Getting Your Board On Board with Fundraising
Finding the right board leaders can yield rich dividends
by Michael Page Miller
On a scale of one to ten, when it comes to fundraising, our board is a ____? If you give your organization a six or higher, slap high fives all around. But, if you gave yourselves a five or less, then welcome to the great muddled mass of organizations that are frustrated by their board’s effectiveness in raising dollars. This article is for you.
Fundraising-Leadership by Example. Fundraising leaders must give a personally significant gift and be willing to ask others. That’s all. But actually it’s a lot when you think about it.
The Personally Significant Gift. What’s the appropriate level for a board gift? Consider the “personally significant gift”. Anyone and everyone can give a personally significant gift. For some it could be as little as $20 a month or $250 a year. For another it could be $5,000. There is no mathematical formula, but a personally significant gift is one that hurts and feels good at the same time. Askers need to be donors first and individuals who give personally significant gifts are empowered to ask others for the same.
What about Give or Get? Many organizations have policies requiring board members to give or get a certain amount each year, say $1,000. But, the person who can give $1,000 is most likely to be able to raise that amount also. Give or get policies let people who have the most resources off the hook too easily and penalize those with the least resources. In short, it’s the wrong conjunction. You need a give and get policy. It Starts with Your Leadership. If your board is not performing well, you cannot try to change the behavior of all 15 to 20 board members. You do need to change the behavior of two or three leaders or change leadership. So, the first task is to look honestly at what messages your leadership is sending to the board with their behavior.
Getting old leaders to change very often fails. There’s a type of Peter Principle here. If you have had the same development or annual eventchair for five years and the same weak fundraising results, it is time to look for new leadership. It may be hard, but you must. Look at the Newbies. Newer board members are often your best bet. Don’t worry about titles. They don’t have to be an officer or a development committee member (at least not yet). New board members have something better than titles—they have enthusiasm. And, they aren’t burdened by past failures and frustrations.
Involvement Yields Investment. If you want board members (or donors) to make a real investment, they have to feel involved. They have to feel real ownership before they are willing to make their own investments and take on the hard task of fundraising. This is why advisory boards, or boards that only offer advice, rarely produce meaningful fundraising results.
Michael Page Miller is a principal with Miller\Rollins, a consulting firm located in New York City.
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