Nonprofit board recruitment: How to recruit better board members with effective messaging
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?”
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. In fact, it can be extremely detrimental to your organization. Effective board governance is a cornerstone of high-performing, high-impact charitable organizations.
The key to breaking the crazy cycle of poor recruitment is to start the board member experience on an entirely different note - one that not only speaks their language but that sets the expectations from the very beginning.
This isn’t to say that if you only recruit the right person, all of your board problems will disappear.
But, 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.
I call this using your board voice. The fact is, the way you speak to potential board members must be different than how you speak to other types of volunteers and definitely different than how you speak to your general audience.
We must, in one fell swoop, understand and acknowledge that a board member is a volunteer, a current (or future) donor, and an advocate. When we enter conversations with that mindset, we are able to fine tune our message to be one of gratitude, hope, and a camaraderie around a common cause.
So what does this look like, practically?
First, it looks like taking gaps you’ve identified inside a Board Skills Inventory, pairing it with your ideal board member profile, and crafting language that brings the two together in a simple and effective way. Easier said than done, right?
There are all kinds of board member gaps out there so don’t let that part hang you up. You might need someone skilled in the medical field, a finance expert, or an expert contractor that could easily take care of concrete floor polishing – it takes all kinds to run an effective board!]
How to effectively share a board member opportunity
Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you identified a gap in your current board’s legal experience. And, that you have an ideal board member profile of someone who is active in their local community, works within a corporate setting, has a family, and might be active in either golf, the fitness community, or a similar type of sport. (We don’t know that this person exists -- we only know that if we could create our ideal board member, this would get pretty close).
An example board recruitment message
With this particular example, one part of your recruitment efforts might be a social media post that reads something like:
If you’re working in the legal field and want a break from reading contracts or being on the phone all day, we should talk. [Nonprofit name here] makes it possible for young women to get a fresh start by equipping them with the resources they need to find employment, stable housing, and find a path to a better, more fulfilling life.
Making this happen for thousands of women takes a village and an important part of our village is our board of directors. The 15 men and women who serve on our board have a front-row seat to watching these brave women go through the transformation of their lives and there’s a seat at that table for you.
If you’re interested in using your legal expertise and leadership to help us give these women a new start in life, we should talk. You can reach out to us on our website at (website) or send us a message on Facebook.
So let’s break this down into a few different sections.
Appeal to your ideal board member
The first sentence speaks directly to your ideal board member -- we’ve targeted the area of legal expertise and now we’re catering our message to that particular field.
Many nonprofits worry that they will inadvertently exclude people by using this message. And while it’s true that if I’m an accountant, I might not read this particular post, that’s okay. Accountants are not your ideal target right now. The truth is, if you try to talk to everybody, you’lll end up talking to nobody. You’ve also included a soft call to action right at the end of that sentence -- we should talk. You’re telling them up front that all we’re asking for is a conversation.
State your transformation
The next sentence is about the transformation you offer our clients. It’s not a long, running list of the number of programs and services you offer. Rather, it gives potential board members a glimpse into the why of your organization -- the heart of what you do.
Appeal to the group mindset
The next paragraph sets the stage for what you need -- you’re able to show that you already have people who have said yes to this opportunity and also make the case for why serving on the board benefits the board member. Who doesn’t want to be a part of making good work happen?
Frame the experience and call to action
In the last paragraph, you again drop mention of our ideal board member’s skillset and tell them exactly what their service will accomplish -- to give these women a new start in life. You end with a call to action to reach out in one of two different ways.
While this might sound like a lot of work to create this type of messaging, it happens to be a great investment of your time. Plus, it’s not something with a short shelf life.
Ideally, you’d be able to create a handful of these types of messages for different types of board members and then simply re-use them when you’re in recruitment mode the next time, making small tweaks where necessary.
Plus, once you craft this language, you can re-use it in multiple ways -- social media captions, your website, in emails, and in scripts you give to your board members. (See this post about board recruitment via social media)
Need more strategic advice on board recruitment? Check out the many board resources in the Nonprofit Template Library that others are calling "required training for nonprofit leaders."
Final thoughts on board recruitment messaging
By learning to use your board voice, you change the way you approach the entire board recruitment process. As you refine your message and learn how to target your ideal board member, you’ll see the quality of candidates evolve and the chances of getting the right board member vastly increase.
Take some time to work up one to three examples of your own, using your unique information. Remember, the message should have the following components:
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 ask that has clear guidance on what you want to happen next.
So now that you know how to use your board voice in your messaging, the next step is to get that message out in the right place. Check back next time for part two of this message— where to focus your board recruitment efforts.
Until next time,
Andrea
Related Articles:
The five things you need to know before you recruit board members for your nonprofit
How To Identify Your Ideal Board Member
How to find more board members for your nonprofit (and welcome ideas, too)
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