Get your Board Members to Play the Matching Game

While nonprofits continue to scramble to raise the unrestricted funds necessary to ensure basic operations, it is not uncommon for funders, particularly government agencies, to require applicants to document matching funds to complete a program budget.

On the one hand, this is yet another example of the disturbing policy of requiring nonprofits to fundraise for a share of the work they’re being contracted to perform. But on the other hand, as advisers who spend our days helping executive directors and board chairpersons motivate their board teams to fundraise more actively, we at Cause Effective see an opportunity when a match is required. It can be the extra oomph needed to get your board members more involved.

Let’s look at the elements required for success:

Urgency: You must document your match by a specific deadline to apply for the funds. It’s now or never for your board to step up.

Case: Your mission has a face. Remind board members that they’re not asking for the organization in general, but for specific people receiving vital services. Kick off your campaign with a live event where board members can interact with the program’s staff and participants.

Goals: Assure your matching goal is within reach of your board’s historic levels of fundraising. If the whole match amount would require a record-breaking effort by your board, segment off a piece that would be realistic given their actual performance.

Dive in, and, with your development committee allies, talk with the board members directly about what they would be willing to give directly to the campaign and who in their circles they might approach and for how much. It’s better to set an achievable goal and have your board make it – and feel good about themselves (and then perhaps bite off another piece) – than to set a higher threshold, fall short, and have your board’s view of fundraising confirmed as “too hard for us.”

Time-bound: Devise your campaign to raise the match with a clear start and end date that allows for planning, outreach, follow-up and celebration so your directors’ involvement is for a specific period of time. Best to schedule it during a quarter that does not contain a major asking event, such as a gala.

Build a team: This special campaign provides an opportunity to recruit some fresh blood. Are there board members with a particular attachment to the beneficiaries of the targeted program? Can you anoint a board member to be the voice of the campaign among his or her peers as a leadership training experience? (You should expect to provide plenty of support from behind the curtain.)

One Bite at a Time: Have you recognized that these recommendations are the same as those that drive basic board fundraising? The match requirement gives you a chance to market core fundraising principles to your board in ways they might hear differently than the usual pleas for help.

These principles (urgency, case, goals, timing and team) can be used to construct any discrete special campaign to fire up your board.

Gregory Cohen is a Senior Associate at Cause Effective, which helps New York City nonprofits strengthen their relationship-based fundraising and build boards which govern and fundraise with confidence and skill.  He has provided training, coaching and led retreats for the boards and staff members of hundreds of nonprofits throughout the region.