Category: Board of Directors
Boyd's blogs about BOD
- This excerpt is from a helpful fundraising blog on ways board members can share enthusiasm and become more enthusiastic:
- Task them—once a month, once a quarter, once a year—with something specific:
- •Introduce one colleague to the organization
- •Invite a friend to have breakfast with the CEO
- •Host an intimate event where at least 75% of the attendees are their contacts.
- •Give a talk about the organization (or arrange for you to give the talk)
- at their service or professional club.
- Whatever it is, keep it simple; simple enough that they will feel it is something they can (and therefore will) do and can be easily tracked by you.
When Mike Kendrick, Eric Swartz, and I founded Ministry Ventures in 1999, we based it on generosity. We wanted to support ministries that needed help getting started. So we provided money, mentoring, and a facility. As an expression of that generous giving spirit, our board decided from the very beginning to be responsible for 20% of our annual operating budget.
- Today each of our board members gives, raises, or does a combination of both to provide $20,000 each. This generous giving is invaluable for the sustainability of the ministry, but it also sends a positive message to givers and foundations we approach as candidates for support.
- How much cash does your board give to the ministry? What percentage of the budget does your board support? Foundations ask these questions.
- This 10-minute video contains tips for involving your board in fundraising.
Our standard meeting agenda begins with prayer and reading one of our six values. We have a devotional and then approve the minutes from the last meeting. Over the next two and a half hours we discuss progress in the following areas: marketing/sales, program, finances, partnerships, and governance.
- These five priorities make up the template for our meetings. Then we add these questions:
- Marketing/Sales
- • Do we have the necessary collateral to communicate our message clearly?
- • What does our field staff need to be successful?
- • What results has the field staff accomplished?
- • How are the Internet and our website supporting our marketing strategy?
- Programs
- • What do ministries like best about our training and coaching?
- • What do ministries want improved in our training and coaching?
- • Do the coaches have what they need to be successful?
- • What do our surveys say about the coaches’ effectiveness?
- Finances
- • Is our budget-to-actual tracking?
- • How many more sponsors are needed for the year?
- • How can we reduce costs and increase revenues?
- • Are we communicating regularly to givers how their gift is being spent?
- Partnerships
- • How can we better serve our partners?
- • Are we keeping our partners informed of the value they are receiving?
- • What new partnerships do we need to consider?
- Governance
- • What do we need to vote on and approve or disapprove?
- • What upcoming calendar event do we need to be prepared?
- • What board roles need to be filled?
- • Who are the best-qualified candidates to fill these roles?
- Make your board meetings meaningful, and the quality and quantity of your board’s work will grow. A prepared agenda lays the groundwork for board engagement and effectiveness.