Soapbox Engage Blog

Though soliciting board members sounds like a simple enough topic, it’s often not done in the most effective way. If you’re planning or currently conducting a capital campaign, you’ve likely already thought about what the best approach will be to secure these important commitments from your organization’s leaders.

This step comes long before the public-facing projects of promoting your campaign and engaging with the community, so it needs early consideration.

You might be tempted to take a low-key approach to minimize the awkwardness of solicitation. Many organizations simply slip a campaign pledge form into each board member’s meeting materials and ask everyone to fill it out and return it to the development office. This may be easy, but we’ve seen time and again that it’s not effective.

We recommend a more thoughtful approach. After all, board giving is a dicey subject! Here are some things you should and should not do when it comes to board giving.

Table of Contents

• Board Member Solicitation Do’s and Don’ts
• Recommended Board Solicitation Process
• Board Member’s Guide to Capital Campaign Fundraising

Board Member Solicitation Do’s and Don’ts

DON’T tell board members that they don’t have to make a gift to the campaign.

• DO talk with board members about the financial responsibilities of board members before they join your board. And then address it again as your organization begins weighing and planning a capital campaign. Board members should be aware that they will be expected to make a meaningful gift to the campaign that is over and above their annual contribution.

DON’T leave it up to your board members to decide what to give to the campaign without providing some context for their decisions.

• DO discuss and determine a board giving goal for the campaign (like a simplified gift range chart) and set up a process through which every board member will be solicited individually by the campaign chair or board chair for their campaign gift.

DON’T let board members off the hook when they don’t make their campaign gifts.

• DO hold board members accountable. If a board member is not making a financial commitment, have the board chair discuss directly that they may wish to step down from the board and serve the organization in other ways. A small board of highly committed members is far more powerful than a larger board of people who are there in name alone.

DON’T set the same gift amount for every board member. That amount will be too high for some board members and too low for others.

• DO ask each board member to make a gift that is personally meaningful. Ask that each board member make a gift that is among their top three gifts.

DON’T downplay the importance of board giving.

• DO highlight the generosity of your board members. Set a goal for board giving to the campaign and then report specifically on your progress as a team. Celebrate when the goal is reached.

Recommended Board Solicitation Process

Here’s a simple 6-part plan that will guide you in soliciting your board for the campaign.

1. Gather two or three board members to help assess the potential giving to your campaign. Review the list of board members, making a high/low estimate for each person based on prior giving and other available information, similarly to how you conduct prospect research on donors.
2. Add up the numbers to arrive at a collective high/low board giving goal.
3. At the next board meeting, hand out index cards and ask each board member to write down their own assessment of a high/low gift amount to the campaign. Collect the cards and once again add the amounts to reach a total high/low estimate.
4. Present the two estimates to the board and invite a discussion of an appropriate campaign giving goal to aim for together.
5. Recruit two or three board members to individually solicit each board member for their campaign gift before the next board meeting. Each of the solicitors should make their own commitment before speaking with the other board members.
6. Report on and celebrate the board commitment at the next meeting.

Solicit your board early in your campaign so that their commitment can set an example for everyone else. This is also an excellent opportunity to hone your skills in deliberate, strategic communication—essential for successful fundraising.

The act of making a gift to the campaign is an important way to help board members solidify their own sense of commitment to the campaign. And if every one of your board members makes what is, for them, a meaningful gift, that will set your campaign on the road to success.

Board Member’s Guide to Capital Campaign Fundraising

If you’re on the board of an organization that’s considering a capital campaign, there are things you need to know. This guide will help you understand your own role, and that of the entire board, during a campaign. Download this free guide today!

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Guest post by Amy Eisenstein.

Amy Eisenstein, ACFRE, and Andrea Kihlstedt are co-founders of the Capital Campaign Toolkit, a virtual support system for nonprofit leaders running successful campaigns. The Toolkit provides all the tools, templates, and guidance you need — without breaking the bank.