A New Way to Engage Advisory Boards in Fundraising Success

Fundraising must be a team sport. It is not sustainable for one person to be in charge of raising funds. It is extremely challenging work, and it is complex. As you attempt to generate greater sums of money, additional elements of the fundraising process come into play. Greater success is achieved over time when you involve others.

When working with various individuals, such as volunteers, donors, staff, administrators and advisory board members, you receive a unique perspective of one’s feelings toward fundraising. Many people believe the concept of fundraising is just like public speaking. The thought of participating in either act evokes negative vibrations. Our job as nonprofit professionals is to help those who support you in fundraising view the activity through a different, more positive lens.

How Advisory Boards Can Help Fundraising

Many nonprofits have limited staff members focused on seeking revenue from individuals, corporations, foundations, associations and organizations. The strain on staff is great. They need the resources and numbers that an advisory board can provide them regarding resource development. Advisory board members’ engagement in fundraising must be mandatory, and quality production must be a priority.

Members of a nonprofit advisory board represent a group of diverse experts who have volunteered their skills, knowledge, expertise, relationships and themselves to a cause and mission. Through research and recruitment, individuals will be secured with backgrounds in marketing, law, finance, business, advertising, government, consulting, public relations, retail, corporate, media, community, nonprofit and other sectors.

When recruited and with proper orientation, these individuals need to understand that one of their primary responsibilities is to secure time, talent and treasure for your organization. This also includes making a personal donation, obtaining funds from other sources and having them build relationships on behalf of the nonprofit.

Nonprofits desiring a fundraising-oriented advisory board must recruit members who have the attributes needed for a progressive advisory board. These members should have personalities to engage and build relationships, the ability to educate and inform others, the desire to build partnerships, plus promote a spirit of positivity. They must want to give advice, offer guidance, share expertise, promote trust and can easily interact with various constituencies. Members must participate and stay informed. The ideal advisory board member accepts the responsibility and ownership that comes with board membership.

If you want advisory board members with a positive and different lens of fundraising, have your nonprofit board set up a skills matrix grid so you can identify fundraising qualities needed in a board member. Encourage potential advisory board members to serve as volunteers before you ask them to consider advisory board membership so you can witness their performance. Do not forget to recruit existing volunteers and loyal donors with the expertise and potential to contribute to the organizational mission.

I served as a nomination chair for a nonprofit advisory board. When recruiting, I looked for traits, skills and mindsets that would make a happy and successful multi-year board member. I wanted individuals with a passion for the cause, open-mindedness, responsibility for outcomes, forward-thinking, respect for others and continued curiosity to learn about the organization they were representing. I wanted board members who enjoyed face-to-face conversations. I would ask myself, “Would I give if that person solicited me?”

Viewing Fundraising From Different Perspectives

Your goal as a fundraising professional is to motivate your advisory board members to fundraise. The challenge is for your members to view the term fundraising from different perspectives and biases. Some of your board members are afraid of rejection. Others have not had the experience of interacting with others and asking for gifts.

Board members may not want to bother friends, their network and other connections because they do not want to be solicited by them. Your board members may not completely understand the complex concept of resource development and its implications. They view the concept of fundraising as negative without giving it a chance.

For success to occur with advisory board members, encourage looking at fundraising through a different lens. Begin a basic donor cycle. As outlined by Classy, the five repeating steps are identification, qualification, cultivation, solicitation and stewardship. Your goal is to assign board members to certain steps where they might have the greatest impact.

Each advisory board member must be responsible for fundraising based on the fundraising cycle. Your job is to match the personality of board members to the cycle of fundraising steps that suits them comfortably. This objective should result in a more successful fundraising board. These members must embrace their fundraising responsibility, view fundraising through a different lens, receive continual training, and make fundraising a pleasant experience.

By giving board members a specific task in the fundraising cycle process, you enhance their probability of success and enjoyment of the “fundraising” experience.

The preceding blog was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.