"You are not a bad board member. You are not lazy. You are not broken. You are having a completely rational response to a completely broken system."
"The model most nonprofits use for major gift fundraising was built 50 years ago, and it does not work on today's donors. The model goes like this: Get a list of names. Make some calls. Ask for money. That is the entire strategy."
"It is killing your relationships. It is killing your donor pipeline. And it is making good board members like you feel icky. Real talk: You are being asked to do the wrong job. Your actual job is to be a partner in fundraising, not a salesperson for it."
"The villain is not your executive director. The villain is not you. The villain is not even your donors. The villain is a broken model that treats fundraising as solicitation and nothing else."
A board member feels anxious about being told to ask friends for money and worries about damaging relationships. The response reframes the anxiety as a rational reaction to a broken fundraising system. Major gift fundraising models built decades ago rely on lists, calls, and direct asks, which do not match how today’s donors engage. This approach can harm relationships, weaken the donor pipeline, and make capable board members feel uncomfortable. The board member’s role is described as partnering in fundraising rather than acting as a salesperson. The problem is identified as a solicitation-only model rather than the executive director, the board member, or donors.
Read at Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.
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