So, you’ve decided to ask the guy you met at that networking event last week to join your nonprofit’s board of directors. Or, it’s almost time for a few board members to rotate off the board and your nominating committee is ready to invite their friend to join?

Nonprofit leader planning board recruitment activities

Here are the top five things you need to know before you recruit your next board member.

You will have far more success recruiting the right board members for your nonprofit when you first work to improve the experience of your current board members.

Your organization’s growth is directly affected by the level of your board member engagement. Before you start telling everyone you know that you need new board numbers, ensure that your current board members feel valued and empowered to both advocate for your cause and to share your story. The truth is, without their help, your recruitment efforts are going to be much harder and eventually, you simply won’t be able to keep up. At best, you’ll get a yes from the wrong board member and in the worst-case scenario, your nonprofit will gain a reputation for having a board full of seat warmers.

There are countless ways to improve their experience from keeping them engaged during the meeting, empowering them to make decisions about the nonprofit’s future (instead of asking permission to do it your way), and recognizing their contributions creatively. (I have an entire post around board member recognition ideas, including really affordable options and links to help you like gthankyou.com.)

The way you run your board meetings is crucial to getting new board members started on the right path.

Whether we like it or not, the majority of the time your board members spend with you is during a board meeting. It’s up to you, as the leader of the nonprofit, to make that time count.

If you’re scrambling to send board members information for the board meeting the day of or the day before the meeting, you are setting yourself up for a rough board meeting and sending a signal to the board that their contributions really aren’t worth preparing for. You’re also not equipping them to do their job -- whether that is providing additional insight into a decision, advising on a certain issue, or making critical decisions for the nonprofit’s future. And when this model becomes the way your meetings run, new board members will never have a chance to fulfill what it is you really want from your board -- engaged, active board members who are working proactively to move your mission forward.

Understanding what (and who) your board really needs will prevent you from wasting precious resources.

Listen, I get it. Keeping your board seats full is literally a full-time job sometimes and it can seem daunting when it’s also mixed in with managing a team, running events, working with donors, and the variety of other tasks known as your full-time job. The problem with this approach, though, is that you are setting yourself up for an even bigger time suck -- managing the board member who doesn’t want to help, doesn’t show up to meetings, or doesn’t really fulfill his or her responsibilities. This leads to you, begging and pleading for help, and ultimately, doing the work yourself. Then, board members leave, saying they aren’t being used and the entire cycle begins to repeat.

It’s maddening and it doesn’t have to be this way.

By understanding what (and who) your board really needs before you recruit someone new, you’ll save yourself the heartache, time, and energy of working with the wrong people who will never get you where you want to be.

Using a board skills inventory can show you a big piece of the puzzle you need to solve.

Spencer Stuart puts it like this - Board composition lies at the heart of board effectiveness. And while the board skills inventory will only show you a piece of the puzzle - it’s not a step that should be skipped. By simply keeping an accurate and ongoing list of the talents and skills of your current board, you’ll be able to have a better understanding of what your board is missing.

The step many nonprofits miss on this, however, is limiting that skills list. Yes, it should include a list of strategic, industry-specific needs that pertain to your nonprofit. But it should also factor in other categories such as race or ethnicity diversity, gender, generational representation, and geographical representation. And above all, Karen Beavor for the Bridgespan Group reminds us that nonprofits are creating a board culture as much as they are seeking skills- and it won’t matter how many strategic needs a particular candidate fills if there’s no culture fit.

{My crash course in board management expands on this idea and offers a workbook to help you identify your ideal board member, using the board skills inventory as a starting point for that process - all included in the Nonprofit Template Library}

Recruiting a new board member really isn’t about you.

It’s time for a little honesty here, friends. I can’t see you but I want you to raise your hand if you have ever said “we need board members and I promise it won’t take much of your time.” Or, “our by-laws require 12 board members and we’re down to 10. Do you want to join us?”

Or, have you ever been at a networking event, sensed someone is vaguely interested in volunteering, and then proceeded to vomit all of the information about all of your programs and services all over the person? (Never!!)

The truth is, how you talk about what your board needs makes a big difference in the quality of the candidate you’ll recruit. If you’re asking for someone who doesn’t mind giving up one hour of their time each month, that’s what you’ll get. And when you ask them to do more like attending an event, make some phone calls, or write a thank-you note? They’ll remember that you were the one who told them that all you needed was one hour a month.

Changing the way you talk about your board and recruit board members will result in attracting a different kind of board member -- hopefully, one that enters the commitment with an intent to do the work.

This way of speaking (what I call using your “board voice”) should permeate the social media posts you share, the emails you send, and the way your website copy is written.

Where and how you recruit is as important as who you recruit.

Just like you wouldn’t open your front door and shout about your specific job posting to anyone walking by, you don’t want to blindly share your message on every social media platform and in every group you encounter. You need to get strategic about where you’re sharing your message and look in the right places for those who will be listening to hear what you have to say.

This involves doing research about your ideal board member, understanding how they think, where they spend their time, and other organizations they are currently involved with.

And once you’ve determined those factors, it requires a strategic type of message to ensure that your request is received in a way that feels authentic and unique to the person on the receiving end.

There are four key components that every recruitment message should include:

An appeal to the ideal board member audience right off the bat and a soft ask
A succinct summary of the transformation your nonprofit provides
Some social proof by showing who is already filling this need and the benefit they gain through their service
Another nod to your ideal audience and an ask that has clear guidance on what you want to happen next.

When you can send the right message, to the right person, at the right time, that’s where the recruitment magic happens!

Building a Better Board is no doubt, one of the most important goals of a thriving nonprofit, and recruiting new board members is a task that will just never go away as long as you’re leading your nonprofit. At the end of the day, your goals are to have board members who:

are active participants in the mission of the nonprofit.
are champions of your cause, sharing your mission, and advocating for the resources you need to achieve your goals.
show up, do the work, and proactively ask what you need.

When you work to improve the experience of your current board while also recruiting the right board members, you set yourself and your nonprofit up for success. I understand this takes time and it’s a process that requires discipline and strategy.

Until next time, keep making a great first impression online!