Ask every trustee to score the same 25 practices independently, from a written fundraising plan to personal giving and donor thank-you calls. Combine the scores at a board meeting and pick the two or three lowest dimensions to work on this year. Independent scoring matters because executives and fundraising staff often see the same organisation very differently.
“Each board member completes the assessment independently, scoring 0 (not in place), 1 (partial), or 2 (fully in place). Aggregate scores in a board meeting and prioritize the lowest-scoring dimensions.”
3 practical tools and actions included in the PDF.
A scored baseline across five dimensions of board fundraising support
A shortlist of the practices to fix first, agreed by the board
A repeatable check to run again in twelve months
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Built for these roles and fundraising challenges.
Read the studies and guidance behind the recommendations.
Boards should understand, help inform and support resource development strategies, and monitor progress against fund development plans and goals.
BoardSource, Fundraising for NonprofitsIn a 2012 US survey of 2,722 executive and development directors, 75% of executive directors called board engagement in fundraising insufficient, and 17% said their board had no involvement in fundraising at all.
CompassPoint and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, UnderDevelopedCRA guidance says that, at a minimum, a registered charity should evaluate its fundraising performance in the context of CRA guidance, and may also gauge its achievements against external standards.
Canada Revenue Agency, CG-013 Fundraising by registered charitiesSeparately first. Group scoring tends to follow the most confident voice in the room. Collect individual scores, show the spread, and discuss the items where trustees disagree most.
Yes, and the development lead as well. Comparing staff scores with board scores is often the most useful part of the exercise.
No. It means the board now knows where to start. Pick two or three dimensions, assign an owner to each, and score again in a year.
Keep working on the same fundraising challenge.
Give fundraising a standing ten minute item near the start of every meeting, not after the finance report. Open with one donor story, review what each trustee agreed to do since the last meeting, and close with one decision. Report income in the same format each time so the board sees donor retention as well as the total raised.
Read the templateEach trustee should choose one specific role for the year, such as thanking donors, making introductions, hosting, telling the story, joining asks or reviewing the plan, and record it with a name and date. Not every trustee needs to ask for money. Every trustee does share responsibility for overseeing fundraising and making sure the organisation has the resources its mission needs.
Read the guideSet a threshold where personal contact becomes ROI-positive, usually $5K to $10K in cumulative annual giving rather than one transaction. Qualify prospects on capacity, inclination, and fit, then run three to five touches over six to nine months that end in one named outcome and one amount. Bloomerang's survey data reports 88% of dollars raised come from 12% of donors, so this is the part of the file where the money already sits.
Read the toolkit3 cited sources, written for teams doing this with the staff they already have. No cost, no sales call.
Share your fundraising priority. Our senior team can build the plan, run the work and report on progress.