To most, it's obvious that the Board is responsible for governance, helping with strategic direction, and making sure funds/resources are properly used. Something that isn't obvious, but should be, is that the Board also has a primary role in fundraising. Not only in leadership, but also in giving and connecting donors and potential donors to the organization.

From Georgia Center for Nonprofits:

"The board must be structured to meet the primary needs of the organization. And it needs to be prepared to effectively pursue the fundraising goals it establishes in support of the organization. The board works in conjunction with the staff to bring great influence and strength in support of the organizations broader fundraising plan with the staff driving the day-to-day execution of most activities. Typically, the boards of organizations with significant, ongoing fundraising needs have a standing committee for resource development. Such committees should be chaired by and include board members (although not necessarily exclusively). Like other board committees, a fundraising committee functions as the formal mechanism through which plans are developed and brought to the board for approval and execution."

• Preparation for fundraising is greatly aided when all board members participate in the planning process, reading and providing feedback on development of the case for support, understanding the development strategies being planned, and understanding their collective and individual roles.
• Advocating on behalf of an organization is an important early part of the fundraising process. Board members bring two critical forms of leverage to the process: reach into the community through their own spheres of influence and the collective volume of their connections. Board members should look for opportunities to introduce others to their organization and to educate them about the importance of the mission. As advocates, board members should always be ready to tell the story of the organization and articulate the mains points of case for support. It is not necessary for board members to walk around with every detail and statistic. A few key statistics and a story or two illustrating the good work of their organization, combined with the board member's passion are more than enough to initially engage the prospect.
• Board members who cite time as their gift are in a good position to ask others for time. Time does not pay staff, utilities or the other hard expenses required to operate the organization. An individual who gives time is a volunteer. An individual who gives money is a donor. A board member must be both a volunteer and a donor.
• A passionate board member and a knowledgeable staff member are rarely faced with a question they cannot answer.
• A board that is well-prepared and passionate about the mission of the organization is essential to successful fundraising.

From How You Can Help Your Board Succeed:

1. Created goals, plan, objectives, a timeline and expectations — Before asking board members to help with the campaign, the development director prepared clear goals, objectives, a timeline and expectations. This is critical for board members. They need to see what the goals and plans are, so they can see what the end result looks like.
2. Inspired the board — The development director knew that she needed to inspire the board to want to participate in cultivating and soliciting donors for the campaign. She had the stories and the vision to get them excited.
3. Set expectations up front to let people off the hook — Now, you may think this is strange, but the development director only wanted board volunteers who were going to be committed to this. Her board has 20 members. She figured beforehand she needed eight of them. Here is what the expectations were:
   • Limited time of cultivating and soliciting donors — 10 months in total.
   • Everyone would have a caseload of donors they were responsible for.
   • Board members had to agree to be managed by her and one other staff member.
   • Each donor on the board member’s caseload had to have a campaign goal and a plan attached.
   • The board members had to agree to meet once per month as a team, and bi-weekly as individuals, to check in on their progress.
4. Managed the board volunteers — This was critical. The development director and her staff person were very proactive in making sure that they set up their monthly campaign meetings, and that they met individually with each board volunteer. This allowed them to help the board member with strategy, get over anxiety of asking by providing coaching, and help them feel good about the process.
5. Provided ongoing inspiration and encouragement — These board volunteers are very, very wealthy people. You may think that folks like this don’t need ongoing encouragement. Wrong. They are just people like you and me, and it was amazing how they responded to hearing stories of donors who were committing to the campaign, and how their fellow board volunteers were doing.
6. Communication — This was essential. The development team worked hard to give a weekly update on the progress of the campaign. They sent notes from meetings and communicated successes along the way.

clear expectations, goals, and strategies

Do's:

• Make sure they know exactly how fundraising works (Hint: it's not all about the money, but the passion and intent)
• Connect your board with current donors (it will be easier in the long run to inspire board members to solicit these donors in the future)