Board

I am often asked for solutions to a host of nonprofit board problems: "How do I fix this? How do I fix that?" Here are five questions that come up the most: 1. What's the single most important trait I should look for in prospective board members? 2. How do I get board members to contribute financially? 3. How can I get board members to make personal visits? How do I deal with poor attendance at meetings? 5. How do I get board members to speak up?

Direct-response fundraising is often counterintuitive, so in this rare case, otherwise successful board members can easily make costly missteps when trusting their non-direct-response marketing instincts.

People who want to do good work but aren't sure how are frustrated, talking in circles and not taking action, or simply rubber-stamping staff work: Sadly, that’s how I’d describe some of the boards and staffs I’ve observed. It’s time to publicly share common themes I experience when working with a board and staff through a training session or facilitating a retreat. I've found these themes show up no matter the size, financial situation or maturity level of the organization. Do you see your organization in this letter?

In this video, Penelope Burk, president of Cygnus Applied Research and author of "Donor-Centered Fundraising," shares with you a simple way to increase new donor gifts by 35 percent to 40 percent. She lets you in on the testing she's done around this, and she also gives you an example of what to say to donors. It's incredibly simple and effective.

Ted Hart speaks with ACFRE Simone Joyaux, author of "Firing Lousy Board Members," about her book and nonprofit boards of directors on his Nonprofit Coach radio show.

Board members embrace the idea of launching — or growing — your organization’s major-gifts program. They get the importance of donor-centered, peer-to-peer fundraising and are ready to partner with staff to establish and deepen relationships with top prospects. The systems are in place, the case has been written, and now … it’s time to “map relationships.” You arrive at a board meeting with a list of your top 100 donors and ask board members to put their initials next to “anyone they know.”

Boards and fundraising. It's a hot-button issue for almost everyone — from monolithic hospitals to closet-sized food pantries. In my years of consulting, I've fielded hundreds if not thousands of questions on the subject. Here, I offer answers to the six questions I'm asked most often.

Staff members are in the trenches right alongside you witnessing the transformational work that your nonprofit is doing. They see the successes, the failures, the importance of the work and the vision for the future.

Board members also have a passion for the organization and are committed to helping the organization reach its mission and vision. They came to the board room table for a reason, and that story is incredibly powerful.

Here are four steps to help your organization make the transition to loving fundraising.

It happens all the time. Smart nonprofit staffers come to me and share their secret: The goals they are assigned to accomplish are completely unrealistic.

They are in a situation where their operational and performance goals are more than anyone can possibly accomplish. Some of the goals they have been given are not even carefully vetted or thought out.

A friend serving on a nonprofit board reported plans to resign from the board shortly due to the board's unwillingness to take critical actions necessary to help the organization grow. The board failed to take any action to remove a director who wasn't attending meetings and refused to resign. His term had another year, and the board had a bylaws obligation to remove him from the board. However, a majority of directors decided such action would hurt the director's feelings. They were unwittingly accepting the "nice-guy" approach.