Fundraising's freshest thinkers take on the sector's toughest topics

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

A Question From the Audience
DG: Tom, great topics and great responses! We do have one question that has come in. Sharon is asking, when interviewing to recruit board members, is there a list of skills or characteristics that you should consistently ask for?

JJ: It’s reliant to some degree on the organization and where it is in its life cycle. But the board members have a fiduciary responsibility, there’s the legal, the hiring and firing of the CEO, the financial piece, and the delegation of a plan to the CEO. And then there are the skills that we’ve been mentioning: fundraising and being ambassadors. You don’t want to bring someone on board who doesn’t feel comfortable being an ambassador, a fundraiser and, of course, a donor. That’s going to create a challenge.