The Right Kinds of Board Members

Everyone who attends your nonprofit’s event needs to know well beforehand that the ticket was truly just the price of admission and that the real giving will take place once everyone is assembled. How is that message communicated? It needs to come from the event’s organizers, especially the board members.

Putting together a true fundraiser starts with who the organization’s board of directors are and what they each bring to the table. Are they placeholders who give modest sums but aren’t otherwise actively involved? If so, that’s the first problem. For a charity benefit event to succeed, the board must be proactive and engage with an organized fundraising effort for months in advance of an annual event. A non-profit cannot afford to let board members passively sit at meetings and give token sums to assuage their guilt.?

In my experience, there are two kinds of successful board members: The first kind sits on a board and writes the biggest check of them all - sometimes more than a million dollars a year. If you have a board member who has very little time but will donate at that level, you don’t need them to do much else. Their generosity will serve as an example and will encourage others to give. If your board is comprised of just millionaires who write big checks but don’t otherwise do much else, it’s not ideal, but it’s still pretty darn good. Be happy that they are willing to lend their name and give generously.

The other type of successful board member is what I call ‘the worker bee,’ which is someone who never wavers in support of the organization. They will call and write their friends, they will actively solicit donations from people and corporations, and they will spend hours every day pushing the agenda of your non-profit. Those individuals will still be expected to give some amount of money, whatever they can realistically afford, but you will be lucky to have a room full of them, all rolling up their sleeves and working tirelessly in support of your cause. Yes, it would be nice if a few were uber-wealthy and able to write a check in addition to their service, but you can’t have everything.?

Unfortunately, most boards I have seen are comprised of relatively affluent individuals who write modest checks and do very little canvassing or work in support of an annual benefit event. To make serious headway, a nonprofit organization’s board of directors needs to spend months and months lining up corporate and individual sponsors, putting together tables, getting pre-commitments from major contributors, and arranging for awesome auction items. If your board members are good and qualified, they will be not only your most ardent supporters but also your most effective ambassadors.

Let me state this unequivocally: If your board members aren’t giving serious amounts of either money or time, it’s time to retire them and find new board members. It’s nothing personal. You must go about making changes with great care and attention without putting anyone’s nose out of joint. The last thing any organization needs or wants is a disgruntled former board member who says he or she was badly treated. Perhaps you can move unproductive members to an advisory board or an emeritus position. Either way, I strongly encourage non-profit boards to cultivate outstanding members. The fate of the organization literally rests on their shoulders.