Involving Your Board in Fund Raising

By Susan Kauffman, CFRE, President
Susan Kauffman Associates, Inc

The role of the Board of Trustees in a nonprofit organization has a number of components. Some of them include:

• Determining the organization’s mission
• Selecting the Chief Executive and assessing the performance of the Executive
• Ensuring that strategic planning and organizational planning are completed and implemented
• Recruiting fellow board members
• Enhancing the organization’s image and being a good ambassador for it
• Monitoring and strengthening the organization’s resources
• Developing and supporting the budget of the organization

The organization’s budget has a number of revenue line items in it. And more than ever before donations/fund raising line item numbers are growing. This is in response to the ever increasing need for services, as will as cuts in funding by the government and foundations.

Donations for the organization are not up to staff alone to procure. The board needs to partner with the staff in order to attain the dollar figure that was approved in the budget process. It is up to the board, since they have voted to support the budget that they do their part to ensure the donation income is realized.

It is necessary to explain to the prospective board member his responsibilities. The list of responsibilities includes telling the prospect that he will be responsible for giving and generating a specific amount of charitable revenue for the organization.

Because part of the board member’s commitment is to ensure that revenues and expenses are supported as voted upon, it is usually necessary for the board members to ask others in the community to support the organization.

If a board member does not make his own gift to the organization, the validity of the board member’s sincerity to the organization is discounted. And in fact, members of the community who are asked to support the organization may refuse support on that basis. If the people who are fiscally responsible for the organization do not care enough to make their own donation, why should the community support the organization?

To ensure that the board is working together to meet their own gift obligations, a board member donation report must be generated and presented at board meetings. It needs to be clear to all board members that they need to make a donation. It is incumbent on the board chair to make 100% board participation a reality. One hundred percent board participation is necessary for all the fund raising activities the organization votes to undertake.

Some organizations require prospective board members to sign agreements that affirm the board member will generate and give a certain amount of money for the organization. These written agreements are used increasingly. It is incumbent on the organization’s administration and the board chairman to assist board members in fulfilling their financial obligation to the organization.

Susan Kauffman, CFRE

Susan has been in the nonprofit resource development business for 25 years. Her experiences on organizational boards demonstrated to her that fund development for nonprofits would enrich her life. For 15 years, Susan has been a consultant. She is currently the president of Susan Kauffman Associates, Inc. located in Phoenix, Arizona. Previously she lived in upstate New York where she also ran a successful consulting business.