Many people who contact me want to talk (or complain!) about their nonprofit’s board of directors. 

They ask, “How can we…”

• Convince our board to raise more money? 
• Encourage them to take their work seriously? 
• Improve their leadership skills? 
• Transition our board to a different role as our organization grows?

Millions of words have been written about nonprofit boards. I’ve written more than a few myself, including a recent post about this taboo option: giving up on your board.

In the spirit of breaking taboos, here are four tricks, tools, and hacks you can use to build yourself a better board. 

Consider this a preview of a new webinar on May 3, co-led by me and Harvey McKinnon, and hosted by the Sustainability Network.

1. Use challenge gifts to shift your board’s behavior

Challenge or matching gifts are a common – and effective – fundraising strategy. Typically, a generous donor provides a gift or grant on the condition that you meet certain fundraising benchmarks. A dollar-for-dollar match is most common, but all sorts of variations are possible.

Here’s a twist: What would happen if you structured a challenge gift based on your board’s fundraising engagement? Two true examples:

• With support from two creative donors, an animal welfare organization received $1000 on the condition that nine out of ten board members attend a three-hour fundraising workshop.
• After discussions with a foundation, another organization received a $10,000 grant contingent on board members joining staff for twenty face-to-face donor meetings – which works out to $500 per visit.

In both cases, the boards followed through and met the match requirement. As a result, they became less fearful of fundraising and had an immediate fundraising impact.

Let’s just name it: this strategy is a kind of bribery. The donors are saying, “If you change your behavior, I’ll give you money.” Since the gift goes to the nonprofit – rather than individual board members – it’s perfectly ethical. And pretty effective, too.

2. Do the math: Is your board a cost center – or a profit center?

What does it cost you to have a board? Yes, it’s legally required, but what does it actually cost?

Once upon a time, an executive director did the math. She calculated the cash cost of having a board: staff time to service the board and its committees, training expenses, annual retreat, etc. 

Then she calculated the amount of money the board had raised, directly or indirectly.

Surprise! (Or maybe not.) The board was costing the organization more money than they were bringing in. She used this data to initiate a come-to-fundraising conversation with the board.

That’s a courageous move.

3. Time sheets for board members

Whenever I’m asked to join a board, here’s my first question: “How much time do you expect?” 

Everyone talks about the meeting schedule, but I always push back: “That’s all you want? For me to attend board meetings?” Their answers are neither crisp not clear. 

Based on this experience, I’ve started to recommend time sheets for board members. Treat this as an experiment. Ask your board to fill out the form anonymously for a specific time period (three months, six months, whatever). Compile the numbers and review at your next meeting.

Then, when board recruits ask about time expectations, you can reference actual data.

4. Turn big talkers into timekeepers

Do you have a big talker on your board who dominates every conversation? Here’s a simple trick to manage the disruption.

• When you prepare your agenda, include start times for each item.
• At the beginning of the meeting, ask the big talker to serve as the timekeeper.

By focusing on the time, they are less likely to talk and more likely to speak briefly when they do.

Just the beginning

I hope you find these suggestions provocative and helpful. If any are relevant to your circumstances, try them and see what happens.

(If you’ve already tried all four, contact me for a free prize. And yes, you must tell me how you used them.)

Do you want even more creative board development ideas? Join us on May 3 for a giant gulp of board improvement:

The Secrets of Building a Better Board: 25 Tips, Tools, and Hacks for Improving Board Engagement

As noted, I’ll be teaming up with Harvey McKinnon – one of the world’s great fundraising gurus – to share lots of wisdom on all things board-related.

Thanks to our many sponsors, it’s really affordable. Please check them out, too.