Your Board Wants to Help—Here’s How to Tell Them What You Need
“A lot of people are afraid to say what they want.
That’s why they don’t get what they want.”
Let’s be honest: many nonprofit fundraisers feel frustrated by their boards. You know your board should be helping with fundraising—but instead, you get polite nods, vague offers to “introduce you to people,” or awkward silences when fundraising comes up.
It’s not that your board doesn’t care. Most of them genuinely want to help—they just don’t know how. That’s where you come in.
Here’s how to clearly define and communicate what you need your board members to do, so they can become true fundraising partners instead of bystanders.
1. Clarify what “fundraising help” actually means.
“Fundraising” can mean a dozen different things—from making a personal gift to hosting a table to thanking donors. If you don’t spell out what you mean, your board will each interpret it differently.
Try breaking it into three categories:
Give: Make a personally meaningful gift each year.
Get: Introduce new potential supporters, sponsors, or partners.
Thank: Help steward current donors with thank-you calls or notes.
Putting this in plain language takes the mystery—and fear—out of the ask.
2. Be explicit about what’s off the table.
Board members sometimes assume you expect them to cold-call strangers or hit up their friends for money. That’s a recipe for resistance.
If your expectation is something different—like “We’ll never ask you to make a direct ask alone” or “We’ll provide the message and materials”—say so! Clarity reduces anxiety and increases engagement.
3. Give them easy, specific actions to choose from.
Instead of saying, “Help with fundraising,” offer a menu of bite-sized, doable actions. For example:
Bring a guest to our next open house
Share our year-end appeal on LinkedIn with your own note
Record a short video about why you give
Make three thank-you calls this quarter
A clear menu builds confidence and momentum.
4. Equip them with stories and language.
Board members can’t champion your cause if they don’t know how to talk about it. Provide short, memorable talking points:
What your organization does (in one sentence)
Why it matters right now
A story of impact they can share at a dinner party
The easier you make it to repeat, the more likely they will.
5. Reinforce, celebrate, and repeat.
Every time a board member takes action, acknowledge it. Publicly thank them in meetings. Share results: “Thanks to the board’s outreach this month, we connected with 14 new potential donors!”
The more you celebrate and reinforce, the more they’ll do it again.
Bottom line:
Your board wants to help—they just need a roadmap. When you define what you need, remove the guesswork, and make it easy for them to say yes, you turn your board from hesitant to heroic.
And that’s what fearless fundraising leadership looks like.
