‘Process’ key in board recruitment

Published date01 May 2018
Date01 May 2018
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1002/ban.30689
6 Board & Administrator
DOI 10.1002/ban © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company • All rights reserved
Help the board stay active as fundraisers
How can nonprofit execs keep board members
engaged about fundraising? Here are some ideas.
1. Stay positive with the board. Give them lots
of pep talks and be sure to connect the board to
the urgent matters your organization is facing
right now. Be very explicit.
2. Treat your board members like they are
major donors. There is an old adage among execs
and experienced fundraisers: “You end up with the
board you deserve.”
It’s important to invest in your relationship with
the board. The amount of time you spend in the
care and feeding of your board will pay off. But if
you don’t invest the time, you will have a board
that doesn’t perform the way you wish it would.
3. Emphasize strong personal relationships. Try
one-on-one meetings with your board members.
The people who serve on your board want to know
their CEO personally.
Each board member brings different skills and in-
terests to the board table. The better you know board
members, the more you can take advantage of what
they can offer. The reality is, different people have
different skills. When the CEO can find out where a
person’s skills lie, you can put those skills to use.
4. Reap fundraising benefits through a trusting
relationship. Once you have a good relationship
with board members, this allows you to talk more
freely about raising money. That’s when board
members’ connections—“Who do you know that
can help us?”—pay off.
5. Tap into what makes board members serve
your organization. Consider this activity to teach
board members why they are important: Start by
getting the board out of their chairs and standing
in a circle. Then, ask each board member one at a
time to take a step forward into the center of the
circle and share why they serve.
This is a very powerful activity. Don’t lecture
your board members that they set the example—
let them share with one another.
6. Put board members to work on improving
solicitation results. Board members dread making
the “ask” for money, and, let’s face it, many don’t
bring those kinds of skills to board service. In-
stead, concentrate on these types of activities:
Sign solicitation letters. The board mem-
ber’s personal note should say to your donors,
“We need you more than ever.”
Make follow-up phone calls. Savvy orga-
nizations focus on thanking donors for a gift to
reduce donor attrition. It makes a big difference
when board members do this. When board mem-
bers make a thank-you call shortly after a gift is
received, subsequent gifts go up substantially.
Ask board members to be very specific
about the organization’s needs. As an example,
if you are raising money for graduate scholar-
ships, don’t point out that the economy may force
you to reduce scholarship awards. Instead, point
out that students will bear the brunt of scholar-
ship reductions.
‘Process’ key in board recruitment
In Hardy Smith’s “Recruit Nonprofit Board Mem-
bers with Purpose and Process” for BoardSource,
Smith offers this advice for committing to a consis-
tent process in board recruiting in his blog:
“Committing to and taking action on a process
will increase your recruiting success—a success
that includes getting board members who will be
invested in making a difference.”
Here are some tips from Smith:
“Make recruiting quality board members a board
and governance committee priority,” Smith wrote.
“Commit to the time and structured focus
necessary for producing the high value board
members your organization wants and your mis-
sion deserves,” he said.
“Identify the factors for determining if a pros-
pect will be a good fit for your particular board,”
Smith said.
“Work in advance. Just as college teams don’t
wait until graduation day to start thinking about
how they will replace a departing player, don’t
wait until a vacancy occurs to begin your search
for a board replacement,” Smith wrote. “Make it a
continuous process.”
For more information, go to http://goo.gl/
Hrv2Kd.

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