Hi! In my webinar last week, I received several questions about boards and their role in fundraising. This is the perennial question that so many staff members have. (I’ll be repeating this webinar, which was sold out, again on July 16 in case you missed it.)
The fundraising world says that “boards are supposed to help raise money.” But if you ask individual board members themselves about this, they’ll probably say “not so fast now!”
And they will reply many things such as “I’ll do anything BUT fundraising. . . I hate fundraising . . . Do you really want me to hit up my friends? . . . Talking about money is tacky . . . etc and etc and etc.
The fundamental truth – whether we like it or now - is this: Board members don’t have a “role in fundraising” unless they are willing to accept this role. Yeah, they “should” be helping in fundraising, and they are supposed to be helping in fundriasing. BUT They are volunteers – you can’t MAKE them do anything. I guess you could fire them, but then where would you be?
You can read them the riot act, wag your finger at them, even give them seminars titled “the art of the ask,” but if they honestly don’t want to do fundraising, then I don’t think they will.
This is what drove me to look for a better way. After reading, thinking, interviewing folks and observing many boards, I finally concluded the only way to get your board members to take on their fundraising responsibilities is to motivate them.
We have to inspire them into action. We have to show them easy ways they can help in fundraising. Check out my other articles, resources and my upcoming webinar on July 16, and I’ll show you how to do this.
