Folly #73: 100% Board Giving
Leverage your board to inspire year-end generosity.
I’ve been fortunate to serve on several nonprofit boards – currently Development Executives Roundtable and, previously, Marin City Health & Wellness Center and Open Door Legal. All do terrific work. And a big part of my nonprofit consulting work is creating ease around fundraising for board members. For both reasons, I have some strong feelings about board giving. The goal is simple: 100%.
When funders ask, What percentage of your board made a gift this year? your answer should be “100%!”
It’s even more important right now. This is the time of year when nonprofits are preparing for year-end appeals.
(Of course they need the funding year round – huge shout out to sustaining donors who make monthly recurring gifts. But humans procrastinate and wait until the very last month, or day, to make that tax-deductible charitable gift, so nonprofit fundraising focuses on year-end giving.)
Aside from recurring gifts, the other steady donor base is board members. A nonprofit board of directors is comprised of volunteers who have governance and fiduciary responsibility for the organization. That means ponying up.
And volunteer board members can do something that staff cannot: make a peer-to-peer ask.
It’s hard to persuade someone else to make a gift if you haven’t.
4 Simple Steps for Board Members
If you serve on a nonprofit board, your 2024 gift makes a difference.
It’s like dominoes. Your action has a huge ripple effect:
As a board member, this should be one of the biggest gifts you make in 2024.
Make it recurring to spread the cash across the year for operating efficiencies.
Talk about your investment (of both time and money) in this nonprofit when you share their year-end appeal with friends to help them reach new donors.
Forward their Giving Tuesday appeal on Tuesday, December 3, with a note asking friends to “match” you as a recurring monthly donor at any level.
(You may remember that my favorite film is It’s a Wonderful Life. Never underestimate the impact on others of your choice to do good.)
3 Simple Steps for Nonprofits
If you work for a nonprofit, I know you’re busy, especially now. Here’s how to make it easy for your board to support your fundraising:
Have a Give or Get Policy in place. (Click the link to download a free template.) Have one? Great! Your board president can call each member to thank them for their gift this year, or to remind them to give now. Don’t have one? Add it to your next board agenda to discuss, and approve, in the context of their fiduciary responsibility. Get their feedback – and buy-in.
Ask board members to share your Giving Tuesday and year-end appeal letter with friends. If you’ve done #1 above, they’ll be able to say, Join me in supporting this great organization. (It will take an hour or so of staff time to provide “blank” emails/letters and suggest a short script, but the payback is worth it.) Here’s a Giving Tuesday timeline to help you start now. (It’s $10, but use coupon code follies at checkout to get it for free.)
Carve out time at every board meeting to include fundraising updates as part of your financial reports. This normalizes fundraising and creates a culture of philanthropy. (Even better if you share the amount of cumulative YTD board giving and percentage of board members that gave in the past 12 months as a constant reminder of the board’s financial impact.)
It is essential that every board member make a personal gift (not just in-kind) at some level. Your nonprofit needs money (not stuff) to pay staff.
As we like to say in fundraising … start with the low-hanging fruit. Asking your board to give this year should be your easiest ask.
And if you’re a board member, go online and give!