Fundraising for Nonprofits
Nonprofit fundraising is the lifeblood of any organization seeking to make a positive and sustainable impact in the world. The most successful fundraising organizations have built a powerful partnership between the board, the executive, and the fundraising staff. The board plays an important role in fundraising for nonprofits.
What is Nonprofit Fundraising?
At its core, nonprofit fundraising attracts voluntary contributions of money or other resources from individuals, businesses, and foundations to support the organization’s mission.
Importance of Fundraising for Nonprofits
Fundraising is not just about raising money; it’s about building relationships, increasing awareness, and creating a community of supporters who believe in your cause. Without effective fundraising, many nonprofits would struggle to sustain their activities, let alone grow and expand their impact. Successful fundraising enables nonprofits to:
- Meet the needs of their community.
- Continue providing essential services and support.
- Expand their capacity and reach.
- Address emerging needs.
- Respond to new opportunities.
- Invest in new programs and innovations.
- Mitigate risk or respond to crisis.
- Ensure long-term sustainability.
The Role Nonprofit Boards Play in Fundraising.
Among the roles and responsibilities of the board of directors is to ensure the organization has sufficient resources to advance its mission. This means that — except for those organizations that don’t rely on contributions — boards must actively support fundraising efforts. That may include making individual gifts and soliciting donations, introducing their network to the organization, attending agency events, and bringing guests. It may be intimidating at first, but with appropriate training and effort, any board can become a fundraising board.
According to Leading with Intent, fundraising continues to be a challenge for boards. It’s important to note that even though fundraising is a concern and a responsibility , it is not the only or even the primary role of boards. As evidenced in Purpose-Driven Board Leadership, boards represent and govern organizations on behalf of communities. Who is on the board can drastically change how the board operates and what role the board plays. Boards — as a group — should understand, help inform, and support resource development strategies as well as monitor progress against fund development plans and goals.
Fundraising as a Collective Responsibility
A board’s development committee is tasked with developing and executing an annual resource development plan, which outlines the goals, assignments, and processes for each type of fundraising. The full board can support this committee by giving a personally significant gift, attending organization events, and introducing their circle of influence to the benefits of the organization’s work.
The Fundraising Team Supports the Board
The fundraising staff team works in partnership with the board. For grants, the fundraising team coordinates the process and writes the grants, while individual board members introduce the organization to their contacts who serve on family foundations, and attend tours and foundation meetings, as requested.
For individual giving, staff write annual appeal letters and put together the donor packets, informing the board members who will make the ask about the donor, their family, interests and history of giving. Staff may attend the ask meeting as appropriate. Staff may each have portfolios of donors segmented by level with the executive leader stewarding the highest level of donors. Board members introduce potential donors to the organization, including those with donor-advised funds, make the ask and write or sign thank you letters once a gift has been received.
For events, there is usually a board sub-committee of the development committee that plans and coordinates events with significant staff support.
Board members can support fundraising in a number of ways. Charitable support from donors and funders makes impact possible, which means fundraising for nonprofits is a critical mission.
The resources listed below cover many aspects of fundraising, including board and staff roles and responsibilities, the development process, techniques and methods, increasing board member engagement, and evaluating performance.
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Presenting: Fundraising
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Capital Campaigns: The Board’s Role
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