Does your board do annual one-on-one solicitations? Have your board members regularly ask each other for their gifts as part of an Annual Board Campaign. This is a great thing for you to start for a number of reasons. Why is this a good idea?
- This gets your board members in the regular practice of asking for money, which gives you more options when you are soliciting people.
- It makes a big difference when you are asking for money to have a board member along that knows what they are doing.
- They will often give a larger gift if they are asked for it and if the board starts to get in the regular practice of giving they will try and increase and improve upon last year’s campaign.
- This can start a competition of giving amongst your board members that can result in more money for your organization. They will challenge other board members to give at the level they are at which is a huge encouragement.
Overall this can be a great idea for your organization but there may be a few cons. This will take a little bit more time management on your side. It will mean you have to work with your board to schedule a solicitation for each one of them. You also need to make sure that the board members that will not be able to give a large personal gift do not feel they are being looked down upon by the rest of the board. If you have never done anything like this before talk with your board chair it might be easier to start this kind of solicitation if the board thinks it is their idea.
Does your organization do anything like this? What has been their response? How successful has this kind of annual campaign worked for you? Leave a comment and let me know.
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Mark Petersen 09.12.08 at 11:52 am
Jason … this is a simple and very effective idea which I would endorse wholeheartedly. Often I feel that when we let the fundraisers only do the asking, we fall into the trap of forgetting that ALL staff and board of a non-profit group need to have a role in fund development.
Jayson Ursulak 10.07.08 at 11:07 am
Great idea Jason. We have challenged our board this year to each bring in $10K of new money. Some embraced the idea and other did not. I think the biggest challenge to the reluctant ones was the thought of asking for money. If we had done something like this in past years, they would at least have a bit of experience at it.
One thing I shared with our board was for them to remember that they are not asking for money for themselves. They are asking for money to enable our organization to the deliver the services we provide and for the people who will benefit from them.
@Mark, I agree it is very easy to forget that everyone has a role in fund development.
I am pretty green at all of this still, but eager to learn. I know your blog will be helpful.
Smignihoonrop 01.21.09 at 5:03 pm
Nothing seems to be easier than seeing someone whom you can help but not helping.
I suggest we start giving it a try. Give love to the ones that need it.
God will appreciate it.