organisation; this is of importance during a fast-
developing scenario such as a crisis. As an example, the emergency services responding
to a fire are supportive while another service provider seeking to secure funding from a
key donor poses a risk if the organisation is busy responding to the crisis and forgets to
keep them in the loop.

Once the stakeholder map has been developed, it can be used for several purposes
including communications for day-to-day operations as well as crisis communications as
part of crisis management planning.

In developing a crisis management plan, you will need to consider a number of potential
scenarios and the map will assist in setting out which stakeholders may be supportive,
and which may pose a risk, depending upon the nature of the particular scenario and how
it may unfold.

The map will also be useful as part of ‘Horizon Scanning’ in providing a view of the
context in which the charity operates as a basis for considering how stakeholders’ interest
or influence may change over, say, a 2-5 year timeframe and then a 6-10 year timeframe.
Key changes should be considered as part of business planning.
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Types of ‘stakeholder communications’

In relation to communications planning, key questions to consider are:

• who are our key stakeholders? see ‘Stakeholder Map’ above
• what are their communication needs (what is/are the best mode(s) of
communication)? see ‘Stakeholder Communications Grid’ below
• how can we monitor whether their needs are being met or whether they change
over time? It is recommended that the stakeholders themselves, as well as
communication experts, are consulted in this and (ii) above.

When engaging with stakeholders, for example new supporters, the frequency of
communications (or even greater involvement such as programme visits) are ways of
keeping them informed about progress. You may wish to consult them on areas of
interest, and ultimately, they could become goodwill supporters who become more
actively involved.

Others, for example certain partners, may not require frequent communications and
providing detailed updates about every aspect of the charity’s activities may be
unwanted; communications need to be tailored to suit stakeholders’ levels and areas of
interest.

There will be stakeholders that an organisation may need to interface with on a frequent
basis through direct communications while others may only require indirect, occasional
communications.

Some forms of communication such as annual reports will form a means of

communication with all stakeholders, while internal meetings will be more effective
for engaging with staff located at an office. The intranet/extranet may be the most
effective mode of communicating with volunteers across the country.
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Stakeholder Communications Grid

DIRECT (face-to-face)

e.g. donor presentations, press e.g. staff meetings, workshops

briefings with beneficiaries

OCCASIONAL FREQUENT

e.g. annual reports, community e.g. social media updates, news

newsletters on volunteers’ intranet

INDIRECT

A ‘Stakeholder Communications Grid’ plots each stakeholder and considers the best
way(s) of communicating with them. Communications with key stakeholders may differ
during a crisis. It may be direct, e.g. through Trustees making statements at a staff
meeting, or indirect via the media. In this case, staff will be receiving messages from
both sources.

There are various forms of media to consider, local, national, international as well social
media. In using this means of communication, it is important to assume responsibility,
be transparent and set out the actions that are being taken to handle the situation.

Certain types of communications - such as websites, newsletters and social media – may
be monitored in relation to their usage by stakeholder and changes in levels of interest
over time.

A key consideration in communicating to all stakeholders is that it is a means of providing

assurance that their interests are taken seriously and protected.
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Key messages
A ‘Stakeholder Map’ is a useful tool in setting out a charity’s key stakeholders and
providing a basis for understanding their interests (and influence) as part of the context
in which a charity operates.

There are many tools available for stakeholder mapping which can be accessed with
some research online. The tool presented here is an example – its use has been tested by
the IRM Charities SIG and is shared to help charities gain insight in the topic.

A ‘Stakeholder Communications Grid’ is a useful tool in setting out how to support

stakeholder engagement. Again, this is an example; the type of communication needs to
be developed for the particular organisation, its culture and stakeholder needs. Mapping
stakeholders will only be useful when supported by a communications plan addressing
how and when to engage with stakeholders (drawing on the advice of communication
experts as required).

These tools seek to aid the charity to manage the risks around a crisis and to support
strong stakeholder engagement. The trustees representing the governing body of the
charity should be accountable for, and transparent in, communications with internal as
well as external stakeholders. Clear, open, honest communications will enable a charity
to meet or exceed stakeholders’ high expectations of its behaviour, competence and
performance.

We hope you find this of interest and other publications available on our web page
https://www.theirm.org/events/special-interest-groups/charities/ includes:

• Getting Started with Risk Management

• Risk Management for Charities: Getting Better
• Risk Maturity Framework
• Setting Risk Appetite
• Risk Governance for Charities: Risk Management Structures and Accountabilities

www.theirm.org/charities Developing risk professionals