21 Ways Board Members Can Raise Money Without Making the Ask

Yes—board members can raise money without ever making a direct ask.

Fear not! To raise money, you and your fellow board members don’t have to cold call strangers (or worse, friends), or suffer through awkward donor coffees where you feel like the people at the table next to you are eavesdropping on your shaky pitch.

Nope. There’s an alternative. It’s a heck of a lot easier for board members to do things that support the organization's fundraising efforts than to do something terrifying they loathe. Below is a list of 21 things board members with no fundraising experience can do to support the fundraising efforts of the organizations they care so much about.

And for those board members who love to ask for money, give them a list of people to call and meet, and let them work their magic. For everyone else, have them choose a few things from the list below. Their contributions will reduce the workload of the fundraising staff and provide valuable resources and impact that will ultimately help raise money.

Do board members have to ask for money?

Yes, board members are generally expected to participate in fundraising, but they do not always have to directly ask people for money. Board members typically support an organization's financial health through two distinct roles:

• Board giving: The personal financial contributions made by members of a nonprofit's board of directors directly to the organization they serve. According to the Giving Institute, many nonprofit organizations have a policy requiring board members to make a personal contribution each year. Some boards implement a “give or get” policy where board members can either make a personal contribution or raise funds from family and friends to cover the required gift amount.
• Board fundraising: Refers to the active role a nonprofit's board of directors plays in bringing external financial resources into the organization. While they do not directly make the “ask”, they can be involved in the cultivation of potential donors and the stewardship of those relationships.

How can board members fundraise without asking for money?

Because the fundraising cycle involves identifying potential supporters, building relationships, and showing gratitude, board members can generate substantial revenue by acting as advocates and connectors, and they clear the path for staff leaders to successfully make the financial pitch.

Below are ways in which your board members can raise funds without actually making the ask:

21 Ways Board Members Can Fundraise Behind the Scenes

1. Make thank-you phone calls. This simple act will please your staff and donors more than you know. When a board member calls just to say thank you without asking for another dime, it shocks donors in the best way possible and massively boosts retention.
2. Write thank-you letters. If done well and made highly personal, donors won’t forget your organization. Ditching generic form letters in favor of handwritten notes that reference the donor's specific history shows your leadership truly notices and values their partnership.
3. Host a dinner or small event (salon event). Even gathering 10 people can be super effective. A salon event—an intimate, structured gathering held in a private home or small venue to discuss a specific idea or cause—allows you to educate a captive audience about the mission in a relaxed, zero-pressure environment.
4. Write email or mail solicitations. To make it count, sell the “why” and get people feeling emotional. Board members who excel at storytelling can draft the written appeals that staff send out, using powerful narratives to inspire giving without having to speak to anyone face-to-face.
5. Help with gala or event prep. It’s a meaningful way to help, and the staff will be gleefully grateful. By taking logistical tasks off the development team's plate—like organizing seating charts, coordinating vendors, or assembling gift bags—you ensure the fundraising event runs flawlessly.
6. Make introductions. Do this not just to your personal network, but also to your professional network. Connecting the nonprofit's executive director to local business leaders, vendors, or colleagues opens new doors for future corporate sponsorships and partnerships.
7. Get the word out. Speak at companies and civic events; on television, radio, and podcasts; or with legislators and influencers. Acting as a public champion builds widespread community awareness, making future fundraising pitches much easier to close.
8. Give facility tours. Not only can this be fun, but it also helps to refine your messaging and pitches. Leading prospective supporters through your physical space lets them see your programs in action, which builds immediate credibility and emotional investment.
9. Work on the fundraising plan. This can be time-consuming, but achieving a high return on investment (ROI) on this strategy is crucial. Board members with business acumen can review historical giving data and collaborate with staff to map out a smarter, more sustainable yearly budget.
10. Help with donor cultivation and stewardship. Besides asking for money, nothing is more helpful and more important to the long-term success of your fundraising efforts. Donor cultivation is the process of building intentional, long-term relationships with potential donors before asking for a gift, while donor stewardship is the ongoing effort to care for, thank, and inform donors after they give to ensure they stay loyal to the cause.
11. Identify potential donors, corporations, and foundations. Building a deep pipeline of future donors keeps the fundraising engine humming. You can review lists of local businesses, community foundations, or philanthropic individuals to see whose corporate social responsibility goals align with your nonprofit's mission.
12. Help with social media. Don’t just rely on reposting; create your own posts because it is far more personal. Sharing your own photos from a volunteer day or writing a quick post about why you choose to serve on the board cuts through digital noise much better than corporate graphics.
13. Find event sponsors. This is where the big money often hides, so help uncover it. Instead of asking for charitable donations, you can approach businesses with a commercial proposition: funding an event layout or digital banner in exchange for marketing exposure to your audience.
14. Write appeal letters. It’s an art to write compelling copy and to persuade passionately. If you understand marketing and can write well, share your skills to influence donors by drafting the end-of-year mailers that compel people to give.
15. Identify government agencies or city officials. Government grants can be lucrative, and an endorsement from a city official lends enormous credibility. Reviewing municipal goals and leveraging your civic relationships can help position the nonprofit as the perfect partner for local government funding.
16. Grant writing and reporting. This is a specialized skill, but if you have it, share it. Board members can help research complex grant foundations, draft the technical proposals, or gather data to write the follow-up impact reports required by institutional funders.
17. Network with donors at events. Done right, schmoozing can open hearts and wallets. Talk, smile, share, and move on… then repeat. Your job at a gala isn't to ask for money; it's simply to make donors feel welcome, appreciated, and deeply connected to the organization's leadership.
18. Secure in-kind gifts. Look for a good lawyer or accountant who would be willing to donate their time. In-kind gifts are non-monetary donations of tangible goods, services, or professional expertise rather than cash. Securing these saves the nonprofit thousands of dollars in operational costs.
19. Marketing, promotion, and PR. Top-of-mind name recognition and a strong brand are like gold in the nonprofit world. If you’re an ace marketer, you can help refine the organization's public messaging, draft press releases, or pitch impact stories to local journalists.
20. Chair a major event. This is a huge lift and requires a committed person with experience. By stepping up to lead an event committee, you coordinate the volunteers and sub-committees necessary to pull off a highly profitable annual fundraiser.
21. Help with administrative duties. Yes, there are plenty of things to do; just ask the executive director. Stuffing envelopes for direct mail campaigns, entering data into the donor database, or organizing files keeps the office running smoothly so fundraising staff can spend more time facing donors.

Create an engagement form

Here’s an idea: turn the list above into an “engagement form.” Have each board member rate themselves on a scale of 1-5 for their interest in helping in each area. Next to each rating, have them provide a 1-5 rating on their expertise in each area.

This is a simple but effective way to gauge board members’ interest and skills. Plus, the fundraising team can use the results to determine good candidates who can help in a particular area when the need arises.

Tracking board engagement with Bloomerang

To turn a list of 21 ideas into a structured, reliable fundraising engine, you need a way to track who is doing what. This is where a dedicated donor management system like the Bloomerang CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform bridges the gap between board accountability and data-driven fundraising.

Instead of letting board interactions slip through the cracks of scattered spreadsheets, nonprofits can centralize everything right inside the database:

• Custom interest and expertise ratings: Create custom fields on board member profile timelines to log their unique comfort zones. Rate their willingness to make thank-you calls, host salon events, or write appeal letters so you always pull the right person for the right task.
• Log non-ask contributions as touchpoints: Every time a board member makes a thank-you phone call, hosts an introductory lunch-and-learn, or introduces a corporate sponsor, log that interaction as a "Touchpoint" or "Interaction" tied to both the board member and the donor.
• Stewardship accountability: Use Bloomerang’s built-in tasks and reminders to assign specific donors to board members for ongoing stewardship. Staff can easily see which board members are actively keeping relationships warm and which ones might need a gentle nudge.

By systematically tracking these non-ask activities, you can visually measure how board engagement directly correlates with increased donor retention rates and fundraising growth.

In Summary

There are many ways board members can help raise money without ever having to ask for it. Instead of dreading cold calls or awkward coffee meetings, or twisting their friends' arms, they can champion the cause in dozens of other ways—from writing thank-you notes and hosting salon dinners to charming government officials or stuffing swag bags at midnight.

And each of these tasks supports your organization's fundraising efforts and reduces staff workload. Most importantly, if the tasks are done well, the results will lead to greater fundraising effectiveness, happier and more loyal donors, and much more money.