turn your board from bored to blazing: 7 steps to fire up ...2012/turn+yo… · 7 steps to a...

Gail  Perry    Facebook:  Fired  Up  Fundraising  

twi9er:  @gailperrync

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Turn Your Board from Bored to Blazing:

7 Steps to Fire Up Your Board

The Fired-Up System for Board Members:

We’re discussing Phase 1 today.

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Fire-­‐Up  Your  Board!  

2.  Redefine  Fund-­‐raising  

3.    

Easy  NO  ASK  Jobs    

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7 Steps to A Fired-Up Board

1. Personal story.

2. Where does the $ go?

3. Mission moments.

4. Interesting meetings.

5. Give them what they want.

6. Social time.

7. Clarity on action items.

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"If you always do what you always did,

you'll always get what you always got."

Psych Yourself Up

•  Take responsibility. •  Don’t assume they know what do do. •  Listen. •  You’re in the motivation business.

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Board members need to connect with the passion

that brought them to you.

Why Do You Care About

Our Organization?

Four Steps to the Elevator

Speech

Step 1. What You Say

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“I didn't have time to write a

short letter, so

I wrote a long one instead.

~Mark Twain

Make it Short

 “If you can’t explain it simply,

you don’t understand it well

enough.”

~Einstein  

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Make it Simple

Step 2: How You Say It!

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• Energy

• Enthusiastic

• Authentic

• Honest

• Personal

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm!

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Can you change the energy in a

room when you walk in?  That’s the kind of energy that

can change worlds.

 Board  Members  Get  to  be    SNEEZERS    

(Viral  Messaging)  

Step 3: Invite Conversation  

“What  are  YOUR  impressions?”    

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Step 4: Request Followup

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What kind of followup requests can you make?

“Gail, I am putting some of your ideas into action….

At our last Trustee meeting, I asked, “What legacy do you want to leave from serving on this board?”

Well, you would have thought I had opened the flood gates. One man told us about his cousin in hospice . . . and how we helped his family through that terrible time.

This turned out to be the best meeting we've had so far on with this group in the last 3 years!

I can’t change them, but I can change me. Laurie Taylor, Lower Cape Fear Hospice Foundation

Great Results!

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A Deep Discussion

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A Deep Discussion

#2 Where Does The $ Go?

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•  A panel discussion or interview format.

•  Why does it cost so much?

•  Program by program.

•  How much does it cost per person?

•  Story about someone whose life was changed.

#3 Mission Moments:  Give Board Members a Direct

Personal Experience  

Cancel your next board meeting and take everyone on a field trip.

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A Word About

Nonprofit BOARDS

Is This Your Board?

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Is  This  Your  Board?  

Is This Your Board?

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Is This Your Board?

Is This Your Board Meeting?

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“After all is said and done, more is said than done.”

--Aesop ���

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Your Board?

“If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.”

Jack Welch

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Is This Your Board? Is This Your Board? Is This Your Board?

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Is This Your Board? Boring Meetings = A Bored Board

 #4 Liven Up Your Meetings  NOT Business As Usual

12 Ways To Liven Up Your Board Meeting

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1.  Focus on results.

2.  Be creative with the agenda.

3.  Focus on problems, challenges, broad issues.

4.  Look at trends within routine reports.

5.  Plan big.

6.  Cheerleading sessions.

12 Ways To Liven Up Your Board Meeting

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7. Use consent agendas.

8. Interview the Executive Director.

9. Set up one interesting item for a discussion.

10. Select a theme for each meeting.

11. Create “mission moments” in every board meeting.

12. Break into groups. Find this handout on my website: Firedupfundraising.com

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A board meeting. . . that folks enjoy so much that they want to come back again?

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Reasons to Return to a Meeting 1.  Learning 2.  Recognition 3.  Efficient 4.  Effective 5.  Irritants deal with 6.  Have fun!

#5 Give Them What

They Want

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Understand where board members

are coming from.

What Do Board Members Want?

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To get their hands dirty.

What Do Board Members Want?

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To work with people who are as passionate and excited about the organization as they are.

What Do Board Members Want?

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To feel that their time is used wisely.

What Do Board Members Want?

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To meet the other board members.

-June Bradham

“What Nonprofit Boards Want”

The Number One Reason People Join Nonprofit

Boards?

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Who else is on the board! -June Bradham

“What Nonprofit Boards Want”

What Determines How Much $$

Your Board Members Will Give?

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How much they enjoy their experience as a board member.

-June Bradham

“What Nonprofit Boards Want”

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7 Steps to A Fired-Up Board

1. Personal story.

2. Where does the $ go?

3. Mission moments.

4. Interesting meetings.

5. Give them what they want.

6. Social time.

7. Action items.

#5 Give Them Social Time #6 Give Them Social Time

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Down Time Together is Essential

Social Time For Board Members

Builds Trust and Collegiality

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And TEAM

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team  

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1.  Absence  of  Trust  

2.  Fear  of  Conflict    

3.  Lack  of  Commitment  

4.  Avoidance  of  Accountability  

5.  Ina9enVon  to  Results  

If they don’t attend your board’s social functions, what’s the

matter?

They don’t want to meet the other board members!

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Group Process  

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A Nonprofit Board Needs to Function as a Team  

Peer Pressure: The Best Motivator  

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#7 Clarity What’s Their Job?  

•  Champion – the cause and the case

•  Invite . . . others to get involved and engaged

•  Invest . . . to help fund the vision.

~ forimpact.org

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#7 Clarity What Expectations?  

•  They agree among themselves.

•  Staff can’t set it for them.

•  “If it’s to be. . . It’s up to me.”

•  Gotta have leadership.

~ forimpact.org

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#7 Clarity On Action Items!  

•  What do they need to accomplish in the next 2 months?

•  What is each individual board member’s action item?

•  Rule of THREE!

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7 Steps to A Fired-Up Board

1. Personal story.

2. Where does the $ go?

3. Mission moments.

4. Interesting meetings.

5. Give them what they want.

6. Social time.

7. Clarity on action items.

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This is What You Will Get!

“It was such a thrill to see the body language and faces of our board members change . . .

from reservation, reluctance, and uncertainty to . . .

smiles, laughs and excitement.”

~Abby Johnston, Director of Development, Saint Mary’s School, NC

Next Webinar on Phase 2: Redefine fundraising into “Friendmaking.”

Unleash more energy than you ever imagined!

1.    

Fire-­‐Up  Your  Board!  

2.  Redefine  Fund-­‐raising  

3.    

Easy  NO  ASK  Jobs    

June  INSIDERS  Webinars  on  Boards  

June  12:  Easy  Friendmaking  for  Board  Members    

June  19:  Create  a  Fundraising  AcQon  Plan  for  Your  Board  Members  

June  26:  Create  a  Dream  Team  Board  

Resources  on  my  site:    •  20  EASY  Ways  Board  Members  Can  CulVvate  Donors  

•  10  Easy  Ways  Board  Members  Can  Raise  Money  

•  12  Ways  to  Liven  Up  Your  Board  MeeVngs  —and  Your  Board  

•  Ten  Basic  ResponsibiliVes  of  Nonprofit  Boards  

•  The  Board’s  Resource  Development  Commi9ee  Job  DescripVon  

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