Napoleon Bonaparte allegedly once said that an army marches on its stomach, meaning that an army can only function if it has adequate supplies and food. This maxim applies to the modern world of nonprofit management as well, as a nonprofit ‘marches’ on its financial contributions. As we all know, nonprofits depend on donations, grants, and a variety of financial gifts to fund their efforts to bring positive change to the world. Fundraising and the diplomatic challenges which can surround it is discussed in the BoardAssist article Board Recruiting Best Practices – What do you REALLY want from me? The article’s focus is on fundraising from the members of a nonprofit’s own board members, and it addresses the question of whether such stewardship requests are appropriate, and if so, how to go about those requests properly and effectively.

As the article advises, requesting a financial contribution from the members of a nonprofit’s board is appropriate, but there is a particular way to do it. Six tips are given on how to make these kinds of requests, with specific examples and details given under each tip. Financial requests should be for specific amounts of money, with specific explanations about what purpose the money will serve. The methods through which donations are given should be specified, as to whether the board member is expected to gather contributions from friends or colleagues and whether it is appropriate for these additional contributions to exceed the personal contribution of the board member, and so forth. In general, the article recommends that ambiguity be eliminated, in order to have the clearest communication between the executive and the board, and in order to keep the nonprofit marching forward smoothly.

BoardAssist. “Board Recruiting Best Practices – What do you REALLY want from me?”. GuideStar: Blog. 8 July 2015. Web. 21 February 2017.

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Last updated on July 29th, 2017 at 03:37 pm