How many times have you sat and thought as a fundraiser ‘if only my Board were more help with fundraising? How can I get them to make those calls they said they would make? How can I get them to interest their contacts in what we are doing?’  This is not an unusual lament and you are far from alone.  Many organisations that fundraise have their fair share of Board members that shy away when it comes to helping the organisation raise money.

Empowering with the Message

Do your volunteers feel versant and confident in ‘selling’ your cause to others? Many volunteers back away from fundraising for their beloved cause as they don’t have full knowledge, language or dexterity with communicating the organisation’s vision and funding needs.  Whilst they love the cause themselves, they are flawed when it comes to communicating it to others with the view to soliciting support.  Tested solutions to this challenge include

• >boiled down, one page descriptions of the organisations vision and fundraising needs that give volunteers the ability to make a three minute pitch, stuffed with easy to remember sound bites;
• volunteer social gathering hosted by Board Chair/Campaign Chair with short presentations made by the end beneficiaries of fundraising efforts explaining how the organisation’s support will impact on them. E.g. the parent of an autistic child that will be helped through volunteer fundraising for an autism society; and
• volunteer visits to the fundraising beneficiaries to experience firsthand how their support makes a difference.  E.g. visit to a homeless shelter, hospital ward, school facility, etc.

Support, Support, Support

Once you have empowered and motivated your volunteers with knowledge and emotion, you now need to support them every step of the way.  Profiling assigned prospects, developing cultivation strategies that use the volunteers’ relationship knowledge , setting up meetings, drafting correspondence and proposals and driving forward the cultivation are just a few of the tasks required of you in support of your volunteers.  Without wishing to be corny, your job is to put the ‘fun’ in fundraising…

Early Wins & Other Confidence Tricks

Nothing boosts confidence like success.  Make sure your volunteers get some early wins in their fundraising journey by prioritising prospects ready to give.  Celebrate volunteer successes with and in front of other Board members so the bar is continually raised on performance expectations of the Board.  And finally, make sure volunteers know when they have done enough and their work is done.  A well structured, well supported and finite time length Board commitment will lead to productive and happy volunteers.