Volunteering & Volunteer Students

From conversations that I’ve had with many board members of non-profits there is a bit of a fear about fundraising. (See my article about being afraid of fundraising.) Fundraising does not have to be a scary thing for your board it is all about setting attainable and reasonable goals and having reasonable expectations of your board members.

One of the most important parts of successful fundraising is getting the board involved. Your board no matter how big or how successful needs to be involved in helping you with fundraising. If your board is not behind you and is not willing to help with fundraising it will be very hard to succeed.

I’d love to hear from some of you on stories of creative ways that your board has been involved in fundraising. Every member of your board has connections into the community and a network of friends. Some of your board members may know local businesses or churches or other community groups. Make sure that you are collecting information about other business and groups that your board members are part of.

If you have never used your board to fundraise the important thing is to get them involved. If you have board members that are nervous about fundraising but want to help, a great starting point for them is to have them go with you to talk with a donor or to give them a list of donors to call and say thank you.

MORE TOMORROW- including: How do I involve my board?

Am I talking about things that interest you? If not let me know what you want to here visit my “Ideas, Questions & Answers” page.