Boards can be a tremendous asset or a challenge for nonprofit leaders when it comes to fundraising. According to the balance small business, “Sixty percent of the organizations where board members helped with fundraising met their fundraising goal". It is important to get all of your board members to take some of the fundraising responsibilities to help your organization be sustainable and successful.
Here are three tips to get your board fundraising.
1. Establish that fundraising is part of the job
It is important to establish early and often that fundraising is part of the board duties and a great place to start is with dues. Board members should be responsible for contributing to the overall success of your organization and that includes financing. Board dues vary in amounts, but it is important to establish expectations with your members. You can have your members pay monthly or once a year. If you have member who may not be able to pay the dues, you can make the expectation that they will fundraise their dues.
If you are already up and running but do not require dues, here are some reasons you should consider instituting dues:
- Helps bring in steady income for the organization
- Some grantors require that the board makes contributions
- Demonstrates a commitment to your organization
2. Make it competitive
People love competition. Creating competition amongst board members for fundraising can help you bring in more funds.
Get creative! You can get started by seeing who can raise the most money around a campaign or even a period of time. Not all of your members may have access to friends that can give a lot so having competitions that include the number of new donors that members bring in or the number of donors who give, can be a great way to level the playing field. Make sure that you give prizes and acknowledge for the winners.
Do not forget to keep the competition fun and lighthearted, after all, they are fundraising for your organization not their ego!
3. Have your board ask their network
Another way to get your board to fundraise is to have your members give you the names and addresses of 10 friends and/or family members for you to ask for their support.
This type of ask is more powerful than a generic email from you because your board member has a relationship with the potential donor. You can draft an email that introduces your organization, highlights your work and has a call to action to contribute. Each of your members will be responsible for sending out the email to 10 people they identified. They can send out the email as is or they can modify to their liking. This is a great way to increase your donations and for the recipient to share with their network whether they can give or not.
Be sure to encourage your members to send reminders. One email will not do the trick. They will have to ask multiple times to get the best results.
