Category: Board Giving

Two Approaches to Board Giving

Posted by on in Board, Board Gift, Board Giving, FundraisingLeave a comment

“How much should our board members be required to give?”

person in pink button up shirt holding brown paper
Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

It’s a question I receive pretty often.

The short answer, it depends on your board culture. My personal preference, as a board member and a fundraiser, is not to set an amount but ask each board member to make their best gift.

Here are two approaches to consider for your organization.

Their Best Gift
Board members should feel strongly – even passionately about your organization’s mission. Therefore, they should want to make their best gift to help you accomplish that mission. Through their perspective as a board member, they know how much money you need to save a life and their passion should translate into a gift that saves or changes the most lives possible. This also allows each board member to make their best gift based on their own financial situation.

A Gift They Care About How It is Used
Because a board member is responsible for the fiscal health (Board Source), board members who have made a personally significant gift, will feel ownership of how donated funds are used. As they monitor the fiscal activities of your organization, they will see their gift at work. This allows them to shift from an “advisory” role where they are watching over other people’s money to a “service” role where they have a stake in your progress.

A quick thought about minimum gift levels, I’m not opposed to them in all situations. Many organizations have a culture that supports that approach. If it’s working for your nonprofit, stick with it. If you have a minimum amount but most board members aren’t giving it, it’s time to reevaluate.

Board giving is a critically important topic for every nonprofit. Now is the right time to discuss it and take action to improve it.

5 Board Member Actions to Boost 2020 Year-End Fundraising

Posted by on in Board Giving, Uncategorized1 Comment

Attention nonprofit board members: now is the time for you to take action.  

cash coins money pattern
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

It’s not too late – it’s never too late – for board members to demonstrate their leadership by engaging in year-end fundraising.  

As we approach the end of the year, board members should take some action to boost your nonprofits’ end of year giving efforts.  

  1. Give – board members should have already made your best gifts by now but still make a gift to support current efforts. If your nonprofit is having a year-end event, sponsor. If they are selling something, buy some. If they are sending a year-end appeal, make a gift.  
  2. Ask others to give – your friends and family should know that this charity is important to you. Now is the time to ask them to invest in this cause. If your nonprofit has special year-end drives (like toys or food), use that opportunity to tell the story and ask for donations.  
  3. Engage on social media – if you haven’t already, like, follow, join (whatever the appropriate verb)  your nonprofit’s social media accounts. During the final weeks of the year, make an effort to check the social media channels once a day and share, retweet, repost. This simple but intentional action can amplify your nonprofits’ reach. 
  4. Thank – start with the people you know who support your nonprofit. Reach out with an e-mail or handwritten note to tell them how their gifts have made the world a better place this year. After that, ask if there are additional donors you could contact with a stewardship message. Don’t forget social media channels for thanking, too. For instance, a post on LinkedIn to thank  corporate donors is a simple but powerful way to show appreciation.   
  5. Encourage staff – it’s been a tough year for everyone. This may be the most obvious statement I’ve ever written but it’s important to remember that nonprofit staff members have been under a tremendous amount of pressure for 9 months. Whether your nonprofit has been running at full speed or has had to curtail services, the stress has been real. Take a moment to write a personal note to staff members telling them that you see their hard work and it’s appreciated. Find a way to tell them that they are appreciated – by you and by the people you are all serving.  

If you are reading this in November: take action now. 
If you’re reading this in early December: take action now.
If you’re reading this in late December: take action now.
(seeing a trend?)
And if you are reading this after 2021 has started and year-end giving is completed, it’s still not too late to take action.  

It’s not too late – it’s never too late – for board members to demonstrate their leadership by engaging in year-end fundraising.  

Board Giving: How Much?

Posted by on in Board, Board Gift, Board GivingLeave a comment

“How much should a board member be required to give?”

It’s a question I receive fairly often when working with all types and sizes of organizations. The short answer – it depends on your board culture.

My personal preference is not to set an amount, but ask each board member to make their best gift. If they are serving on your board, it is not unreasonable to expect to be in their top three gifts.

SLG_BoardGiving

Two ways to approach it with your board:

Their Best Gift
Board members should feel strongly – even passionately – about your organization’s mission. Therefore, they should want to make their best gift to help you accomplish that mission. Through their perspective as a board member, they know how much money you need to make a difference and their passion should translate into a gift that makes the biggest difference possible.

Caring How it is Used
A key responsibility of a board member is the fiscal health of the organization. Board members who have made a personally significant best gift, will feel ownership of how donated funds are used. As they monitor the fiscal activities of your organization, they will see their gift at work. This allows them to shift from an “advisory” role where they are watching over other people’s money to a “service” role where they have a stake in your progress.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention minimum gift levels. I’m not opposed to them in all situations. Many organizations have a culture that supports that approach. If it’s working for your nonprofit, stick with it. However, if you have a minimum amount but most board members aren’t giving it, it’s time to reevaluate your approach.

Board giving is a critically important topic for every nonprofit. After all, it is easier to ask other people to join you in making a difference – rather than just asking them to do it. Now is the perfect time to discuss your board giving and take action to improve it.

If you need help with your board giving plan, contact us today and we can discuss how we can help.

Board Giving: Does Corporate Giving ‘Count’?

Posted by on in Board, Board Giving, Corporate Giving, FundraisingLeave a comment

big-check-xlarge-sample

One question that seems to always come up when working with an organization is ‘does corporate giving count as a board members gift?’ Like most fundraising questions, the answer is it depends. Since that doesn’t help with real-life situations, let’s expand on that.

One BoardSource certified trainer I’ve worked with taught that corporate gifts don’t count for board giving. That answer seems too absolute to me. I think it comes down to two variables:

  1. How the board member was recruited.
    We often ask our large corporate donors to put someone on our board. Sometimes we get a board member who is completely committed to our mission and sometimes we get a board member who is there because they were “voluntold” (one of my least favorite made-up words). When they are recruited to represent a company, it can be unrealistic to also expect them to be personally committed and make a personal gift (with no cultivation).
  2. How expectations were articulated to them.
    If the board expectations (which should be discussed with all new board members) aren’t explicit on the difference in a personal gift and a corporate gift, we can’t determine that arbitrarily. Any changes would need to be discussed and adopted by the board as a whole (including that person).

Don’t forget, with any board member there is opportunity for cultivation. That applies to personal and corporate giving. If they represent their company and don’t give personally, it might be because they were never shown how that makes a difference and asked. Many times we just expect board members to give because they are required to do so and forget that they need to see the mission in action and be invited to invest. In some cases, board members need special cultivation because we spend so much time telling them how financially successful we are, they might not see how their support will make a difference.

By now you probably know my favorite response is it depends, because in fundraising – and most things, really – talking in absolutes should be avoided when possible. Statements like ‘Board members should always’ or ‘board members should never’ don’t allow consideration of the many factors that can impact a situation. A more diplomatic way to state it might be, ‘best practice in this area is …’ or ‘BoardSource recommends…’ then ask why that may or may not work in your specific situation.