I get asked this question over and over again: how do we get our board members to start raising money for our organization?
You may already have board members who care about the mission and know people who could support it, yet fundraising still comes back to you. At the end of another meeting, you leave with the responsibility of finding the money while everyone else waits to hear how it went.
The approach I use begins with bringing those board members into creating the organization's fundraising strategy. Their ideas and relationships become part of the decisions, and each person helps decide how they will participate. People who plan together execute together.
Get your board involved in deciding how the organization will raise money, then give each member what they need to carry out their part.
Before your next board meeting
Give every board member a way to contribute their thinking
Start by sharing your own ideas about who could fund your organization and why they would give. Explain where you would find them, how you would attract them, what you would ask for and the process you would use to raise money from them.
Each board member answers the same five questions independently through the board fundraising planning form, then says how they would feel comfortable participating. Ask each person to focus on one funding audience they believe is a good fit, so the meeting has specific opportunities to consider.
This gives you a way to hear from the member who has useful connections but rarely speaks in meetings, as well as the member who has an idea you have never considered.
During your next board meeting
Agree on the fundraising approach and each person's part
Bring everyone's ideas into the meeting and decide together who your primary funding audience will be. Agree how you will find and attract those funders regularly, what you will ask them to support and how you will build the relationship toward giving.
For example, a member may know business owners who care about the young people your organization serves. Once the board agrees on that audience and the fundraising process, that member can identify suitable businesses in their network and offer to make an introduction.
Discuss what each person can take responsibility for and what they need to do it. The responsibilities and execution support come from what your board agrees in this meeting.
After your next board meeting
Equip each member to begin working with you
Each member receives the agreed strategy and a Board Fundraising Portfolio showing how they will support the organization to raise money. Their personal AI assistant understands that strategy and can help create the emails, talking points or other materials they need for their role.
A member who agreed to make an introduction can prepare the message and begin the conversation with a clear understanding of who the organization wants to reach and what should happen next.
By the end of the meeting, your board members can recognize the ideal funders within their networks and know how to begin approaching them. They have a role they helped shape and the tools to act without bringing every task back to you.