Creating a Board Fundraising Menu 00:45 This exercise reduces resistance by helping people move past the idea that fundraising only means asking for money. You can create a menu of ways all board members or other volunteers can participate in fundraising, even if they re unwilling to be askers. For more excitement, structure this activity as a contest with prizes and raise the energy level. This activity provides a nice complement to the Cycle of Fundraising exercise on page 41. The materials created in that activity can be used for this one, too. Why Do This Exercise? The worst fundraising strategies are rigid: everyone is expected to do the same things for example, sell ten raffle tickets or buy five gift memberships. The menu model encourages board members to choose the activities that best meet their needs, interests, and limitations. Use This Exercise When You want your board to design their own fundraising opportunities Time Required 30 to 45 minutes Audience The leadership team for your fundraising campaign: some combination of board, staff, and volunteers Setting You ll need a room large enough for several small groups or perhaps several adjacent rooms Materials Stopwatch or timer Bell or whistle Flip chart paper and markers Cycle of fundraising chart (page 44) Sample board fundraising menu (page 81) Sample board fundraising agreement (page 82) Optional: a prize for a member of the winning team Facilitating the exercise 1. Review the Cycle of Fundraising (page 44) with your group, emphasizing how fundraising involves a full sequence of activities and not just soliciting gifts. If you like, pass out copies of the board fundraising menu from the Ohio Environmental Council on page 81 to help clarify the goal of the 78
exercise. (When the exercise begins, ask them to put it away.) Once the menu is created for your organization, board members will be expected to select activities one appetizer, one entrée, one dessert to form their personalized fundraising commitments for the year. 2. Sort the participants into small groups of four to eight. Provide each group with a sheet of flip chart paper and several markers. Have them move to different corners of the room for privacy while they brainstorm. 3. Provide the following instructions: Your job is to brainstorm all the different ways board members or other volunteers can assist with any sort of fundraising. You can include big-picture tasks, such as creating a fundraising plan, all the way down to micro tasks, like addressing envelopes for the fundraising mailing. Write your ideas on the flip charts. You ll have three minutes to complete this brainstorm three minutes! This is a contest: the group with the most items in three minutes will be entered into a drawing to win a fabulous prize. Any questions? OK, on your mark get set go! 4. When about one minute remains, shout out, One minute! One minute to go! 5. As time expires, ring the bell or blow the whistle. Ask the groups to count up the items on their sheets, but don t announce the totals yet. 6. Then provide the following instruction: Review the list together and mark off the seven or eight items that board members or other volunteers could do that would be most productive and most helpful to the organization. Give them a few minutes to complete this task. 7. Ask each group to select a spokesperson who will report their top tasks. Reconvene the large group to hear these reports. Depending on the number of small groups, you will likely end up with 12 to 20 unduplicated most helpful items, which should form the basis for an excellent board fundraising menu. 8. Ask for each group to shout out the total number of items in their brainstorm. Everyone in the winning group gets a slip of paper to write their name. Pick a winner. Provide an appropriate prize: a meal at your favorite restaurant, a book (a fundraising book?), a favorite local food, perhaps a T-shirt or coffee mug from your organization. PART 4 79
9. Debrief using the following questions: What did you learn from this exercise? Did you brainstorm any tasks that surprised you? If so, which ones? What are one or two things from this list that you might be willing to do? Be gentle; don t push people to make commitments they re not ready to make. Use words like might or consider rather than asking them to make firm commitments at this stage. 10. Recruit a volunteer to collect the flip chart sheets or use a smartphone camera and create the board fundraising menu you ve just developed. At your next board meeting, follow up by circulating the menu and asking board members to sign up for tasks they re willing to do. The Board/Volunteer Fundraising Agreement form on page 82 is a useful tool for recording their commitments. Training Tip Keep time, but don t be rigid. We suggest three minutes, but if you sense a lot of energy in the room if the groups are continuing to generate new ideas it s fine to let the exercise run longer, since no one else will be keeping time anyway. Just don t let it drag on. 80
Board Member: Date: Menu of Fundraising Opportunities This is an all-you-can-eat menu! We ask you to commit to as many items as you like but at least one per category. Appetizers 1 Provide names of donor prospects 2 Sign & personalize letters to current and prospective donors 3 Attend and mingle with donors at a House Party 4 Promote and attend the Green Gala and mingle with donors Entrées 5 Significantly increase your annual OEC gift 6 Include the OEC in your estate plan 7 Host a House Party 8 Accompany staff on donor visits 9 Recruit Green Gala sponsors 10 Recruit new board members with fundraising experience and connections 11 Introduce your HR department to Earth Share Ohio or Community Shares of Central Ohio 12 Solicit art, sponsors, or attendees for the Art & Environment Fundraiser Desserts 13 Collect copies of other organizations published donor lists 14 Make thank you calls to donors 15 Acquire or donate silent auction item donations for the Green Gala 16 Participate in a phone-a-thon to renew members 17 Attend the Art & Environment Fundraiser PART 4 81
Board / Volunteer Fundraising Agreement Name Date To support the mission of our organization, I agree to take on the following: 1. My gift: $ Payment completed by (date) Terms of payment (check, credit card, installments, etc.) 2. Prospects. I will provide names and contact information for prospects by (date). Even if I am unable to follow up with all of these people personally, I will still add names to the list for mailings, event invitations, etc. 3. My fundraising support tasks (taken from our fundraising menu): a. Activity b. Activity c. Activity Signature of board member or volunteer Signature of board chair 82