Happy Sunday, Reader

It's officially the long weekend here in Canada and I'm writing this newsletter from my tent in my rainy campground. Living the dream :P

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Here’s something I hear all the time from nonprofit leaders: “My board members care about our mission, but we can’t seem to convince them to help us fundraise.”

When you press them a little, what they mean is that board members won’t go to the next level to ask.

Honestly? Neither would most people if they thought that’s what fundraising required.

An ED I recently worked with had this exact problem. She had a strong board. Professionals who showed up to meetings, asked smart questions, and believed in the work.

But every time she tried to bring up the f-word :P, I mean, fundraising, the energy shifted.

One board member joked, “I didn’t sign up to cold-call donors.” Another said, “I’m not comfortable asking people for money.” And my personal favourite, “My job prevents me from engaging with donors, so it’s not happening.”

So, she changed the conversation.

Before the annual board retreat, she pulled three numbers:

Individual donors made up 38% of the organization’s revenue, with an average gift of $312.

She knew that if they improved their donor retention rate by just 10%, they’d generate an additional $47,000 per year without acquiring a single new donor.

She put those three numbers on one slide and didn’t say anything else. The room went quiet.

Her following slide showed the board a one-page “fundraising menu.”

At the top: small gifts anyone could make, like choosing the amount of your gift at a level that’s meaningful to you, signing handwritten thank-you notes, and sharing a post about the organization’s work.

Further down: higher-touch options for those who wanted to do more, such as making an introduction to someone in your network or hosting a small gathering for people who’d like to learn more about the work. No one asked anyone to cold call a donor.

They were all ears.

By the end of the retreat, three board members had committed to making introductions. Two had offered to sign thank-you cards after the next campaign. One had offered to host a dinner.

Most board resistance to fundraising is the ask. But when the ‘ask’ accounts for only about 5% of what fundraising involves?

The remaining 95% is the relationship work that most board members already do in their professional lives: making introductions, showing up, expressing gratitude, and telling their story about why they joined the board.

When leaders reframe fundraising as stewardship and show that menu of ways to participate, board members stop viewing it as a role violation and start seeing it as an extension of why they joined. It’s an a-ha moment!

The data piece matters. Statistics show that individuals give 66 cents of every philanthropic dollar (according to Giving USA 2025), which provides useful context, but they don’t change behaviour. Your organization’s numbers do.

When a board member sees that a 10% improvement in retention equals $47,000 for their organization and donors, the case becomes personal.

Here’s language you can bring (or send) to your next board meeting: “I want to show you three numbers from our fundraising data, not national stats, only ours, and then I’ll share one or two ways each of you could help move those numbers this year. It’ll take about 15 minutes.”

That framing takes the pressure off and makes the invitation personal. Kind of like a challenge!

Before your next board meeting, research those three numbers:

· The percentage of revenue that comes from individual donors

· The current donor retention rate

· The 10% retention improvement number in $ dollars

If you can bring them to the meeting (or ask your ED to share them), pause for a moment, then ask, “What would it take to move these numbers?” It’s surprising what people volunteer to do when they understand what’s at stake.

Make it super simple for them to participate in fundraising.

Want help framing the fundraising conversation for your board? Or how to handle the objections? Hit reply. I read every response, and I’m happy to think through it with you.

Until next time,

K

P.S. I think it’s going to go better than you expect.

Link 💜

Need a few more ideas to share fundraising options with your board of directors? Here's the The BIG List (100+) of Nonprofit Board Fundraising Tasks​

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