Dear Kim Q&A Column Archive
June 2006
INVOLVING YOUR BOARD IN FUNDRAISING
Hello, Kim:
We are having a difficult time getting our Board to understand
that they need to be more involved in fundraising. I've shared
with them the information that I learned from your workshops
about developing a donor base and the importance of board involvement,
but they simply don't want to do it. With the exception of one
event, the board will not even participate on fundraising committees.
Instead, they want event committee members to join the board.
The board's answer to our fundraising dilemmas is to hire a full-time
fundraiser. We are a small nonprofit with a staff of four, one
of whom is a development associate who wears many other hats.
What can we do to
get our board be more active in fundraising?
--Despairing but Not Yet Hopeless
Dear Not Yet:
You have a classic problem, and almost every reader of this
e-newsletter will identify with you. As you can imagine, your
problem starts with how the board members are recruited. When
they are not told fundraising is part of their job, they are
far less likely to ever do it. It sounds like you have tried
most of the usual remedies, and I would just suggest one more:
hire an outside consultant for a board training. If you have
a friendly and understanding major donor or foundation funder,
ask them to put up a challenge grant that the board must meet
with their own fundraising (and not their own giving) that would
cover the costs of such a training. Then have an outsider do
the training. This person can also explain the job of a development
director, so that the board is aware that if they hire a full-time
fundraising person, they will be asked to do even more than they
do now. Outsiders have credibility that you don’t have
for no other reason than they come from a few miles away carrying
a briefcase and most people haven’t seen them before.
This remedy is unlikely to work, however, because of the adamancy
of your board: “They simply don’t want to do it.” Until
they are term-limited out (they do have term limits, I hope),
I don’t think the culture of this board will change significantly.
So instead of trying to prod these unwilling people to do fundraising,
work with anyone who will work with you—any board members
who are less reluctant as well as other volunteers—to form
a “Resource Committee.” This will be the team you
need to help you with fundraising. Over time, do what you can
to get members of that team on the board and to get the most
stubborn anti-fundraising people off the board.
Eventually, you will have volunteer team of fundraising helpers
who are mostly or entirely board members.
Good luck!
-Kim Klein
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