Nonprofit Q&A
A
service of Jeane Vogel and
Fund Raising Innovations
March 19, 2004
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Here is this week’s question:
My
director and I met Monday with a potential board member who recently moved here
with her husband. She’s a development director of 20 years, so she knows well
that she should be giving money to the agency as well as her time and energy.
Well, when my director asked her if she were interested in being on the board,
she said yes, very much, and she would be willing to give, as soon as we asked,
and that depending on the amount, she might have to give in installments.
We thought we could ask for
$1,000 because her husband has a great job and they just bought a nice house.
We we’re sure and we have a bunch of questions:
1) She
will be joining the board, so who would be the best person to ask her for the
contribution?
2) How
do we determine how much to ask for without really knowing her?
3) Can
we ask her to give $1,000 or more if we haven’t even discussed with the board
that part of their role is contributing money as well as time?
4)
Will it insult her if
we ask her to give a lot more than other board members? Several of our board
members (there are only eight) are young with very young families, and at least
two have put careers on hold to raise their babes. Some of them do not have the
capacity to give that much (while some can…).
5)
When we have this
discussion with the board, who should lead it?
Ah, trying the old “I’ll ask five questions at once”
trick, eh? Just kidding. These are great questions. Let’s take them one by one.
Who solicits the board? Ideally the board will
create a written policy about board giving. How much is expected? Do in-kind
contributions count? Is the board gift satisfied by buying a ticket to an event?
To level the playing field and avoid confusion and ill-feelings, I recommend a
simple policy: every board member gives a gift he or she considers generous.
In-kind contributions are expected and don’t count. Event tickets don’t count.
Set a board giving goal a that everyone can agree to and give until you reach
that level.
Another idea is a “give or get” policy. Board members
agree to write a check for a certain amount – say $500 – or personally solicit
their contacts for that amount. It’s not unusal to have “give or get” policies
of $1,000 or more.
Once the policies are in place, the solicitation should
be done by a peer, preferably the board leadership. It should be one-on-one for
the best results.
How much to ask? Yeah, that’s tricky, especially
with a board member with no history in your area. It’s easier if the board
member has a history with other boards. Always keep newsletters and annual
reports from other organizations. The donor recognition pages will help you with
future solicitations of individuals.
Some boards stop asking after the board pledge. But
sometimes you need or want another special gift from board members. It’s always
better to ask for more than a person can give and negotiate down. The answer you
don’t want to hear is a quick “yes!” You’ve probably asked for too little.
Can we ask her for a gift before talking to the
board about it? Sure, she’s not on the board; it’s not a board gift. If she
comes on the board with a major gift already delivered, she’ll be an inspiration
to the board and might be able to start the conversation. It’s always better for
a board member to initiate this discussion.
Will it insult her if we ask her to give a lot more
than other board members? Board gifts – like all contributions – should be
private and confidential. If your policy is a specific amount and your
solicitation is over that, explain exactly why you are asking for more. If your
policy is “a gift the board member considers generous” then the standard is
different for struggling families than it is for established professionals with
no extraordinary expenses, so it’s not an issue. And I’ve found it’s easier to
insult someone by asking for too little, than for too much.
When we have this discussion with the board, who
should lead it? The board president or past president should lead this
discussion. Staff should NOT lead it. Solicitations, even at the board level,
should be peer to peer. Staff and boards are not peers in this setting.
© 2004 by Jeane Vogel and Fund
Raising Innovations
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