Major Gift Fundraising 201: Board Basics for Raising Bigger Gifts

Whenever I speak at conferences about how to raise major gifts, one of the first topics I cover (after determining what the term major gift actually means) is board member engagement.

I ask audience members (or workshop participants) to raise their hands if their organization has 100% participation. In other words, if every board member makes a financial contribution to the organization.

After speaking on this topic for nearly a decade, I’m always astonished that half the hands in the room don’t go up. And that’s super frustrating to me, because…

Engaging Board Members is Key to Major Gift Fundraising

We need our board members to lead by example. I’m not saying they all need to make major gifts, but your board members should be contributing at a meaningful and significant level for their own personal budget. After all, why should anyone else give if your own board members won’t?

I recently spoke to someone who said one of his board members couldn’t give. I asked if he thought she could give $10? He said yes. I asked, what about $10 per month? He also said yes. I pushed harder and asked if he thought she could give $20 per month. He said absolutely! That’s $240 per year from someone who gives nothing! So why doesn’t he expect her to give?

Sometimes it’s our attitudes that need changing. So let’s start by changing our language, attitude, and mindset to help board members get involved with fundraising.

Not all board members have to ask for major gifts.

I often come across nonprofit staff members who expect every board member to be superstar fundraisers. This is unrealistic. Generally, boards have a few board members who are good at asking for gifts. The majority of your board members won’t ever be involved with a major gift ask. They will help with fundraising in other ways.

In fact, I don’t even want every board member asking for money if it makes them uncomfortable or extremely nervous. If they’re afraid, they’re unlikely to do a good job until they address that fear of asking.

For example, many years ago I was working with a board member who had introduced me to his friend, John. The board member wanted to ask John for $5,000. I wanted to ask John for $25,000. I politely asked the board member to stay home on the day of the ask (which he was thrilled to do) and I asked John for $25,000, which he gave. If the board member had come, we would have likely ended up asking for only $5,000.

That doesn’t mean board members shouldn’t help with fundraising. They should. It just means they don’t all have to ask. My board member, in the story above, played an extremely valuable role by introducing the organization (and me) to John in the first place.

But board members *DO* need to help with fundraising.

As such, they should be encouraged to do what they’re good at. When that happens, they’re more likely to help. So look for ways for board members can help with identifying, cultivating, and stewarding donors.

You can also provide easy ways for them to help with fundraising that don’t seem as scary as asking. At one board training I facilitated, the organization prepared generic appeal letters in advance of the meeting. At the meeting, we asked each board member to add a personal note (to a friend) about why they were involved with the organization and hand-address the envelope, along with adding their name to the corner of the reply envelope. A friend of one board member, who had never helped with fundraising, sent back $10,000.

Writing a note doesn’t seem nearly as scary as asking in person.

Raising a Major Gift is a Unique Privilege

It’s also important to change your language about fundraising — especially around your board members.

Have you ever caught yourself saying, “I need to raise money?”

When you say it like that, it sounds like a chore. You don’t need to raise money. You get to raise money. It’s a privilege. You’re doing your organization and your community a service.

Remember, fundraising isn’t about twisting arms or begging. It’s about inspiring others to invest. If you guilt someone into giving you money, there won’t be a second gift, and the donor won’t feel good about your organization. That’s not what fundraising is about.

If you want your board members to see fundraising positively, then you need to view it positively, too.

Discuss Major Gift Fundraising at Every Board Meeting

One important way to change the culture of philanthropy at your organization is to talk about fundraising at every board meeting. And I don’t mean giving a boring report about what you’ve done since the last meeting. That can be distributed in advance.

A great way to incorporate fundraising into your meetings:

Create a board discussion calendar for the year. At each board meeting, pick a topic to discuss around fundraising. Instead of reporting out on fundraising results, lead a discussion by asking an open-ended question.

Start with an easy topic, like Gratitude.

Ask everyone to think of a time when they were thanked. More specifically — have they ever received a meaningful thank you from a charity?

• How did that thank you make them feel?
• In what way was it personal?
• What exactly made it special?

You can move the discussion on by asking how would each board member like to be thanked. Then, wrap up the discussion with a brainstorm around how your organization should be thanking donors:

• What are you doing well?
• What can you do better?
• How would board members like to help on this front?

It’s that simple.

Let board members take their time to answer.

When you first introduce the topic and ask a question, people may be hesitant to answer. Don’t be afraid of the silence. Give them a moment to think. You can clarify your question, but don’t start giving them answers. Wait for board members to speak up.

Make sure everyone has a chance to participate. If someone is dominating the conversation, say something like, “let’s hear from someone we haven’t heard from yet.”

Putting it All Together

This post has covered a lot of ground. So let’s boil it down to the essentials. There are three key ways to get your board members engaged in major gift fundraising:

1. Board members must make a generous gift for their own personal budget.
2. Change the language you use around fundraising to be positive, not negative.
3. Provide opportunities for discussion around fundraising topics at every board meeting.

If you can stay on top of those three things, your board will become a huge boon to your major gift fundraising efforts.

Above all, be persistent.

As long as you’re persistent and patient, I promise — you will (eventually) see a positive change in your board. Questions are welcome in the comments section.