Library
Home
A A A
Share »
Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on LinkedIn
Connect »

Blog: Fundraising for Nonprofits

Menu

  • This Blog's Home
  • Guest Writer Submissions
  • Policies
  • To Subscribe to a Blog
  • About
  • Feedback

Leadership: The Board’s Mythunderstood Role in Fundraising

By Hank Lewis, MA, CFRM on April 27, 2010

MYTH: Every Board Member must make an “example-setting” major gift.

REALITY: Every Board Member must set an example by giving to the best of his/her ability. Even a dollar (if that’s all s/he can afford) will help demonstrate, to other potential (individual and institutional) funders, that every Board Member has “supported” their organization. Keep in mind that other funders would have less reason/motivation to give, if they see that an organization does not have 100%, wholehearted, Board Member participation.

MYTH: The Board is responsible, in some way, for the networking, cultivating and soliciting of 80-90% of a NPO’s charitable income.

REALITY: The Board is responsible for providing a mechanism to fund any budget that they approve. Board Members could assume actual responsibility for giving and getting; They could vote to authorize creation of a volunteer group, the members of which would accept responsibility for giving and getting; and/or, They could authorize the creation of one-or-more staff positions that would be responsible for generating income — not necessarily limited to charitable gifts.

MYTH: Hiring a staff “fundraiser” or creating a separate volunteer fundraising body means that the Board doesn’t have to have a role in the fundraising process.

REALITY: Everything that a Board does can impact the organization’s ability to do fundraising. Board Members may not all be major donors, and may not all be involved in the identification, cultivation and solicitation of donors, but all Board Members do have to be involved. Their level of involvement makes a statement to others as to their level of commitment…. Sometimes, what they don’t do also makes a statement.

===========================================

Have a question about starting or expanding your fundraising? Email me at AskDCA@Major-Capital-Giving.com. With over 30 years of counselling in major gifts, capital campaigns, bequest programs and the planning studies to precede these three, we’ll work to answer your question.

« Previous Next »

Search Our Site

Meet the Blog’s Host

Hank Lewis with Development Consultant Associates has over thirty years as a fundraising consultant and is a specialist in Board and Leadership Development, Capital Campaign, Bequest Program and Major Gifts. [Read more ...]

Recent Blog Posts

  • Show Me … Don’t Tell Me: Say It With Video
  • Video – An Often Overlooked Development Tool
  • Using Video in the Development Process … And Increasing Dollars
  • Corporation Solicitation Programs: Not For Every Nonprofit
  • The Gift Table: An Essential Fundraising Tool
  • The Planning Study: Implementation
  • The Planning Study: Conceptualizing & Preparing
  • Leadership: The Key to a Successful Major Gifts Program
  • Ensuring The Future of Your Nonprofit: Major Gifts Are The Way
  • Top Ten “Rules” of Fundraising

Categories of Posts

  • Accounting For Fundraising
  • Basics and Overviews
  • Board and Fundraising
  • Fundraising & Social Media
  • Fundraising Basics: Concepts & Philosophy
  • Fundraising: Beyond The Basics
  • Fundraising: Capital Campaigns
  • Fundraising: Consultants
  • Fundraising: Corporate
  • Fundraising: Database/Software
  • Fundraising: Direct Response
  • Fundraising: Grants
  • Fundraising: Hiring Development Staff
  • Fundraising: Major Gifts
  • Fundraising: Millennials In Development
  • Fundraising: Planned Giving
  • Fundraising: Planning
  • Fundraising: Special Events
  • Fundraising: The Combined Federal Campaign
  • Uncategorized

Related Library Topics

  • Boards of Directors
  • Capacity Building
  • Consultants (Using)
  • Executive Director Role
  • Financial Management
  • Fundraising and Grantwriting
  • Marketing
  • Program Evaluation
  • Program Management
  • Social Enterprise
  • Staffing
  • Starting Nonprofits
  • Strategic Planning
  • Taxation
  • Volunteers

Library's Blogs

  • Boards of Directors
  • Building a Business
  • Business Communications
  • Business Ethics, Culture and Performance
  • Business Planning
  • Career Management
  • Coaching and Action Learning
  • Consulting and Organizational Development
  • Crisis Management
  • Customer Service
  • Facilitation
  • Free Management Library Blogs
  • Fundraising for Nonprofits
  • Human Resources
  • Leadership
  • Marketing and Social Media
  • Nonprofit Capacity Building
  • Project Management
  • Quality Management
  • Social Enterprise
  • Spirituality
  • Strategic Planning
  • Supervision
  • Team Building and Performance
  • Training and Development

Free Management Library, © Copyright Authenticity Consulting, LLC; All rights reserved
Wordpress supported by Caitlin Cahill

Provided by

Authenticity Consulting, LLC
  • Contact Info
  • Legal
  • Privacy