How to Get Your Board on Board With Fundraising

One of the problems I find at a lot of nonprofits is that their board members are not actively engaged in fundraising. 

This might sound familiar to you. In many organizations, there’s a lack of clarity about a board’s role. In some cases, board members think they’re doing their jobs by showing up to their quarterly meetings and performing the bare minimum. And it’s clear when they don’t have the same passion that you do. 

Now, on the surface, this might seem like a board issue. But many nonprofit leaders are likely just as guilty of not setting their boards up for success and positive collaboration.

Whether you’re seeking out new board members, or you’d like to see more life from your existing board members, it’s important to make sure that you set clear expectations for the role and provide the necessary training they need to evangelize your mission. 

Let’s not forget: the board plays a crucial role by: 

• Supporting the organization’s strategic direction.
• Providing the financial resources and oversight needed to deliver the mission.
• Offering insights about the identity and purpose of the organization.

Set Expectations for Your Board

To set the right expectations for your board members, you can start by asking some simple questions that you might even ask your donors: 

• How did you get connected to the organization? 
• How are you connected to the mission? 
• Why do you want to be a board member? 

It’s your job as a nonprofit leader to educate the board and better understand each person’s motivation, sphere of influence and connections. Maybe that means helping board members with the resources they need to represent your organization or brainstorming ways to tap into their personal network. The more you know about them and who they know, the better.

Here’s a recent success story of a development director who created and executed a five-year campaign. She got her board inspired to cultivate donor relationships and engage in their fundraising mission. To pull it off, she did these five things.

1. Created Objectives, Timelines and Expectations 

Instead of initially asking the board to help with the campaign, the development director prepared clear goals and expectations. That way, board members could see the end results and understand the purpose of her plan. 

2. Inspired the Board

The development director came prepared with stories and a vision to get board members excited about cultivating and soliciting donors. 

3. Set Expectations Up-front

This development director set her sights on eight volunteer board members and made sure that each of them had their own caseload of donors, agreed to let her manage them, and met once per month as a team (and biweekly as individuals).

4. Managed Board Volunteers

She and her staff were proactive in making sure they set up monthly campaign meetings. This gave board members opportunities to get strategy help and coaching.

5. Provided Ongoing Encouragement and Communication

Board volunteers are often very successful, busy people. But that doesn’t mean they don’t need encouragement and support. They appreciated the communication of small successes and stories of donors committing to the campaign. It gave them purpose and made their efforts feel important. 

Though these five steps are a specific example, it’s a great template for getting your board engaged with fundraising.

Build a Plan Based on Your Board Members’ Skill Sets

One of the key takeaways here is to get a better understanding of each board member’s specific skill sets and ways they can best serve your donors. It’s crucial to have a plan for them, especially if they are joining you at a donor meeting.

What does that plan look like? Well, these can be baby steps. Remember: board members who are taking time out of their day to speak with a donor might not be comfortable at first. Still, they should have a role in your conversation.

One way to prep them might be to focus on some common interest areas and anecdotes about recent victories. New wins can be extremely useful to motivate a board member. Ultimately, though, a board member should contribute at least a few points of connection with the donor so you can have a more authentic and prepared conversation. 

Not every board member is going to have the personality and skills to pull off these kinds of interactions. If that’s the case, you want to be clear with them beforehand about how you see the conversation playing out and how you’d like them to contribute. That might even mean providing them some predetermined questions to ask. 

Training is another option. Not every board member understands the tenets of fundraising. It’s often something they’re afraid of trying. Setting up a training session, or even a board orientation, is a great way to get off on the right foot and make sure fundraising is a priority.  

It’s all about preparation and commitment, and it’s something I encourage you to think about, whether you’re looking for new board members or want to start a new direction with your current board. 

When board members see the work that you’re putting in, it will be much easier to motivate them to fundraise and think more about achieving your organization’s mission. 

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