Aquariums as Organizations: A Short Story

The care and feeding of the wide variety of board members found in your aquarium is essential to nurture growth in fundraising.

The different species of board members providing the legal and financial backbone of nonprofit organizations are as diverse as the fish found in the National Aquarium.

Like the marine scientists who oversee the health of the life forms in their gigantic tanks, you want to employ an array of options to inspire and engage your board members in fundraising.

First, I’ll share a sprinkling of what you can do in chronological order:

1. Meet individually with board members to confirm their own financial commitment and to build rapport.

2. As often as possible, share impact stories that they can relay to their networks.

3. Ask them to thank major funders, to facilitate more connections to your organization.

4. Create attractive images and messaging for them to share via email and social media.

5. Build a home gathering (or video gathering) program to introduce the organization to small groups of their friends and acquaintances.

Now, what's in your box of fish food to build better board fundraisers?