Make Someone Happy--Ask for a Gift

According to the BoardSource Nonprofit Governance Index 2010, boards across the country gave themselves a “D” in board fundraising, the lowest grade of any other area of board performance. Not all boards fundraise, but of the 79 percent that do, BoardSource asked: What do you find so uncomfortable about it?

• 14 percent were uncomfortable writing or signing personal letters
• 21 percent were uncomfortable with providing names for letters and calls
• 24 percent with meeting potential donors face-to-face
• 40 percent with calling potential donors
• 44 percent with asking for money directly

 

As someone who serves on boards and has been working with them for years, I’m inclined to think that the real percentages are even higher. The discomfort people feel can be traced to what motivates them to serve on boards. Common reasons for serving on boards are: it’s a nice thing to do, or I like the organization, or it’s an obligation to the community, or a friend asked me, or it is a good place to network, or it’s a good experience to have, or I just want to help out.

 

All of those reasons are good starting places. But, board members have to discover their passion for the cause.

 

When working with boards around the topic of fundraising, I make the distinction between sales/motivation and inspiration. Many of us are stuck in the sales mentality, the “give and get” mentality where we have to meet our goals. Motivation has a short shelf life and it constantly needs to be fed. It requires an external power source—crisis, reward, expectation, threat, peer pressure… Inspiration is self-renewing, it flows from our hearts, from our passion.

 

When we make the emotional connection to the cause our nonprofit serves, when we get out of our heads and into our hearts, when we immerse and invest ourselves in making a difference for that cause; when we discover the connection between what we value and how it is realized through the nonprofit… then the resistance to fundraising dissolves. Because it is no longer fundraising, it is telling the story of how we can make an important difference in the world. It’s energizing.

 

Some board members need a guiding hand. Helping board members get inspired is a primary responsibility of the board chair—in collaboration with the chief executive and the director of development. Most volunteers are busy people. So when the organization has their attention, it shouldn’t miss the opportunity to sharpen their focus on the cause and to remind them about the great things that the nonprofit does in the world. Mission moments, heart-warming stories, successes, meaningful experiences with those who benefit… all of these help. Then give board members an opportunity to tell their stories—why they are involved, what it means to them, how it connects to what is important to them. With a little coaching we can all find the spark that kindles our passion. But, then get ready, passionate board members want to make a difference in the world.

 

Coming back to where I started, connecting with potential donors is all about offering them an experience that will bring greater joy to their lives. It really is a fact. Research just published in The Science of Giving(D. Oppenheimer and C Olivola) found that giving makes people happy. So, let’s go out and tell our stories about how we are making a difference in the world. And tell others how they can do the same. Let’s make a whole lot of people happier.

  

Happily,

  

Jim