Someone asked today how to teach Board members about Fundraising and Development in short bursts.  Since this is something I do a lot of, I had tons of ideas right off the top of my head.  I easily made a list and decided to share it here as well.

If you have the opportunity to teach your Board about Fundraising in short bursts (maybe at each Board meeting), here are some things you can do:

• Have them pair up and share why they said “Yes” to being on the Board.  This helps them tap into their passion for the organization.
• Have them tell each other a story about how the organization is changing lives in the community.
• Have them share their thoughts about fundraising – what they are scared of and what they feel comfortable with.  This helps begin to overcome fear of fundraising.
• Create a crossword puzzle with the words in the puzzle being answers and the clues being about basic facts of your organization.  For example, 1 across might be the number of kids served each year (answer – Fifty).
• Create a game of Jeopardy around organizational facts.
• Have them brainstorm about people in their sphere of influence who they can talk to about your organization or send an appeal letter to.

Over time, this will help ‘bring them along’ and increase their comfort level with fundrasing in general.

Have you tried anything like this with your Board?  Click on the comment button and share what you did and what results you got.  Inquiring minds want to know!