Board fundraising: Members shouldn't have an option

From the Nonprofit Times

Fundraising is really "friend-making," says Gail Perry, and once you have a friend, they'll do just about anything for you. That's one of the steps Perry advises to change the attitudes of nonprofit board members who don't like trying to raise money.

Perry, founder of Gail Perry Associates, a Raleigh, N.C.-based consulting firm, led a session called "Set Your Board Members to Win at Fundraising: Turn Board Passion Into Action" at the recent Association of Fundraising Professionals conference in Dallas.

Author of "Fired Up Fundraising" and program chair of the Research Triangle Chapter of AFP, Perry said nonprofits should aim to get board members to take small steps to shift how they think about fundraising. Board members are not fundraising because they are not fully engaged in the organization, she said, or they don't know what fundraising is, stuck in the belief that it's just about asking people for money.

If board members are not comfortable asking for money, there's still plenty for them to do that can affect the organization's bottom line. Board members can get involved in thanking donors, Perry said, which can increase the second gift to an organization, according to some research. "Put your board members to work doing that," she said. Click here for the rest of Perry’s article.