Each 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.
“Not every trustee needs to ask for money. Every trustee does need one fundraising role they will actually do, written down with a name and a date.”
3 practical tools and actions included in the PDF.
One agreed fundraising role beside every trustee's name
A trustee role description that states fundraising expectations
An onboarding hour that connects each new trustee to a live donor relationship
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Built for these roles and fundraising challenges.
Read the studies and guidance behind the recommendations.
Trustees in England and Wales must comply with the law, raise and use funds only for the charity's purposes, manage resources responsibly, be open and accountable, and act with reasonable care and skill in the charity's best interests.
Charity Commission, CC20Board support for fundraising may include making individual gifts, soliciting donations, introducing their network to the organisation, attending events and bringing guests.
BoardSource, Fundraising for NonprofitsCRA treats fundraising carried out by board members and directors as fundraising by the registered charity itself, so it falls within the charity's obligations.
Canada Revenue Agency, CG-013The UnderDeveloped study recommends that boards, led and modelled by the chair, set fund development goals in their own annual work plan and monitor their own performance regularly.
CompassPoint and the Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund, UnderDevelopedNo. Forcing reluctant trustees into asks usually produces avoidance. Thanking, connecting, hosting and reviewing are real contributions. What matters is that each trustee commits to one role and does it.
A personal gift from every trustee matters, because it lets you say the board backs its own case. The amount should be meaningful to each person, and the policy should be discussed openly at recruitment.
No. It summarises published regulator guidance so the board can start the conversation. Confirm the duties that apply to your organisation with a qualified adviser in your jurisdiction.
Keep working on the same fundraising challenge.
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.
Read the checklistGive 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 templateSet 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 toolkit4 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.