Get board buy‐in on software expenditures by showing impact

• Date: 01 August 2017
• Published date: 01 August 2017
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30508

August 2017 • Volume 33, Number 12 3

DOI 10.1002/ban© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved

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Get board buy-in on software

expenditures by showing impact

New fundraising and donor man-

agement systems are increasingly so-

phisticated and now offer a “one-stop-

shop” solution that handles email and

peer-to-peer campaigns, online dona-

tion processing, website optimization,

events coordination, year-round donor

communications and more. But it

doesn’t come cheap, and nonprofit ex-

ecutives are often hesitant to bring a

request to their boards for thousands

of dollars in new expenditures that

can be hard to understand for those

not technically oriented.

According to Liz Ragland (www.

thenetworkforgood.org/) at Network

for Good, it’s important to get the

board’s buy-in for such an important

purchase.

“If you have their support, they’re

more excited and informed about the

tool that you’re about to implement,”

she explained in a recent webinar.

They’re understandably concerned

because they want to use the organiza-

tion’s resources wisely, she said, and

some of today’s donor management

systems can run thousands of dollars

a year or more, depending on the orga-

nization’s size and level of service.

The key to getting that buy-in, Rag-

land said, is to frame the conversa-

tion in terms of tangible benefits you

expect to see from the software.

“You want to focus on an outcome

of what this new software will accom-

plish,” she said. “What do you see as

the end result after using this tool

after six months or a year?”

You should also break down the

costs of the new system to show what

you’re getting—for example, the soft-

ware subscription, any data import

or product onboarding services, and

any ongoing phone and email sup-

port that’s included with the package

you’ve selected, she said.

She cautioned against giving a

list of features without explaining

how those features will improve your

processes—you need to tie each new

feature or tool back to tangible re-

sults, such as dollars saved, increased

donations or better operational effi-

ciency.

You should also give real, concrete

examples of challenges your organiza-

tion faces now and how this tool will

help you solve them, she said.

The bottom line, Ragland said,

is that if you’re convinced that the

software will help your nonprofit in its

mission, you need to convince your

board of that as well. ■

terms of ethnic and cultural diver-

sity, age is also a consideration. If an

organization serves youth and strives

to have that voice represented in its

programming, it might want to incor-

porate minors on the board. According

to the National Council of Nonprofits,

it is permissible in many states to

have people under the age of 18 on

the board, although there are special

considerations. For example, any con-

tract signed by the minor might not

be valid depending on the state and

circumstances. And, the Council said,

there is a worry that the liabilities that

come with board membership—name-

ly, the fiduciary and legal responsi-

bilities—might transfer to the minors’

parents. Many nonprofits address that

by structuring youth participation un-

der a Youth Advisory Board or some-

thing similar, as opposed to outright

board membership on par with adults.

For more information, go to https://

www.councilofnonprofits.org. ■

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