The Case of the Eager Board Member

A dependable revenue stream that grows—ah, paradise!

Have a fundraising challenge you want to crack? Weary of doing the same old, same old yet hoping for different outcomes? Do you want the over-the-top results that come from superior strategy?

Email me with your particular problem, and I'll arrange a quick consultation offering you a practical solution you can implement. I may even use your situation to share with my readers. Names are changed, of course!

I spoke with a successful businessman last week who related to me his recent experience as the board member for a youth charity in the Northwest.

I hear from fundraisers and nonprofit executives alike bemoaning how they wish their board members were engaged and eager to fundraise. I'm sure you've heard it, as well.

Bill is eager—or was, that is.

Let's rewind a few years when this organization, a local chapter of a national nonprofit, was in dire financial straits. Fundraising was in the tank. Finances were in tatters. The national chapter was making real noise about pulling the local chapter's charter.

Bill was on the board and urged the group to get serious about reaching out to its supporters. Assignments were made, and board members began asking. The results were nothing less than astounding. In just one year, fundraising totals hit six times the previous all-time high.

So far, so good. A couple of years go by, and a new executive director arrives.

Bill, who gives a sizable cash gift of his own each year, recently offered to provide a simple phone app free of charge to help board members and other volunteers keep track of their calls.

The response took him aback. Seems that in the intervening couple of years, the dysfunctional culture of the past resurfaced. The culture of being comfortable with failure.