Tuesday November 25- Keep the Board informed

Hi !

Les Nessman: What’s cookin this week 

In this week’s enews…

• The two-way street with the Board

• How to keep the Board informed

• How to get the Board to fundraise

• Great post: Upgrading your donor list

• Gratitude 

The solution to the Triple E (enews easter egg) from last week: Famous characters played by Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live. I recently watched the Eddie Murphy doc on Netflix- loved it!

This week’s pain point involves working with the Board. Your relationship with them has to be a two-way street of dialogue, connection, discussion and working to ensure the overall health of the organization.

I want to focus on one element of how you can keep the Board informed about what’s going on. Let’s dive in: Does the Board know?

Turkey giveaway: It’s not easy 

As I meet and speak with nonprofits, I always ask what their biggest pain points are. More and more the Board is mentioned as a friction point.

Let’s start at the beginning: The Board gives their time, effort and know how to managing the organization and making sure its short and long term health are secured.

Some of you work in concert with your Board. And some of you… well, you’re pulling your hair out. The Board isn’t helping with fundraising (see the “they’re crashing to the earth” section below for help with this!), they’re making unreasonable demands, they have no idea what they should be doing.

I completely get it. It’s frustrating and hurts your ability to not only get your job done but help the organization grow.

Let’s look at one of the areas where the Board should be front and center. They are hopefully serving as ambassadors for your organization. They are proud to be associated with your nonprofit, they tell people about your mission and work and get others involved (in different ways).

But for Board members to be effective ambassadors, they need YOUR help! They need information, impact data, stories and more from your team. Without that, they don’t have much to say when presenting to others.

Fundraising and marketing are a two-way street. You have to provide value for your audience, educate them, give them a reason to connect and engage with you.

The same goes for your work with the Board. This is a two-way street and you have to help them, just like they have to help you.

What does that look like? I have a great example for you to learn from.

Helicopter: How to update the Board

The Good People Fund (GPF) identifies creative visionaries addressing compelling societal challenges primarily in the U.S. and Israel and provides them with financial support, mentorship, education and a supportive community.

Full disclosure: I am very familiar with GPF’s work. I know current and past grantees. Additionally, I believe I wrote a grant request to them 15 years ago and they funded a program at the organization I worked at.

I love the work of the GPF. It’s not just who and what they fund but that they bring added value to their grantees with educational sessions, helping them grow and creating a community that grantees can use.

GPF has a Board. Part of the work the GPF staff is involved in is keeping the Board informed. They do that with their weekly Friday email called Shabbat Snippets (Shabbat is the Hebrew word for Sabbath).

Each Friday Board members receive Shabbat Snippets, a quick recap of what happened that week at GPF. Think about the value of the Snippets as an internal communications tool for GPF.

A short snippet, a picture, a link. Simple but enough to keep the Board informed about an article about a grantee that was recently published.

A gratitude snippet! Founders of a grantee said thank you to GPF. GPF staff made sure to share that gratitude video with the Board.

I love that GPF sends out these snippets every week to Board members. The Board stays on top of what’s going on with grantees in the field, learns more about grantees and has plenty of content to share and talk about when going into ambassador mode.

This is how you create that two-way street with the Board!

I know that some of you present the latest and greatest at monthly/quarterly Board meetings. But what if, instead of throwing everything at them at once, you broke it up into digestible pieces of content?

And yes, I am very aware that some of you may not have the bandwidth for a weekly email to the Board. But keep in mind: The more they know, the better they can represent your mission to others. And that’s critical for growth!

There are many ways to create a two-way street with the Board. Today I’m sharing one way with you. A strong relationship with the Board can be a huge plus for your organization.

Wanna grow and thrive? Keep the Board up to date.

They’re crashing to the earth right in front of our eyes: How to get the Board to fundraise

I recently announced the How Do I online conference in January- the conference for staff at GROWING nonprofits (budget below $5 million). I’m using this section to introduce you to one of the conference speakers, leading fundraising expert Barbara O’Reilly.

When I have a fundraising and/or Board related question, Barbara O’Reilly of Windmill Hill Consulting is one of the people I reach out to. Barbara is one of the most knowledgeable and experienced fundraisers I know. With over 30 years of expertise, Barbara has worked in house with both growing nonprofits and some of the largest organizations out there. She is a master strategist, Board trainer and an excellent teacher.

At the conference, Barbara will be teaching a session titled “How do I get the Board to fundraise.” You’ll learn how to get your Board involved in fundraising and helping your nonprofit grow.

Here is part of what Barbara says you’ll walk away with:

• Analyze your organization’s needs and determine the Board composition that best supports your mission and fundraising goals.

• Design and apply a Board orientation process that equips members with the knowledge, confidence and motivation to engage in fundraising.

• Create a tailored fundraising menu of activities and commitments that aligns with individual Board members’ strengths, capacity and comfort level.

Lemme add a Board fundraising tip from Barbara:

Early bird pricing is on right now! Seats are limited so reserve your tickets today for the How Do I conference. Discounts available for multiple tickets.

Hoping to see you on January 20 and 21 where you’ll learn the steps, get expert tips, best practices, how to and practical advice so you exceed your fundraising goals in 2026 and beyond.

Oh the humanity: A little of this and that

In this section I’m going to share with you great content I’ve picked out that you can learn from.

1. Upgrading your donor list. A MUST READ from a How Do I conference presenter! (Windmill Hill Consulting)

2. Debunking endowment fund myths (Nonprofit Pro)

3. Confessions of an email unsubscriber (Action Rocket)

4. A guide to cause marketing (Eventgroove)

5. 5 matching gift mistakes to avoid (Fundraising IP)

As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly: Gratitude

Thursday is Thanksgiving and this year I’m in the U.S. Where will I be? Let’s just say that I’m crossing something off my bucket list on Thursday. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll find out.

But before Thanksgiving, I want to take this opportunity to thank you. Whether you’ve been a subscriber of my enewsletters from back in 2019 (lookin at you Jim!) or a recent subscriber ( 👋 Brianna!), I know you have a very large choice of enews to subscribe to and limited time.

Therefore I want to say thank you and let you know how much I appreciate you! I am thankful that you take time to open, read, reply and click. I respond to every reader email I get not just because it’s a best practice (in my opinion) but because I really really ENJOY hearing from you!

I will continue to do my best to provide solutions to pain points you may be experiencing and help your organization grow and thrive. But I want you to know that I am grateful for you and the work you do- 365/24/7- to make the world a better place.

You rock!

🎶 I listened to a dance mix of 80s songs while crafting this week’s enews. Something to get the fingers typing and the feet tapping.

I’ll be back in your inbox next Thursday. Have a great holiday weekend!