You’ve just joined a nonprofit board, and one question is quietly making you uneasy: what exactly is expected of me when it comes to the organization’s fundraising?
For many new trustees — and plenty of veterans — it’s an unsettling question. They assume it means two things: that they’ll be asked to give money they don’t have (though giving expectations should have been made clear before they ever joined), and that they’ll have to personally solicit donors, which many find crass and distasteful. So they’d rather avoid the whole subject.
That instinct is unfortunate, because it both mischaracterizes and vastly understates a trustee’s fiduciary obligations around fundraising. Here’s a short primer.
“Give, Get, or Get Off the Board”
The old adage still holds. But trustees deserve clear giving expectations well in advance. Is there a set minimum? A fixed number can scare off valuable trustees while underselling those capable of far more. A softer but commonly used standard — “one of your top three philanthropic priorities” — preserves flexibility but invites disappointment when the gift falls short of hopes. Either way, the expectation must be set before the trustee joins the board.
The bottom line: every trustee must give something. Major donors routinely ask where the board stands, and what they want to hear is that 100% of trustees have given. That’s a vote of confidence. Anything less has sent donors walking.
What about the “getting.” Trustees are expected to help the development team find and cultivate donors who can give generously. Without that help, real prospects get missed. Too many trustees forget this and do little. It takes focused effort, but the payoff is worth it.
It does not mean every trustee must make or even participate in the ask. Say whether you’re willing but leave the decision to staff. And if they want you in the room, do it — it means they believe your presence improves the odds, and you’ll likely find it more rewarding than you expect. One hard rule: never make an ask without full coordination with the development team and the board’s development committee. Do not go rogue. You could wreck everything.
“Getting” works in other, perhaps less obvious ways. When the nominating committee (a/k/a governance or trusteeship committee) asks the board for the names of trustee candidates who could themselves give generously, do your homework and help out. And whether or not you make asks, every trustee can thank donors — in person, by call, or by note. Donors appreciate it, and they often give again.
And yes: if you can’t or won’t give or get, ask yourself whether you belong on the board at all.
Set the Fundraising Vision
What is the board’s number-one job? To set the organization’s mission, vision, and plan. And that duty extends to fundraising. Boards decide what endowment level is necessary and realistic for long-term health. They approve the purpose and goals of comprehensive campaigns — capital, planned giving, annual fund — after confirming the development team has done its diligence on feasibility studies and case statements. They approve the policies that govern it all, including gift acceptance policies that, critically, identify the gifts not worth taking. All of these efforts may be envisioned by, if not explicitly a part of, an organization’s strategic plan approved by the board. This is where trustees must resist timidity and think big — genuinely audacious goals.
Every one of these decisions is ultimately the board’s and depends on the board’s ambitious vision and leadership. Each trustee has a fiduciary duty to make them in an informed way and in the organization’s best interest. Since trustees are also expected to fund a meaningful share of any campaign, the path to fundraising success starts with the board itself.
Potential Shortfalls in Board Vision: The Gift You’ll Never See
Here is the failure no quarterly report ever captures. Planned gifts — bequests, in particular — are a five-to-ten-year proposition, and sometimes far longer. A board fixated on “results this quarter” will quietly, and unknowingly, starve the very program built to secure the organization’s future. Worse, donors read board behavior. When a board signals short-term thinking, the donor who might have left the organization in her will quietly leaves it out — a donor decision the board never sees, in a document it will never read. Setting fundraising vision means protecting the long horizon, not just the next campaign total. The largest gift your organization ever receives may depend on a board that had the vision and patience to wait for it.
Spend Money to Make Money
Boards approve the annual budget — including development salaries, benefits, and the costs of fundraising, especially travel — and they review the more detailed budgets behind individual campaigns. Raising money isn’t cheap. As the saying goes, you have to spend money to make it. Boards that skimp here, or second-guess sound staff decisions, will fall short of their goals.
Partner with Executive Leadership
A board should see itself not as the CEO’s boss but as the CEO’s partner — everyone rowing together toward the same goal. The CEO is fundraiser-in-chief, often spending serious time on it alongside the chief development officer and key trustees. Give that effort your full support and help however you’re asked. But beware of micromanaging how the money gets raised. Leave execution to those with the expertise and the mandate. In short: oversee, don’t manage. Stay in your lane.
Monitor Progress
A trustee’s job doesn’t end when a campaign is approved. The board — and especially its development committee — provides oversight by receiving and actually understanding regular updates against agreed-upon goals. That includes the hard numbers: cost per dollar raised, return on investment, and honest benchmarking against peer institutions. Data is paramount, and every trustee should demand it.
Model Good Governance
Why do donors give? To causes that move them, yes — the board-approved mission and vision. But just as much, they give to organizations they trust with their money. That trust starts with the CEO’s leadership and staying power. It also rests on the board’s demonstrated ability to govern effectively. Donors can spot a dysfunctional board, and it costs gifts. So it comes back to every trustee: prepare for and attend board meetings, ask probing questions relevant to vision and strategy, honor confidentiality, avoid conflicts, take the work seriously. A board’s competence and stability aren’t governance niceties — they’re fundraising fundamentals.
A board's competence and stability aren't governance niceties—they're fundraising fundamentals.
Be a Cheerleader!
The easiest but sometimes overlooked part of a trustee’s job is to serve as cheerleader. Sing the praises of the organization, its mission, and its leadership. Say it loud and proud. It creates exactly the environment good fundraising needs.
So a trustee’s role in fundraising is not, in the end, only about giving and getting. There is so much more — and the thread running through all of it is good governance, in every facet. That’s not a task to hand off to the board secretary, the governance chair, or outside counsel. It is every trustee’s responsibility to model it, and to hold the whole board to the same standard.
