5 Stellar Ways to Engage Your Nonprofit Board in Fundraising

You may have recently received emails from an organization promoting the idea that board members don’t need to help raise money.

You know the old adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That stands to reason in this case. So, if you’ve been pulled in by their shenanigans, I may have a bridge I want to sell you.

On a more serious note, I understand that the idea of getting your board members to help with fundraising can be frustrating.

Engaged Board Members = More Gifts

Here’s the thing about boards and fundraising… when board members help, you raise more.

I’ve never worked on a campaign — annual or capital — that didn’t raise more money when board members helped.

Of course, getting your board to help with fundraising is easier said than done. So how can you get your board members to help raise more money?

The other day, I was on a call with one of my coaching clients. She said:

Maybe my board members haven’t been helping with fundraising because they’re just not sure what to do.

Bingo!

5 Ways to Engage Your Board in Fundraising

I’ve worked with countless organizations to help engage their board members with fundraising, because when it works well, the organization raises significantly more than when board members aren’t helping.

With that in mind, here are five effective ways for encouraging your board members to participate in fundraising.

1. Commit 15 minutes per board meeting to fundraising.

Lead a 15-minute fundraising discussion, activity, or exercise at every board meeting. You might ask some questions to get things started, like, “how do other organizations engage their board members with fundraising?”

In other words, find out if they’ve served on other boards — and what have they learned or experienced at those organizations.

If you get resistance about dedicating 15 minutes to fundraising at each meeting, you know that fundraising isn’t a priority at your organization. For the same reason, make sure fundraising isn’t LAST on your meeting agenda. If it is, it’s a pretty loud message to board members that fundraising isn’t a priority.

Training tips for facilitating a discussion:

• Set ground rules for your discussion. No decisions will be made. For the most part, these are brainstorming sessions for idea generation and discussion.
• When you ask a question, wait for an answer. Don’t rush to fill the silence. Give people time to respond.
• If a few people are dominating the conversation, ask to hear from someone who hasn’t had a turn yet.

2. Provide orientation to new board members.

This includes:

• giving them a tour
• introducing them to staff and board members
• letting them meet a client and learning their story
• providing them with a board member mentor

Furthermore, make sure board members know in advance what’s expected of them.

3. Plan an annual board retreat.

If you haven’t had an annual retreat in the last 12 months, it’s time to plan one. Retreats are mission-critical for planning and fundraising training.

4. Meet with each board member personally.

Meeting as a group simply isn’t enough. Sit down with each board member once a year and get to know them a bit better. Ask them:

• What do you love most about our organization and serving on our board?
• What are your biggest frustrations?
• How have you helped with fundraising in the past, at our nonprofit or other at organizations?

And most importantly, ask:

• How would you specifically like to help with fundraising? (Be sure to have some examples of ways they can help.)

5. Keep it short and simple!

Board members are busy! If you expect too much, or your expectation isn’t crystal clear, they won’t follow through. I like to ask board members to commit to 15 minutes of fundraising per month. Be concrete and specific in your requests. Examples include things like:

• Please write 5 thank you notes — provide post-it notes, note cards, addresses, sample scripts or bullets, etc.
• Please make 3 phone calls — again, provide scripts. Let them know what do to if they get voice mail.
• Invite 3 people to our upcoming event — send them an email to forward to their friend. Ask them to include a personal line or two at the top. Again, provide sample text or bullets.

If the thought of doing all five seems overwhelming, just pick one to start. Add a note on your calendar with a link to this post to add a second one in six months.

What else have you tried to engage your board members in fundraising? Let me know in the comments.