How do I involve my board? A great way to start a fundraising campaign is to talk with your board about what your non-profit’s specific need is and have them think through what businesses/groups/persons they have a personal connection with. Have those board members commit to making a personal gift themselves and commit to ask 3 to 5 additional people. Sit down with each individual board member and talk with them and help them prepare to talk with those 3 to 5 persons. Then go along with them and help them out.
A great way to help a board member think about talking with donors is to get them to find a story about your organization that means something to them personally. A story about a client you served, or a part of your history. Make that story the piece they share and have them talk about why it means something to them. And make sure that there is something you are asking about or asking for as part of the meeting (plan this ahead of time and know who is going to do it). I like to look at this as providing the donor the opportunity to do something or give something. Donors want the opportunity and they want to be asked. (Let me know if you have specific questions about the ask and I’d love to talk about or get a friend to talk about that topic.)
Well I won’t go on forever… some other topics to talk about at some point include: the importance that your board members are giving and frequently asked questions from donors. One final note I want to say a great big thank you to board members & community volunteers. We could not do it without you it is your countless hours of help and support that keep us going.
Am I talking about things that interest you? If not let me know what you want to here visit my Ideas, Questions & Answers page.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Ref: my comments to the previous post.
You’re looking at one specific way to use board members to fundraise:
networking and personal connections. That’s fine as far as it goes. It’s very
traditional.
What *other ways* can you use board members to fundraise that doesn’t involve
what you’ve outlined? What if what you’ve outlined are not in your board
member’s skillset?