Recently, Maria and I spent the day at a Small Business Center workshop in Hickory with an amazing group of staff and board members of local nonprofits. The topic of the day was “Effective Fundraising with Your Board,” but we soon realized many of the participants were struggling to get any traction with their board at all and needed some more practical ideas to get people moving.
I shared a toolkit that I created for the Board of Directors at my current nonprofit and passed it around.
Who knew a little green notebook could excite people more than a stack of greenbacks? Building your board is important.
Before a board can be effective fundraisers it is important that we help them do the following:
1. Understand your mission and programs
2. Excite them by engaging them
3. Equip them to take action
If you poll your board members, I guarantee that some of them might be brave enough to admit that they are uncomfortable requesting resources or representing the organization because they fear getting asked questions they can’t answer!
A simple toolkit that they can add to at board meetings and other capacity building events creates a basic foundation that moves good board members to great ones. Building your board doesn’t have to be hard.
Building your board is a never ending process that can be challenging due to board terms limits/rotations, the strength of staff, and a myriad of strong or not so strong personalities.
While this blog cannot provide a solution to each of those challenges, I am happy to report that the Board Kit Checklist that you all requested is now available on Funding For Good’s Free Stuff Page! Check it out HERE.
10 Ways To Get Your Board Involved in Fundraising
How Board Term Limits Help Keep your Board from Becoming Stagnant
