Comment from an Executive Director
May 8th, 2008Here’s a comment from an executive director of a nonprofit organization in New York:
Thanks for chatting with me. Here are some of the questions I’m running
into:What is the Board’s financial participation with your organization?
Please include a summary of the total pledges provided by the Board
members to this particular request.
>
> What percentage of your directors/trustees contributes annually to
> your organization?
>
> What percentage of total annual private sector fundraising is
> comprised of your directors/trustees’ contributions?
The last two questions came from M&T Charitable Foundation.
I’m interested to learn how other organizations are responding to such
questions and how common these questions are. I’ll share what I learn.”
I told this E.D. that this is the first time I’ve seen these kinds of questions: in the past, most foundations have just wanted to know whether 100% of the board gave money. I think this might be a dangerous trend, encouraging groups to only put on the board their donors who can give the most, instead of those who can add balance or provide economic diversity. On the other hand, having board members make a financial commitment that might be a stretch is a good idea. Just letting them know that someone is looking at their gifts should encourage them to give (and they should already know that if you publish an annual report listing donors in giving catergories, such as $500-999.)
Do you have thoughts on this subject? Please post them in the comments, below, or write me at katherine@werth-it.com.