Boards of Director’s play an essential role in building a donor base for any nonprofit organization.

One Board I’m working with recently made an important step in this direction by each making a donation to the school.   Now they were taking the next step in fundraising and discussed ways in which they could each play a role in building a broader donor base for their organization.

In general, each Board member needs to think about people they know in their own networks that might be possible donors.  To help narrow down the list, the following three traits make someone a good prospect:  they believe in the cause, they have money to give and the Board member has a good relationship with them.

Once identified, Board members need to think of ways to introduce their organization to potential folks – whether it be an email, phone call or conversation.   Over time, Board members could find other ways to introduce their organization to potential donors and potentially involve potential donors at the organizations events, with volunteering, or other activities.   Over time, after Board members have cultivated relationships with potential supporters, that Board member needs to find a way to ask that person to support their organization, with a face-to-face ask having the highest likelihood for someone actually saying yes.

Building a donor base takes time, but plays a very important role in ensuring a diversified and sustainable funding stream for a nonprofit organization. 

I’m thrilled to be working with several clients right now on this very topic, including SOAR Charter School, SCANPH and LA Voice.