Tips for Increasing Your Board Members' Passion

Benevon

Tips for Increasing Your Board Members' Passion

One of the most disheartening lessons we have learned from organizations taking the Raising More Money Workshop was that the majority of them felt that many of their board members lacked real passion for their work.

In some cases, the board members had been assigned to serve on this board by their corporate employer. In other cases, the board member had served on the board for more years than anyone could remember, with spotty attendance, and yet no one knew how to ask the person to move off the board. Or there were stories of board members who had gotten on the board merely to garner status, not because they were genuinely interested in the work of the organization. Perhaps they had initially been passionate, but their interests had shifted to other causes.

Regardless of the reason, the fund development team often felt short-handed in terms of having passionate partners to implement the model. If this lack of passion among board members is a relatively common concern, what can be done? Following are some tips of what you can do to reconnect your board members to their passion for your work.

Assess the situation. How many of your board members are we really talking about? I generally assume the rule of thirds: in any group, one-third of the people will be the "ideal": positive, hard-working leaders. Another third will do as they are told, for the most part, though they may need more than an occasional nudge. The final third appears to be doing relatively little, yet they will not ask to be removed from the group. In other words, realize first off that your situation is probably pretty typical.
Be thankful for the overtly passionate top third and get them on your fund development team right away. It's easy to become immobilized by "board envy," and assume that there's just no point in getting started until you have 100% of your board "on board." A far more productive approach would be to realize your board fits the norm precisely, and begin by working with the top third who are excited to get going. Whether the others ever come along or not, you will at least have started the momentum moving in the right direction towards building your base of lifelong individual donors.
Have a little compassion for the remaining two thirds. Before you go off criticizing the middle third, recall the times you have been in the middle third of other groups. Perhaps it's not such a bad thing. You got involved with that organization for the right reasons. You did care once. If someone were to take a little time with you, odds are you could get reconnected to that passion.

I say the number-one reason for frustration about board members is that we, as staff, forget the obvious: board members are first and foremost volunteers. Serving on your board is not their full-time job. They are not on the payroll. They have full lives of their own and they were not looking for a job when they joined your board. They took it on for the right reasons—because they truly believe in your work, yet they generally want to be involved on a very part-time basis to steer the direction of the organization and occasionally get more involved in projects that may be of particular interest. In other words, the passion was there in the beginning.

In most organizations, so little is done to nurture board members. It is assumed, now that they are on the board, that they can sustain the passion as much as the staff members who are involved day to day. For most board members, attending monthly board meetings and occasional committee meetings are the only times they may even think about your organization during the year. If that were your only contact with the place, would those meetings be enough to sustain your passion?

Treat every board member as if they are a major donor. I say that most nonprofits do not even begin to take care of their board members in the highly personal ways that we would use to cultivate a major donor. Shortly after the honeymoon period ends, the new board member has been assessed and left to attend meetings and to initiate any other type of involvement. After all, they're on the board. They should know what they want. We will wait for them to take the initiative.
Take every potential board member through a Point of Entry. It follows from Tip #4 that if you treat every board member like a cherished major donor, you would bring them through the Raising More Money cycle slowly and methodically, starting with the Point of Entry. Whether you make it a one-on-one Point of Entry with the Visionary Leader or your standard group event, you would make sure they were nearly overwhelmed by the myth-buster facts and the emotional impact of your work. Then you would follow up with them individually for their feedback. Listen closely to their response to the follow-up question: "Is there any way you could see yourself getting involved?" Do not assume that just because they are on the board, they have known how to become involved. Your Point of Entry may well have triggered new thoughts.
Make every board meeting a Point of Re-Entry. It is best to assume that your board members do not give your organization much thought at all in between monthly board meetings. If and when they do attend, it is your job to ensure that they are reconnected with their passion. The easiest way to do this is by inserting a five-minute program element into the agenda for each board meeting—something that touches the heart.

If your board members wanted to attend an intellectual meeting filled only with reports and statistics, they would not need to have joined your board. Most nonprofit board members want that deeper human connection that our work provides. They are hungry to be reconnected to that passion each and every time they come in contact with your organization, even if they are merely stopping by the office for a few minutes to pick up something.

Keeping board members passionate is your job, not theirs. That stings a bit. After all, if you are a hard-working staff member, you already have a job. It stings because it requires you to be connected to your passion all the time and, in this field, that is nearly impossible. While you no doubt got into this field because of a deep commitment to the work, that can fade away quickly in the face of the day-to-day realities of working with people, managing finances and, of course, dealing with less-than-gung-ho board members!
Do a Passion Retread with your board. Passion Retread is a simple exercise that reconnects people with their initial passion for your mission. It retreads the tire of your passion that may have worn a little thin. It can be done in a group, one-on-one or all alone. The most natural venue for the Passion Retread exercise with board members is at a board retreat or a more informal board meeting where there is some initial time for socializing. As people sit down to begin the formal part of the meeting or retreat, ask them to introduce themselves and to say why they got involved with your organization in the first place. People will rarely say, "Because my boss made me." Generally, when pressed to speak out loud to their peers, they may even surprise themselves by blurting out the real reason they're here: "My wife has this disease we are working to cure," "My son had a drug problem like this," "I was once a single mom and terrified of being homeless," etc. The truth just spills out, and in the process a deeper connection is made between board members. People come to appreciate—and be more tolerant of—quirky Dave or Estelle on the board. Passion Retread gives everyone the benefit of the doubt. It assumes that 100% of your board members were passionate about the organization at one time or another. It presumes honorable intentions to serve the community and to forward the mission of your organization.
Meet with your board members individually. At a minimum once a year, the executive director should take each board member to lunch for a private Point of Re-Entry. The executive director should share some of the current challenges they are facing and convey their usual Visionary Leader inspiration and passion. This will reconnect the board member with their own passion and recharge their batteries for the great work of the organization. It also provides an invaluable opportunity to ask questions of the board member. People's lives change. Board members may switch jobs, switch careers, move to different neighborhoods and have significant family changes. Any of these can have an impact on their role with your organization. You need to stay on top of these changes. Similarly, board members may tire of the slot they've been pegged for on your board. The accountant may have had her fill of the finance committee and want something far more program-oriented. This ongoing process of refreshing and updating keeps board members feeling special and connected.

A little tweak of passion is enough to change everything. While it may not convert someone in the lowest third of your board to a hardworking top third worker bee, at least you will know they have enough passion to welcome people to a Point of Entry or invite others. It is that passion for your mission that will fuel the entire Raising More Money Model.