I would estimate that about 75% of the organizations we work with have a Board Fundraising (also called Board Development) Committee in place.
But unfortunately, we’ve also found that in about 9 out of 10 cases, the committee is either inactive or not performing up to expectations.
Here are some of the things we hear the most:
From the Development Director:
“They just give me more ideas of things to do.”
“We had a plan, but no one does anything.”
“They just want to do events.”
From Committee Members:
“We don’t have the right people on the committee.”
“It’s a waste of time. The staff doesn’t listen to us anyway.”
“I don’t know what they want me to do!”
Sound familiar? We’ve had several clients who have abandoned the idea of a Board development committee altogether because it just wasn’t working.
But in nearly every case in our experience, the issue isn’t the staff or the people on the committee or even the fundraising plan. The issue is that the committee was not set up with a clear job description.
We see these types of committees fall into roughly four models:
The Oversight Council: The purpose of this type of committee is to closely examine the strategy and performance of the organization’s fundraising program and provide guidance to the staff on fundraising issues. Ideally, this kind of committee consists of fundraisers and finance people who have the experience to provide this kind of oversight.
The Ambassadors’ Group: The purpose of this type of committee is to open doors to new donors in the community. Members of this kind of committee should be well-connected people who are willing to introduce the organization to their own contacts and networks and ask for support.
The Events Guild: The purpose of this kind of committee is to organize and execute fundraising events to benefit the organization. This committee should be full of people who like to organize events and have the time to dedicate to it.
The Cheerleaders: The purpose of this kind of committee is to rally board members to make their own personal contributions to the organization. Committee members may be spearheading a board annual giving campaign or encouraging individual board members to tap their businesses, foundation connections, or government contacts for support. This kind of committee should consist of members who have influence with their peers on the board.
Optimally, an organization would decide which of these models best fits their stage of growth and fundraising strategy and it would recruit people that have the skills required.
You want a committee to do it all? Sorry, but that’s unrealistic! Better to have one clear set of objectives and recruit people with the experience to meet those objectives. Notice that each of these committee types requires very different skill sets of their members. If you recruit people for oversight, you can’t also expect them to put on events!
Consider your Board Fundraising Committee. Have you:
- Determined its core purpose?
- Created a committee job description that is very clear about that purpose?
- Recruited people onto the committee that have the skills and willingness to contribute to the core purpose?
- Created a workplan with timelines and responsibilities that reflects the committee objectives?
If not, consider working with your staff and board leadership to examine what you really are hoping for the committee to do. You can disband existing committees and re-group with a fresh set of objectives. Even consider re-naming your committee to be more specific about its goals.
And if you haven’t set a committee up yet, consider your fundraising strategy and be very deliberate about establishing a committee when and if you need one. Don’t make extra work and add frustration just because it’s something you think you should do.
Right?
