Nonprofit Communications Plan: How to Package Your Message
When I speak with the leaders of nonprofit organizations about board member responsibilities, a question that comes up fairly often is whether or not board members should be required to give financially. The short answer is: yes, you should have some kind of financial giving expectation for your board members.
Here’s why.
Financial giving is a core responsibility of nonprofit board membership.
Nonprofit board members have fiduciary responsibilities to the organizations they serve. In a legal sense, fiduciary duties include the duties of loyalty, care, and obedience. In a practical sense, one of the core activities of a nonprofit board member is (or should be) engagement with the organization’s fundraising activities. And financial giving is a natural part of that engagement.
I believe that a nonprofit board member who is not giving to the organization at some level is not fully engaged with the fundraising mission of the organization, and therefore not performing one of their core fiduciary duties. Board giving is absolutely something that institutional funders (foundations and government agencies, for example) look for, and often require, before giving to a nonprofit. If your board is not giving, some of your major donors won’t give either, or won’t be as inspired to give major gifts. If everyone isn’t chipping in, why should they?
Not all board members can give at the same level.
Some boards have what’s called a give-get policy, which sets a minimum annual giving threshold. While this kind of policy helps establish a culture of giving on the board, the specific dollar amount of the threshold can be a barrier to bringing on board members who are not high-net-worth individuals, but who bring other kinds of organizational value (skills, access to community, networks, etc.). This can have a real diversity and equity impact.
Instead of a give-get policy, consider a policy that requires board member giving but does not specify dollar amounts. Something like: “Each board member is expected to make Nonprofit X a priority in their personal philanthropy each year, and to give at a level that is meaningful to them.” The net result is 100% board giving (which is what institutional funders are looking for), while still allowing board members to give at levels that are appropriate to their own financial situations.
Board members have other ways to contribute besides financial giving.
There are many ways a nonprofit board member can contribute to the fundraising function of the organization that don’t involve direct financial giving, including:
- Participating in peer-to-peer fundraising and asking their networks to support the organization
- Opening doors to prospective major donors
- Participating in donor cultivation events
- Making introductory calls or writing personal notes in cultivation letters
- Writing prospect letters
- Volunteering at fundraising events
All of these activities can be incredibly valuable to the fundraising program of a nonprofit organization. They should all be expected of board members. But they should be “in addition to,” not “instead of,” financial giving.
Financial giving demonstrates commitment and buy-in.
When a board member gives financially, they’re putting some skin in the game. They’re demonstrating, in the clearest possible terms, that they believe in the organization’s mission. This commitment is meaningful to the organization’s staff, its other donors, and its institutional supporters.
I often think about board giving in terms of what I call the “so what?” test. If a board member hasn’t given in a year, I might ask them: “So what’s going on with your giving to the organization?” If the answer is, “I just haven’t gotten around to it,” that’s a red flag to me: it means that even though they may be engaged in other ways, the act of financial giving is not top of mind for them. And if it’s not top of mind for the board, it’s unlikely to be top of mind for the donors who look to the board for signals about the organization’s health and vitality.
If you have board members who are resistant to giving, or who are not giving at a meaningful level, the conversation I’d encourage you to have with them is: “What can we do to make giving to this organization feel like a natural and meaningful part of your role as a board member?” The goal is to create a culture of giving on the board, one where giving is not an afterthought or a reluctant obligation, but a natural expression of board members’ commitment to the mission they’ve signed up to serve.
