How to Get Your Nonprofit's Board of Directors Excited and Involved

Getting your board of directors excited about your organization isn't an issue, or they wouldn't have agreed to take on such an important cause as yours. Getting them to actually act on their enthusiasm is quite a different task, and one that can be handled to achieve the best results for everyone involved, even the board members.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

1. Get to know your individual board members. Knowing a person's likes and dislikes can lead to greatly improved participation - for example, put the golf nut in charge of the charity golf tournament.
2. Empower your board. At the beginning of each fiscal year, tell the members of your financial goals for the coming year. Be very clear about your goals and expectations for the board of directors either individually or for their corporations.
3. Know the issues their companies support, and enlist their help as a group. For example, go to a company's corporate volunteer coordinator and enlist the entire company's support for one of your "friend-raisers."
4. Give accolades and recognition frequently. This is the public relations part of exciting your board. Make sure that every corporation that supports your organization is mentioned at least once a year in your group's newsletter, if it has one.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure your board members understand how important their participation is to the bottom line of your organization. Let them decide how they may accomplish their goals as a collective body.
• A friend-raiser is an excellent way to gain extra visibility for your organization and to gain future prospective board members from the company helping you.
• Don't underestimate the power of appreciation: No matter how much someone says they're volunteering for the love of the group, it always helps to recognize their efforts. Everyone loves to see their name in print.
• List board bios, company bios, company/board support and donations of particular greatness in print.

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