Building a Donor Pipeline by Getting Your Board on Board
Your board isn't just there to govern. They're one of the most underused sources of new donors your organization has.
Within my 12-month coaching framework, I train nonprofit CEOs and their boards to shift from checking a box to actually building your pipeline — introductions, open doors, real relationships — so your board's revenue model runs on the same high-ROI principles as your staff's.
Your board's network is bigger than your Give/Get policy. Let's use it.
"I'll do anything, except ask for money." - most board members
I hear this in nearly every board workshop I teach. It's not because board members are lazy or unwilling.
It's because most of them think fundraising means one of two things: begging, or being a used-car salesman.
Neither is true — but no one has ever shown them otherwise.
Here's the thing: boards take their cue from staff. Staff take their cue from the CEO. If your team isn't modeling relational solicitation, your board can't be expected to either. If your team isn’t aligning their hours with dollars, your board won’t either.
It starts with you.
When boards are trained properly, their role isn't "the ask." It's:
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Networking
Steadily introducing their circle to your mission
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Connecting
Making the warm introduction that opens a door staff couldn't open alone
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Educating
Helping their network understand why your organization needs their investment
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Sharing
Telling others why they are passionate about the work and why they chose to serve
Nine times out of ten, your trained staff can lead the actual solicitation from there.
But without a board knowing how to resource your organization through relationship-building, your pipeline stays shallow no matter how much your fundraising team works.
“There's a lot of excitement right now on the board and I give you great credit here, Sherry. You have lowered the fear factor when even our most confident, accomplished business people get a little jumpy when we think they're going to ask them to hit up their friends…Breaking that down for the board and figuring out how to really deploy their individual talents, right?...It's been really exciting to see the board each pick their spot where they want to help…We actually have an engine behind us that we can build together for the next few chapters of the Stern Center.”
— Laurie, Executive Director of Change The Stern Center for Language & Learning
Why your Give/Get holds policy is likely holding your nonprofit’s board back
Most boards operate under a simple rule created decades ago: give a set amount, or raise it from your network. It sounds fair. In practice, it's one of the most limiting habits in the nonprofit sector.
A Give/Get policy teaches your board that fundraising is a number to hit, not a relationship to build. It quietly tells them: once you've written the check or found the sponsor, you're done. That ceiling caps gift potential before a real conversation ever happens — and it keeps board members who have real capacity from ever being asked for their actual best gift.
A Give/Get doesn't just cap dollars. It caps the relationship itself, and it quietly gives your team permission to stop soliciting board members the way they'd solicit any other major donor.
Beyond fundraising consulting.
Into revenue transformation.
I can't wait to help you turn your boardroom into one of your organization's strongest sources of new, investment-level donors.