My blog postings about engaging board members are among my most popular. When I explain to board members that they should NOT breathe a sigh of relief because they hired a fund development manager or director they look at me a little confused. But that's what usually happens. Fundraising is such a YUCKY feeling thing, that when an organization gets big enough to hire someone to be in charge of fundraising, everyone in the organization tends to believe that it's that person's job to raise all the money. THAT IS SO FAR FROM THE TRUTH!
Sorry to disappoint you, but the job of the fund development director or manager is to empower as many people as possible to become active ambassadors for the organization and to become alert to all the opportunities that exist to make an emotional connection with people. It's the job of the fund development director to then strategize how best to cultivate those relationships.
But it's not easy as a staff person to push back against this expectation by the board members, and so pretty quickly the staff person loses his/her credibility as the driver of the fund development plan. Instead, the staff person becomes the "doer." The board members may feel a sense of relief because they hired someone to "fundraise," and the fund development manager or director may be able to increase results significantly for a couple years, but then the organization will hit a brick wall and become disenchanted with the staff person.Build Credibility With the Board With Quick Results - Invite Current Donors to Come on a Compelling Tour
When the board has hired you to raise all the money, it's hard to come in and tell them that you know the truth, and the truth is that the board members and volunteers are the most powerful ambassadors for the organization. Your first step is to build credibility by proving that you know what you're talking about, and you do this by getting results.
One of the fastest ways to get better results is to begin inviting current donors and supporters to come on a Compelling Tour. To see a sample compelling tour document, click here to visit my website and sign up for my email list to have access to this important tool. The purpose of the compelling tour is to share your story in a way that makes an emotional connection with someone. The tour is NOT about geography; it's more about helping people feel the magic that happens in your school or nonprofit. The tour is also NOT about promoting as much as it is about finding out about the other person.
When you ask questions of the visitor like, "What was your middle school experience like," you will get a juicy story. Your visitor may feel lucky to have had very loving teachers, and they would like for other children to have the same. On the other hand, your visitor may have felt alone and unwelcome in their own school, and now they want to make sure other children DON'T have the experience they did. Can you see how knowing this about your visitor would be very helpful in determining what part of your story to focus on? When you share the part of your story that really resonates emotionally with your visitor, now you are genuinely cultivating a relationship.
The compelling tour is divided into two sections: (1) The tour; and (2) The conversation. After the walking part of the tour, you will lead your guests into a private room where you will present a packet with your case statement, and if you haven't already, review the orgnaization's top priorities. Then you will ask alinea's 3 magic questions. The answers to these questions will provide many opportunities to deepen the relationship.
- What do you think? This simple question is so important. First, asking people what they think makes them feel important. Second, the answer to this question provides so much valuable insight on how effective you're sharing the story. Third, your visitor may have great ideas or expertise to contribute.
- How do you see yourself getting involved? Often my clients are shy about asking this, but remember, this question does not ask anyone for anything. You haven't mentioned money, volunteering or anything. You are simply asking how they might see themselves getting involved. The answer could be not at all, which is absolutely fine. With this approach, there is no such thing as rejection. No matter what, you have made someone feel important by taking the time to provide a meaningful experience and your visitor may talk about their experience to someone else.
- Who else needs to know about what we're doing? If you're a school, almost everyone is interested in good schools and likely your visitor knows at least one other person who might be very interested in your organization. You might get referrals to other potential donors, families who are looking for a new school or others looking for volunteer opportunities, or even a potential vendor needed for a project.
What kinds of results are you likely to experience with this strategy? Well, for one of my clients, just sending an email to a current donor inviting him for a tour and including a letter updating him on success stories and priorities resulted in the doubling of an annual gift to $10,000. Another tour with an already involved husband and wife resulted in a brand new $3,000 gift. These were among the first three people to be invited for a tour.
I love introducing this to my clients. Often, they already have so many generous supporters and donors who have never received special treatment like coming on a compelling tour. Typically, they also haven't been given the big picture and major priorities of the organization. Usually, they feel very special even being invited to a formal tour, and then when they are asked what they think and for their ideas and referrals, they feel important and needed. Even if their tour does not result in a new donation or referral, the value of deepening your relationship with them will come back to benefit the organization - I promise.
Back to the Board Members
As you begin scheduling Compelling Tours, it is important to invite/request that a board member accompany the visitor on the tour. Volunteer ambassadors like board members always send a stronger message than paid staff people. This is a kind of low-risk involvement for board members. They don't need to say anything during the tour; they can just observe and add credibility by being there as a volunteer. During the conversation part of the Compelling Tour, they will see the magic that happens.
As you conduct Compelling Tours, and you begin to get results like donations, referrals and other kinds of contributions, these are the results that you can share with the board members to show them how this works. And this is just the beginning.
With some tours and results under your belt, now I recommend creating a kind of weekly management report to share with the board members. The report should include your organization's fund development goals, strategies and then a report on your activities, like tours, meetings, other communications, and results. Another important heading in the management report is WHAT I NEED FROM THE BOARD MEMBERS. Here is where you will let them know when you need someone to come on a tour or some other kind of contribution (more in another posting).
Try It and See What Happens
If you focus on Compelling Tours, invite board members to join you and observe, and then get some measurable results, you'll build the credibility you need to increase the engagement of your board members. I love it when people share their results after putting an alinea strategy to work. Feel free to share.
Deb
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