Is Your Nonprofit Board Fundraising Committee Strategically Oriented? – Revised & Updated

By Eugene Fram

Nonprofit boards have struggled for years to develop effective board fundraising committees and strategies. According to the BoardSource 2012 Governance Index, 46% of nonprofit CEOs gave their boards “D” or “F” grades for their fundraising efforts and fundraising is the lowest ranked of 10 board board responsibilities.

Simone Joyaux in a NPQ Newswire* raised some pertinent questions related to the “struggle to get the board to carry out its fund development role.” I have listed her questions below in bold. My overall response to her questions is that fundraising committees are not always necessary for effective fund raising! Where the committee is doing a poor job (graded average or below), it is best to cultivate and support a few board members to drive fundraising. After all, not all nonprofit directors have a strategic orientation. (more…)