Board Giving

One of the groups that I communicate with is the LeadingAge Philanthropic Group. They are primarily development professionals in the charitable arena of elder care philanthropy.

One of the members asked about board of directors expectations for giving to the organization. One of the members of the group responded in the following way which I think is a good overview on board giving:

We advocate for the following when it comes to board solicitations:

·         Clear, written expectations about board giving as part of board recruitment, orientation, and evaluation. Annual reminders never hurt, either.

·         Include all boards, not just the foundation (if you have one)! Every director/trustee should be expected to give something.

·         No minimum gift, but guidance based on personal and peer benchmarks. All trustees can be asked to place the organization among their top three charitable recipients, as is appropriate for their leadership role. And it’s especially helpful to new trustees to know the range of a “typical” board gift.

·         Involvement of peers. The board chair or other trustee makes a great partner in these solicitations. “Join me” are powerful words.

·         Personal (i.e. face to face) solicitations. Trustees are an organization’s most important volunteers, and they have likely been listening to the fundraising staff talk about how important a tailored, strategic approach is to succeed with major donors. Time to model that behavior in front of them!

·         A collective goal that the board itself sets. Connecting board giving to a specific, needed item can motivate larger gifts, and creates a great opportunity to highlight board support to the wider community and steward the board. They will feel pride in their sense of shared accomplishment when they see the tangible results of their giving and are praised for it.

·        Announcement of the board campaign and goal at the start of the fiscal year, and updates on collective progress at each board meeting thereafter. Donors since the prior meeting can be thanked by name from the chair and given a round of applause. That tees up private conversations with the not-yet donors.

If your organization does not have a tradition of board giving (or even promised its board members that they would never be asked to give or to participate in fundraising), you might find that you lose a trustee or two in the process of resetting expectations. That’s a normal and healthy part of the transition. Those trustees can be directed into a different volunteer role instead.

A blessed and happy Christmas to all!

Dan

Daniel J. Jenuwine, CFRESenior Consultant
Richner & Richner, LLC
117 North First Street, Suite 70
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
734.213.7704 x115
248.318.8512 cell

www.linkedin.com/in/djenuwinewww.RichnerRichner.com

Strategic Fundraising Counsel