Nonprofit Board Training 101: Building the Team
In this video, PRIDE Philanthropy shares seven strategies, plus a bonus, drawn from training dozens of nonprofit boards across the US. The focus is on activating board members so they do more for the mission, take some of the burden off paid staff, and raise more money. The advice centers on setting honest expectations from the start, equipping board members with training and information, and keeping them engaged through recognition, storytelling, and regular development.
Main topics
Stating the actual time commitment and meeting attendance requirements up front
Setting fundraising expectations, and why a "meaningful gift" works better than a fixed give-or-get minimum
Training board members how to ask for money, with scripts and practice
Giving board members detailed information about the mission so they can act as ambassadors
Treating board members like donors through peer recognition, public recognition, and personal stewardship
Sharing a "mission moment" story at every board meeting
Bringing in outside help to train or facilitate
Scheduling board development throughout the year instead of doing it once
The auto-transcript garbled the firm's website twice ("prideplaythrough.com" and "pridefelanthic.com"). I wrote it as pridephilanthropy.com; confirm that's the correct address.
Video transcript:
Welcome to Nonprofit Board Training 101. Our team at PRIDE Philanthropy has trained dozens of boards all over the US, and these are the top seven strategies we've found most effective for activating and exciting your board. The goal is for board members to do more for your mission, take some of the burden off the paid staff, and, of course, raise more money.
Tip 1: Set the Time Commitment (0:20)
Don't Undersell the Job
Strategy number one should happen during recruitment, but we find it often isn't stated explicitly, whether you're onboarding a couple of new board members, holding an initial orientation, or launching a new board. It's setting the time commitment.
We love to undersell the size of the job. In recruitment, we want board service to sound as easy as possible. Say there's a very influential community leader and we're excited about the prospect of them joining the board. So we say, "Oh, it'll barely take any time. It's just advisory. You don't even have to come to all the meetings." We undersell it on purpose, because if we can just get the Smiths, or Betsy, or John on our board, they'll connect us to all these people. So we either say nothing about the time commitment or, worse, we half lie about it.
Give an Approximate Number of Hours
What we like to do, both during recruitment and at the first orientation, is give an approximate number of hours per month or per quarter. For example: "This is about three hours a month of service. That includes one hour of meetings, one hour of subcommittee work, and one hour of community time." Your split may be different. If you meet quarterly, you might say you average ten hours a quarter, or five. Break down the specific number of hours, at least as an approximation, so people know what it will cost them in time.
Be Specific About Meetings
The next piece is meeting expectations. Instead of saying, "You don't have to come to that many meetings," be specific. The best way to keep a board engaged is to bring it together. Are meetings in person or online? Do members need to attend 75 percent of meetings, or all of them? So it's three hours a month, plus a set number of meetings per year. It's not a bad thing if someone misses them, but we'll need to rotate their seat to someone who can be more engaged.
The question we always get is, "That would disqualify several of our board members. They would rotate off." And we say yes, it would. If they can't commit the time right now, they're taking a seat from someone who can. Even if they seem like the perfect board member, maybe they'd fit a different role, such as a volunteer fundraising committee or an advisory board. But we can't give seats to people who won't show up.
State It in Advance
The best way to handle this is during recruitment and on that first day: here's the expectation. It's written into our bylaws, or it's the commitment you're making by signing this. You'll attend this many meetings per year and serve about this many hours per month, broken down roughly like this.
It doesn't matter whether that's a lot of hours and meetings or very few. Whatever you require, state it in advance and make the expectations clear. People's resentment and frustration usually don't come from the amount of work. They come from a mismatch of expectations, and the best way to avoid that is to be up front from the beginning.
Tip 2: Set Fundraising Expectations (4:03)
What Fundraising Can Mean
Number two is setting expectations around fundraising. Fundraising can mean several things. It might mean asking for money directly, where board members go out and make solicitations on their own. That's a bit advanced, especially without training. It might mean connections, where board members give you names or referrals. Or it might mean a give-or-get requirement, where every board member is responsible for, say, $1,500 a year.
Why We Don't Recommend a Fixed Give-or-Get
We've seen this again and again. A board isn't very engaged in philanthropy and isn't doing a great job fundraising, so the board chair sets a giving minimum: "If everyone gives $1,500 and we have ten seats, that's a guaranteed $15,000 a year." That sounds good. But some people will have to stretch hard to give $1,500, or beg their neighbors, or feel uncomfortable asking. Other board members could give far more than $1,500, and they'll default to the minimum. A couple may give a little more, but if that's the expectation, most will give or get exactly the minimum. You end up with less than or exactly $15,000 from your ten seats.
Ask for a "Meaningful Gift" Instead
Instead, put language in your bylaws or orientation packet stating that each board member is required to give a meaningful gift. That's the language we use. Then the head of fundraising or the head of the organization has private, individual conversations with every board member and makes an ask scaled to each person's wealth, ability, income, and connection.
If you take nothing else from this video, try that. It's the biggest lever you can pull for revenue, and it engages everybody to give their best gift.
It can be tough if you're not used to soliciting your board, or intimidating if the board is effectively your boss and hired you. But you can say, "This is best practice. This is how the best organizations do it. We need everyone bought in." There are grants you can't apply for unless your whole board gives, and others that require board giving at a certain level. Not having your board give comes with real restrictions.
Let Board Members Find Their Role
If you also want board members to provide a certain number of referrals per quarter, or to make actual solicitations, talk about that too. What we've seen work best is dividing board members up so they don't all have to do the same thing. Everyone has to give, but each person contributes wherever they fit on the fundraising continuum. Some are great at giving names. Some are great advocates who tell the story of the mission. Some are comfortable going on asks, even if they aren't the one making the ask.
Having a board member join the fundraising director or executive director at a meeting with a donor who knows that board member is a huge advantage. Having a peer in the room adds credibility. The donor doesn't need to know your organization or you as well, because they trust and are friends with the board member. They're much more likely to give, with far fewer meetings.
Be Clear and Lead by Example
Whatever your fundraising expectations are, don't mislead people. Be very clear: "This is a nonprofit board. Part of the expectation of any nonprofit board is revenue generation. Here's how we do it. If you don't want to make asks, you can give us names, connect us to people, or go on calls with us. At a minimum, we'll follow up with each of you privately about your own contribution, and we want everyone to give a meaningful gift." Lead by example. After enough months and enough board cycles, it becomes the culture, and that's where we want to be.
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Tip 3: Train Board Members to Ask for Money (8:35)
Most People Were Never Trained
Board training tip number three is to actually train board members how to ask for money. You might be surprised how many fundraising professionals have never had formal training on making an ask. Most people who end up in fundraising didn't plan it. They didn't go to college intending to become fundraisers. They found their way into it and were expected to learn on the job. If staff struggle without training, imagine how little the board gets, with far less exposure.
Give Them Materials and Practice
When you tell board members there's an expectation around fundraising, spend real time giving them materials, letting them practice on each other, and doing live solicitation practice so they get some reps.
When a board member says, "I want to help, but I've never raised money and I don't know what you want me to do or say," you can answer, "Great. We have a packet for that, and we'll walk you through it step by step." Here's how we raise money. Here's how to reach out to people, with scripts for the first contact, the follow-up, the phone call, and email. We'll practice saying it out loud. Here's how to schedule a meeting to qualify a donor, how to schedule a solicitation meeting, and what to say when you get there.
These are all things fundraisers should know and often aren't trained on, and the board rarely gets any of it. It's usually just, "You're the board. Go out and fundraise." If you've tried that, or someone before you did, it probably hasn't been very effective. A couple of people may surprise you, but most of the board likely won't participate at a high level.
An Hour Is Enough to Start
Give them a basic level of training. It will probably take about an hour. You can hold a separate board session or extend a board meeting by an hour: "We've asked you to do this and we really need your help, so we're giving you the tools, the training, and the reps to practice in a low-stakes setting with each other and the staff. You'll know how to pitch, what to say, what not to say, and exactly how to do what we're asking."
Tip 4: Arm Them With Information About Your Mission (10:53)
Don't Assume They Know
Strategy number four is to arm board members with a lot of information about your mission. We often assume, especially with new board members, that they know not just what we do but how we do it, and can describe it eloquently to anyone in the community. They may not know how the organization functions, how the staff works, how many volunteers you have, or how many people you serve. You know all of that intimately because you're staff. You get 40 hours a week, maybe 160 hours a month, of exposure to the organization. They might get three. That ratio is vastly different.
What to Share
Start at orientation and during recruitment, then keep an ongoing drip of information. Share your processes: what you do and how you do it, and the different ways you serve people. Share volume: how much work you do, the size of the population you serve, and the size of the population you're trying to serve. Walk through your basic impact statistics, such as "We serve this percentage of this population in these ways."
Or focus on the problem your organization solves: there aren't enough shelters in town, or you can serve only 20 percent of the population, so your goal is to scale up until anyone who needs services can get them for free. Whatever pieces you use to sell your mission and in your elevator pitch, review them and talk about them.
Create a One-Page Impact Statement
Instead of relaying the same information repeatedly, create a one-page impact statement or case for support. It introduces the organization: who you serve, how you serve them, how you got started, the impact you've had so far, and your future plans or goals for the year. You can distribute it easily, post it on your website, and help board members become experts.
Ambassadors Need to Understand the Work
Beyond fundraising, expertise, and strategy, our goal for the board is for members to be ambassadors in the community, and the best way to do that is to understand clearly what we do and how we do it. If you're not sure your board has that understanding, give them a bit more information than you think they need. Even if you feel like you're repeating yourself, you probably are, and that's fine. It's remarkable how many times someone needs to hear something before it sinks in. Saying it once and expecting everyone to remember usually isn't enough.
Tip 5: Treat Them Like Donors (13:44)
Board Members Give Their Time
Strategy number five is to treat board members like donors, for a couple of reasons. First, hopefully they are actual financial contributors. But they're also giving their time. The amount of money people have varies enormously. For some, giving money barely changes their lifestyle. But everyone gets the same 24 hours a day, rich or poor. So giving time is incredibly meaningful. People usually reserve board service for their favorite charities and causes.
Because they're board members, we tend to put them in the back seat. We assume they'll keep showing up, so we don't steward, thank, or recognize them. Yet this group of eight, ten, or twelve people is probably your best set of supporters in the entire community. We should almost put them on a bigger pedestal than our top donors. They're giving their time, effort, and energy to help you, and we tend to forget about them. At a minimum, treat them like donors. At best, treat them better than donors.
Recognize Them Among Their Peers
The first and easiest way is recognition among their peers. If someone does something great, such as securing a gift, making a new connection, helping with a corporate sponsorship, or volunteering extra time, acknowledge it during the board meeting. Put it on the agenda: "Big shout-out to Jake. He did this, and as a result we now have this. We're so thankful." Everyone applauds. It costs you about 15 seconds, and they'll feel immensely proud. They went out on a limb with their time, energy, or dollars, and they want to be thanked and to know it mattered. A live setting among their peers is the best place to do that.
Recognize Them Publicly
Add external recognition: list them on your website and in your annual report, include them in your email newsletter, or run a board member spotlight. This thanks them and also draws attention to your program by showing all the people who are already on board and excited about your work.
Steward Them Personally
Then there's you, as development staff or executive director. Build stewardship touch points: take them to lunch occasionally, ask questions, follow up to say thank you, send handwritten cards, maybe give a small recognition gift. Reach out personally and build the relationship the same way you would with donors. But remember, these are better than donors. They're board members who are also donors of money, time, and network.
Don't let this lapse. Don't assume that because someone is a board member, you've already captured them and no longer need to market to them or keep them bought in on the mission. They're your best supporters.
Tip 6: Share Stories (17:17)
Facts Tell, Stories Sell
The sixth way to get your board engaged is one we love and have implemented with many clients, not only as a training technique but as an ongoing practice: share stories. You've probably heard the phrase "facts tell, stories sell." Telling the story of one person you helped from start to finish is more effective than saying you've helped a thousand people with the same problem. We're wired to learn through story, and stories engage the emotional side of the brain.
A Mission Moment at Every Meeting
Many of our organizations do what's called a mission moment. At every board meeting, they share a specific story about a patient, an animal, a child, or a family they've helped: "I know we're in the trenches talking about finances, structure, and legal matters, but there are real people benefiting from this work. Let me tell you about one of them." You can keep it anonymous. Having a new story at every meeting, especially if you meet only quarterly, is hugely effective.
It reminds board members that even though they left work across town or gave up time with their families to be there, it's worth it. Even if the organization isn't growing or a campaign isn't going well, there's a person whose life is better because of the people in that room.
Build a Bank of Stories
That reminder makes board members feel great and keeps them engaged, and it also lets them take those stories into the community and share them. Give them a bank of stories, in writing or told verbally. The more you share, the larger the bank grows and the more bought in they become, both for themselves and when talking with others.
How to Tell the Story
When orienting or training new board members, start with a story: "Let me tell you about this man, this family, or this child we helped." Give at least a first name. Talk about the before, the during, and the after, using classic storytelling structure: they had this problem, we intervened in this way, and now they can do this. It's powerful, and it's often the most enjoyable part of any meeting.
Tip 7: Bring In Outside Help (19:45)
The seventh and final tip is to bring in outside help. I'm biased, because I think our firm does this well. But whether you hire us or someone local, an outside perspective or a facilitator from outside the board can help. It's hard to see exactly what needs to change from the inside, or to facilitate a discussion or retreat yourself. You might know you need to train your board but not know enough about fundraising to lead the training.
Spending a little money on training can pay off tenfold or a hundredfold, because board members come away trained and empowered to do what you need. They may be bought in on fundraising and know you need money, but have no idea how to do it, and you may not either. A couple of hours with an expert can help a lot. We can help with this at pridephilanthropy.com, but other firms and consultants do this too. We're not the be-all and end-all for board training. Bringing in someone for a fresh perspective and a fresh start can be a game changer, and it's not overly expensive.
Even if it cost $10,000 for a day with a strong local expert, one $10,000 gift in the next year would pay for it. And if board members each ask for half a dozen gifts of that size and you land half of them, you could be in the six figures in revenue just because they learned how.
Bonus Tip: Do All of This Regularly (21:33)
One more bonus tip: do all of this regularly. Even if you've done solicitation training, talked about stories and the mission, armed board members with information, and worked through the whole list, and no new board members have joined, it's still worth repeating on a recurring basis. Board development isn't a one-time action that sets your board up forever. It continually educates, trains, and inspires members to take the next step.
As a best practice, take some of these tips and schedule them into your annual calendar. For example: in the second-quarter board meeting, do solicitation training. In the third quarter, do a deep dive on last year's deliverables, financials, and service so the board understands how the organization works operationally. In December, have them sign letters. Whatever it is, schedule it. You don't have to do everything in one meeting. A two-day board retreat is nice if you can manage it, but if not, spread it out. Just get it on the calendar.
Hopefully this has given you some good insight into getting your board trained, activated, and better serving your nonprofit. If you need more help, we have articles and videos on our website, pridephilanthropy.com, and you can sign up there to see if you qualify for direct support. We'll see you in the next video.
