In my book, I suggest that it should be the Executive Director that begins the ask process of the Board, and I give detailed advice on how to go about it. Technically, I know that this is not how it _should_ be, however.

Boards really should be asked by their peers. The problem is, this can delay you or possibly even derail you entirely. And when it comes to fundraising, that shouldn’t be acceptable. In my experience, many small and very small non-profits are just not ready to handle this, and so I recommend doing it yourself the first year.

Fortunately, at City Club, I have a really wonderful board president. Since September, she and I have met once a week for coffee. We keep our meetings to an hour, knowing that we can cover anything we don’t get to the next week.

Early on I talked to her about the need for 100% board giving. Fundraising was fairly new to her, so I felt like I had a good opportunity to tell her my vision for it, as laid out in the book. (I actually gave her a copy too, so she would see where I was coming from.

She introduced the topic at our Tuesday board meeting, and I think it went really well. We’ve already gotten a couple gifts and they are all larger than I would have expected, thanks to her ability to frame it appropriately. We didn’t ask for a number, but instead asked for a gift that would place City Club as one of a board member’s largest philanthropic gifts. I think it was well-suited to our board culture.

Throughout the next month she’ll be calling board members and following up with them.

I hope that we will be able to get to 100% by our next meeting.