A national crisis. A heart-breaking pandemic. And missions that must still address serious problems:

Justice that needs to be equal

Hungry kids that need to be fed.

Animals that need to be rescued

Homeless families that need shelter

Systemic racism that needs to end

An environment that needs to be saved.

Each organization needs all hand on deck, but let’s start with the Board. They have Fiduciary Responsibility. They hold the organization’s future in trust.

Here are four easy ways Board Members can help during hard times:

1. Each board member needs to dig deep. They need to make leadership gifts. To institute this action find an advocate on the board. This may be the Board Chair, but it must be an influencer – that person that everyone listens to. The influencer needs to address the entire board and explain the need for philanthropic leadership. Then have the influencer choose a couple of board members, who understand the need to help, call each board member personally to emphasize the board’s role in meeting financial goals in times of crisis.
2. Invite board members to help communicate with major donors. Share a list of top donors with very brief bios. Ask each board member to sign up to contact 3-5 donors. Ask them to choose people they already have a good relationship with or people that the bios indicate might be a good match (She’s an attorney. I’m an attorney. She like this particular program. I do, too. She hates events. I do, too. ) Then give the board members a script for an initial contact and a list of possible ways to stay in touch and deepen the relationship with the organization.
3. Have board members commit to making thank you calls or writing hand-written thank you notes to donors. Staying in touch is even more important when we can’t get together, and donor retention is key.
4. Ask each board member to list 1-3 people they know personally (colleagues, neighbors, members of their social group or faith community) who might have an interest in your mission. Have the board member make a call or send an email, text or note that says they would like for that person to chat with you, that you work for an organization that is doing great work and you wanted them to hear about it. It may not be as easy to meet for coffee or lunch as it once was, but we still need to grow our donor base.

Four simple activities that can assure your mission’s future – all because good board member came to the aid of the organization. Ahhhh – teamwork.