Here at Front Range Source we’re all about the PLAN. Whatever you’re trying to achieve, starting with strategic goals and measurable objectives dramatically increases your chance of success.
We’re also all about FOOD. We spend a lot of time in coffee shops and restaurants (where we often run into our subscribers!), and there’s nothing like a good meal to get the creative juices flowing.
So, we just love the concept of using a menu to help board members develop their own personal plans for fundraising.
The board’s outreach efforts matter. Fundraising is largely a numbers game. Even a full-time major gifts staff person can typically handle a portfolio of only 125 to 200 names. That’s just not enough face time with your donors! The board needs to help introduce new people to the organization and build relationships.
On Tuesday of this week, Front Range Source presented a session on board fundraising at the SVP Board Match event. Here are the big ideas we’d like every board member to understand:
- By far the majority of charitable dollars come from individuals. That’s where the majority of the board’s attention should be focused, although if you have corporate connections they should most certainly be used.
- You can’t force anyone to give and we’re sure you wouldn’t want to anyway. Your job is to create the opportunity for someone to express their own values by supporting something important to them.
- Not every board member has to do the same things for fundraising, but every board member must do something.
- Fundraising is not just about dollars raised. It’s about impressions made. And, the more people you have asking, the bigger the impression you’ll make!
- You’ll be most successful as a volunteer fundraiser if you create a personal plan.
Try sharing the Front Range Source Café tool with your board and asking each board member to create their own fundraising plan. That plan, of course, starts with them making their own gift! That’s followed closely by them choosing two or three items from the menu and establishing dates by which they’ll complete their tasks.
Think about making it a competition. Not for dollars, but for the number of new people introduced to your organization. Give prizes, celebrate and let us know how it goes!
