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 So your Board of Directors and Executive Director are all over you saying, “Show me the money!”  Did you know you are not alone in fundraising?  Did you know it takes a team effort to succeed?  Here are some ideas to empower your volunteer leadership and staff to participate in fundraising.

1.           Give every board member and staff person a list of donors from the last month with a bullet point list of talking points. Ask them to call the donors and thank them for their support. NO ASK, just cultivation and thank you. Make sure to include recent giving history so callers have an idea of the donors’ support of your organization. Leaving a voice mail message counts! Follow up and ask how the calls went. They have 2 weeks to complete this task.
2.           Eliminate your Development Committee and make fundraising the responsibility of everyone serving on your Board. No more pointing fingers at the development committee or the Director of Development and asking what they have done lately!
3.           Ask every board member to make or renew their gift according to the AVERAGE, not minimum, board gift. Pledges count and monthly giving is even better. Ask them to identify at least 5-50 friends who can do the same.
4.           Make a gift chart and show them how easy it can be to raise $10,000/$100,000/$1,000,000 broken down by amount of gift and how many of each gift you need to be successful. Ask them to identify current or prospective donors who can renew and give.
5.            Meet with every board member to talk about fundraising goals, fears, challenges and successes. Bring your Executive Director with you.  Make fundraising personal between board meetings.  Treat board members like major donors!
6.       (Not self serving but true.) Hire a consultant to facilitate a board training or two to talk to your board about all of the above, just like you have. A third party can get the message across, open a dialogue and bring new tools to the table.

These are just a few ideas.  For more information or if you have questions, please contact Barbara at barbara@3talisman.com or 312.733.7520. 

Please leave a comment! Share with your colleagues. Tell me what you think or if you use any of these ideas!