Where to Find Your Ideal Board Prospects

This is the third article in a six-part series outlining my nonprofit board development process.

  • Article 1 focused on clarifying what your organization needs from its board.

  • Article 2 explored setting expectations to guide and hold members accountable.

With those foundations in place, you’re now ready to start identifying the right people. This article will walk you through how to strategically find and connect with board prospects who align with your mission and needs.

As an agency, once you are clear about your Ideal Board Profile and your Board Expectations, you probably want to start putting these tools to good use. This article will help you figure out where to start looking for these folks and how to find the right board prospects for your organization. 

This is probably the biggest question I get around Board Development: “Where do I find good board members?” While there is no secret pool of great board prospects. There are, however, strategic ways to go about what I call “friend-raising.”

What is “friend-raising,” you ask? It’s thoughtfully connecting people to your organization and your mission, ie: creating “Friends” of your nonprofit. These Friends could be potential donors, participants, partners, volunteers, staff, and yes, future board members. It is thoughtful and intentional relationship-building, tracking, and connecting people to your cause. And that is the foundation of board recruiting. 

Before we jump into where to find your amazing new board members, I’d like to emphasize the fact that you are initially seeking board prospects, NOT board members. It’s important to start thinking about people as prospects, those who you are considering and vetting as potential board members.

Often we go into board recruiting thinking that anyone who shows interest in joining our board and has a pulse is welcomed in, without sufficient vetting. Trust me, I have made this mistake! Then I ended up with people who had their own agendas, were not a fit with the board, or who were not a good representative for the organization.

Additionally, sometimes the Friends we engage with have potential to be board members, but the timing might not be right. Or maybe they need to further develop their relationship with your agency. That doesn’t mean that it is not a valuable relationship to nurture. 

You have already done some great work towards qualifying your prospects by clarifying what you need and expect from your board members. Those tools are great to use as you are recruiting prospects (Friends). It weeds out the people who you don’t need or who are not willing to meet your expectations.

In this article we’re going to go through a three pronged approach to sourcing people who might be a good match for your board. The idea is to constantly have a focus on “friend-raising” so you always have potential board members to vet, engage, and maybe invite to serve on your board. 

 

Friend-Raising

Connecting people to your work, or “friend-raising” is a significant component of creating a healthy and impactful nonprofit organization. It’s about creating relationships with potential volunteers, partners, advocates, storytellers, connectors, clients, staff, and more! 

The cool thing about “friend-raising,” beyond just board recruiting, is that if someone doesn’t fit what you need on your board, they may be a good Friend of the organization in a different way. Maybe you bring them in as a program volunteer or a donor. Then down the road, the timing may be better for them to consider serving on your Board of Directors. 

“Friend-raising” is about creating Raving Fans, which is a concept from a book with that name by Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles. While the book is really about customer service and marketing, it applies beautifully to nonprofit leadership. 

Creating “Raving Fans” (or Friends) involves categorizing all of the people in your service area into four different groups: confused/clueless, casual, connected, and committed.  

  • Confused/Clueless – Unaware or misinformed about your work

  • Casual – Knows a little about what you do

  • Connected – Appreciates and perhaps engages with your work

  • Committed – Actively supports, donates, volunteers, and advocates

Especially if you are just getting started, most people are probably going to fall into being CONFUSED or maybe completely CLUELESS about the work you do. Some of them may have a CASUAL awareness of your organization. Meaning they have heard of you and maybe know a little bit about what you do. Hopefully there are people in your service area who are CONNECTED to your agency. These people are familiar with your work, appreciate it, and possibly even engage with it. 

And then there are the lucky ones who are COMMITTED to the success of your agency,  your work, and your impact. They tell others about your amazing work. Maybe they are already donating or volunteering in a program or event capacity. And they are the ones who understand how vitally important your work is to the community. These folks are already Friends of your organization. And this is the goal – to get more and more people COMMITTED to your agency, your work, and your mission. 

The idea is that you want  work to move people from CONFUSED to CASUAL, CASUAL to CONNECTED, and CONNECTED to COMMITTED. As you think about yourself personally, you probably see yourself somewhere on this continuum. Hopefully CONNECTED or COMMITTED!

In addition to the book Raving Fans, I want to talk about how this can also be compared to Simon Sinek and his “Start with Why” theory. 

 

Start With WHY

If you are familiar with Simon Sinek and “Start with Why,” the concept of “friend-raising” is similar to his Golden Circles. In it he says that “people do not buy what you do, they buy why you do it.” 

The people who are your closest organizational Friends are probably ones who have successfully moved to the center of this circle. They do not just buy into the programs you deliver or the way that you impact your community. They are there because they believe in your vision for a better future. 

 

Board Activity

If you currently have an active board, this could be a great engagement activity to do with them. Have them either read the book Raving Fans (it’s a super fast read) or watch the Simon Sinek video. Then facilitate a conversation around questions like:

  • Who are our customers? Who are “Friends” of our organization? 
  • Who falls into the different categories for your organization
    • Who is clueless or confused about what you do?
    • Who has a casual relationship with your organization?
    • Who is connected to the work? 
    • Who is truly committed to your cause? 
  • What systems could be put in place to move people from one category to the next?
  • How is this information tracked? 

Doing this exercise can help you get an idea of what prospects you already have and where to start with your “friend-raising.”

You might also want to start to think about a system that you can use for tracking your “Friend prospects.” Article 4 in this series will dig deeper into tracking, but you can certainly start thinking about it now and putting your people into categories. 

 

Sourcing Prospects

Hopefully what we have talked about so far has helped you frame a mindset around finding prospective board members. They are prospects first, until you have decided that they are a great fit for your board. Keeping in mind that those Friends who are not a good fit for your board at this time, can bring great value to your organization in other ways.  

Nonprofit leaders often ask me to find good board members for them. Unfortunately, that’s not how it works. Not only do I NOT have an endless supply of people just waiting to be asked to serve on a board; if I recruit a prospect for you, their relationship will be with me, not with you or your organization. 

Rather, I work with organizations to help them determine the best sources where THEY can find prospective Friends for their organization. It’s similar to the idea of teaching a person to fish vs just giving them a fish.

Three Pronged Approach

I like to use a three pronged approach, which consists of:

  • Hot prospects = Low-hanging fruit
  • Warm prospects = Logical connections
  • Cold prospects = Shotgun approach

Depending on the organization, it usually makes sense to put some effort towards each of these approaches; rather than choosing just one strategy. As you implement these efforts, you may find that one or two work better for you than the others. If so, you will want to put more energy towards what is working.

Hot Prospects

Your “Hot Prospects,” or low-hanging fruit are already Friends of your organization, who know you/your work. They may be participants, members, involved with partner organizations, friends or colleagues, donors, vendors, etc. 

Identifying your Hot Prospects involves thinking about the people who are already your  Friends in a different light.

  • Is the program volunteer who helps in your food pantry someone who could provide governance leadership?
  • Does the guy who prints your intake forms have interest in getting more involved in his community?
  • That friend who always asks about your work – do they have potential to be a great board member?
  • Are there past participants who could make valuable contributions? 

This strategy of identifying board prospects involves taking everyone you can think of who has any relationship to your organization and listing them out. Then determine if they have a casual, connected, or committed relationship to your work. You may also want to code them based on what you believe their potential is for moving them towards becoming a committed organizational Friend. 

Warm Prospects

“Warm Prospects” are people who don’t know your work very well yet, but probably should. The idea with this strategy is to get in front of individuals or groups of people who could or should care about your work. 

  • They may be community leaders or elected officials who should know how your agency is benefiting the community.
  • Service clubs or breakfast clubs are often committed to strengthening the community and teaming up with agencies committed to doing the same thing. 
  • People who work for partner organizations or companies committed to community engagement could also fall into this category.

What are the companies, organizations, clubs, trade organizations, or other groups of people who could or should care about the work you are doing in your community? For example, if an agency teaches girls self-confidence through running, opportunities for storytelling could include running clubs or teams, women’s groups, retail stores that sell running shoes and apparel, and race event companies.

Those are all good opportunities because the people involved with these entities likely enjoy running and/or supporting youth development in girls. The businesses may also benefit from developing more passionate runners who could be future customers or team members. 

The first step with this strategy is to think creatively about those groups, clubs, businesses, teams, etc. that may attract the kind of people who would likely be passionate about your cause. Get in front of those groups! Tell your story. Then pay attention to who shows interest in what you have to say and add them to your “friend-raising” list. We delve more into recruiting in article four. 

This strategy may be very specific to your industry. If your work is in the medical field, you’ll likely look towards health related venues. Which could include events, conferences, professional organizations, and more. A brainstorming session with your current board on where these people could be found is a great exercise.

Cold Prospects

“Cold Prospects” often fall into the “clueless” category of Friends. They don’t know about you, or if they do know of you, they don’t really understand your work. The term “shotgun approach” refers to getting the word out indiscriminately; using breadth, spread, or quantity in lieu of accuracy. 

Depending on your cause and resources, this strategy can be a more difficult strategy. At the same time it can generate interest from people who are looking to get involved, but don’t know how or where to go.

A common way to capture these people through advertising. Some options include: newspaper, newsletters, social media, billboards, direct mailing, etc. These options can be expensive or require a lot of time commitment, making them inaccessible for many nonprofits. 

Still time consuming, but often less expensive options include putting fliers up at the library, coffee shops, grocery stores, etc. Having a presence at community events, festivals, farmers markets, and the like would also fall into the cold prospects category.

Posting on your social media sites or promoting through your eNewsletter is a tactic that can serve to bring awareness to your needs. Many of the people in those spaces may already have a casual or connected relationship with your agency, and intentional messaging could serve to draw them in and increase their engagement.

A slightly more targeted approach is to use online search connectors. These are systems specifically created to help connect people with causes. While I still consider these options to be a “shotgun approach,” I know of organizations that have found great volunteers through these strategies. 

As stated, reaching your clueless or confused prospects can consume a great deal of time and financial resources. In marketing they say that someone needs to see a message seven times before they will respond to it. At the same time, in addition to “friend-raising,” these tactics also help to educate people about your organization and the important work you are doing!

 

When planning your board recruitment strategies it’s a good idea to dedicate a portion of your time to each of these three prospect sources. But don’t feel like you have to do everything at once! Do a little trial and error with different options in those three categories. As you work on each, you will learn which ones work best for your organization. 

 

Final Thoughts

As you start thinking about “friend-raising,” rather than just board recruiting, you’re likely to discover many good Friends who can help advance your work in different ways. Building a strong board starts with building strong relationships. Focus on nurturing connections first — and your pool of qualified, committed board members will grow naturally from there.

When you are ready to begin identifying prospects and sources for prospects, this worksheet can help guide your conversations.

If you haven’t already, now is a good time for you to put your board needs and expectations to use by creating a description for the board position(s) that you have available. A position description can be used to post to online volunteer job boards, to create fliers to put up around your community, or to share with colleagues. 

This article has been about where to find the people who have “friendship-potential” with your organization. The next one will dig into how to deepen your connection with these prospects and vet them fit to your agency. 

 

Every nonprofit is different and has unique needs and challenges when it comes to finding governance volunteers. Email me at Kim@Athena-CoCo.com, or schedule a Discovery Call if you would like to discuss ways to advance your Board of Directors and the work of your agency.

Kim is a mom, lover of being active and the outdoors, and helper of nonprofit leaders.
kim@athena-coco.com 

Engaging Prospective Board Members

In this article I talked about where to find prospective board members. (Incidentally, the sources for finding board members are also a great place to look for good donors.) Then, in this one I talked about the importance of clarifying your board expectations. Afterall, you wouldn’t take a paid job without knowing what the company was expecting from you. Similarly, no one wants to get into a volunteer position and be caught off guard by what is expected of them.

Today’s article is going to look at those crucial next steps. Once you know what you expect from your board members, and you have some ideas about where to look for and recruit them – you need to be ready with a plan for what to do with them once you start attracting them. 

I have observed leaders who meet someone – who has a little bit of interest in their organization – and they ask them to join their board right away. Finding, recruiting, and keeping good board members is hard work. It’s understandable that leaders may want to try and capture those interested as quickly as possible. However, slowing this process down is a much better approach. Let’s explore why. 

Recruiting Your Boss

Often, especially in younger nonprofits, the Executive Director does a lot of the work of recruiting the board. It often becomes just one more of the millions of things that she or he needs to work on. The very top reason to slow down the board recruitment process is because, as the ED, you are essentially recruiting one of your bosses. It’s safe to say that you probably want to make sure that you bring on someone who you trust, who you know will make decisions with the best interest of the organization in mind, and who is volunteering for your organization for the right reasons. 

Relationships Drive the Work

The work of a nonprofit organization is highly relational. Successful organizations engage more and more people in the important work of making the world a better place. Strong and healthy boards help to share the story of the organization, connect to partners, recruit more people to engage, and ensure impact and sustainability. Discovering how a prospective board member might contribute in an effective way takes time. It requires multiple interactions to develop a relationship and understand how their involvement can be mutually beneficial. 

Good Decisions Take Time

Just like you want to make a good decision for your agency, you also want to be sure that the prospect makes a good decision for themselves. They need to make a connection to your cause; determine if they have the time, energy and capacity to serve; and decide if your board is a good fit for them. It can be very disruptive to bring on a new board member, have them stay only a few months, and then lose them. 

For these reasons and many more, I recommend that organizations put a recruitment process in place. Having a process doesn’t mean that you cannot deviate from it, it just means that you have a plan for how to develop a relationship with a potential board member. 

Every organization needs to determine how their process looks. Many factors will determine what is right for each agency. An organization’s size, maturity, current programming, current board health, needs, and challenges are just a few of the things to consider. 

When working with agencies I recommend a minimum of 3 to 4 interactions prior to inviting someone to serve on the board. In the generic example below I’ve outlined some basic elements to include.

Board Recruitment Process

  • You get a Lead. This can come from networking, through your programming, a name presented by a volunteer, etc. 
  • Qualify that the Lead seems like a good prospect. Start (or continue) the relationship-building process. Take them out for coffee or lunch. Begin to share the idea of them serving on your board. 
  • If appropriate, invite them to observe a program or operations. Help them get a feel for the work that you do. During the observations make sure that someone hosts them. You want to clearly explain the methodology of your work, what sets your agency apart, and the intentional things you are doing to make a difference. 
    • Agencies that serve highly vulnerable populations may have to find different ways of educating a prospect about their work. 
  • Again – when appropriate, have them visit and observe a board or committee meeting. This is a good way for them to get a feel for the culture and how they might fit into it. 
  • Follow-up with the prospect to answer any questions, review expectations in detail, and explore how they are feeling about the possibility of getting involved. 
  • If they are interested, present to the board for a vote.
  • Officially invite them to join – OR – thank them for going through the process. 
    • A future article will talk about what to do with them once you invite them to join and they say: “Yes!” 
    • If you need to turn them away, share honest feedback. If the door is open to future involvement, let them know. If they are not a match, be clear about that too. 

As you consider who to bring into your organization, there is a lot to think about. Are they a good fit? Do they have skills that your agency needs? Can they help with connections, open doors, or raise money? These are all important questions you need to ask. I believe the most important thing to look for is passion. Do they care about the issue your agency is addressing and your strategies for solving it? If not, they may not bring their best self to the table and they may not contribute consistently. 

When you have a great first “date,” do the next logical step and ask them to get together again. Bringing someone on your board is not as significant as getting married. So after a few good “dates” it may make sense to start talking about taking the relationship to the next level; ie: getting them involved as a volunteer. Just as you should hire slowly and choose a life partner slowly – take your time bringing on new board members. 

If your organization needs help creating a recruitment process that is right for you, I would love to help! Email me at Kim@Athena-CoCo.com to learn more. Let’s connect!

Kim is a mom, lover of being active and the outdoors,
and helper of nonprofits and small businesses.
kim@athena-coco.com