GETTING YOUR BOARD TO FUNDRAISE
If I had $1 for every time an ED or development director told me, “My board won’t fundraise,” I could retire in the lap of luxury. It is the single biggest complaint nonprofit leaders have about their boards. And yet, when I meet with board members, they tell me that they are if not excited about fundraising, they are at least willing to try—but they have no clue what to do.
Board trainings are great, and they can move the needle, at least a bit. But if you really want to get your board to fundraise, ongoing training is required.
The best way to do that is to have Fund Development as a regular item on your board agenda. This is not where you talk about what funds you’ve raised-at that point, that’s actually finance. Nor is it where you tell them they MUST give you 5 names; bring in X amount of dollars, buy or sell 3 tables at your gala. No. This is the time to talk about fund development: What are some the things they think might succeed? What are you doing in individual, foundation, corporate fundraising and what do they think might be ways they could be involved.
For example, one of my clients noted that she had an estate planning lawyer on their board, and yet he never talked with them about planned giving.
Well, why not have a session on planned giving and ask them—including your lawyer member—what they think would be a good way for them to be involved.
Whether you have a planned giving program or not, start by asking them how they view planned giving at your organization. What things are you doing they love; what have you not done. Or what things would they like you see you do as you start a planned giving (or any other kind of giving) program.
Ask if anyone has expertise in this area. Will they work with a small committee of the board to help set up or enhance your program.
Do this for everything! Don’t, for example, say, “I want you to have a house party,” but rather, ask them for ideas on what types of things might encourage giving. Pull articles about various things you could do and ask them to read them and “let’s talk about this at our next board meeting and see if this is something we can do.”
The more you get them talking about how funds could be raised, the more engaged they will become. And the more willing they will be to participate in a program they helped to design.