There’s a myth in the nonprofit world: parking cash in a savings account is the “safe” choice. In reality, it can be one of the costliest decisions a board makes, and often the one no one thinks to question.

That doesn’t mean the market is always “safe” either. Investing always carries risk, including the risk of loss. But holding everything in cash carries a cost too, even if it never shows up on a statement. The question your board actually needs to answer isn’t which option is risk-free, because neither one is. It’s whether your decisions are intentional, and tied to what each dollar is actually meant to do.