It’s a nonprofit board chair’s responsibility to build and maintain a strong board. Whether you have a 20-person board or are actively recruiting new members, Growth for Good always recommends building an active pipeline of future board prospects.

Here are 10 tips to follow:

1. First, create a board development and nominating committee to define a manageable recruitment process and draft a board job description.
2. Share your recruitment process and needs with your board, staff, and other stakeholders, and script them for outreach: “I’m deeply passionate about ABC Nonprofit. They are always looking to grow their board, especially with professionals like you with experience in [finance, law, philanthropy, marketing…]. If you are interested I’d be happy to send you the job description and application.”
3. Adapt your board bylaws to allow for nonmember committee contributors. It’s a great way to train and vet prospects with specific expertise before you invite them to join your board.
4. Assess which professional skills are missing from your board and make sure that all mid- to high-level donors with these talents are added to your outreach communications list. With proper cultivation they may become a board prospect or help introduce you to great talent.
5. Determine who will be terming off your board and ask them to help cultivate their replacement with someone who has similarly strong experience. Your current board member may have an alumni network or professional association that they can tap into.
6. Invite benefit committee members and/or corporate sponsors to serve on your fundraising planning committee to see if they will be able to contribute more of their time, treasure, and connections to your cause. And/or invite committed volunteers or foundations funders to serve on your fundraising or strategic planning committee to encourage them to contribute more generatively and financially. Once engaged, they may become strong board prospects.
7. Add a link to your board member job description and/or online application to your nonprofit’s website and Facebook and LinkedIn profiles, encouraging interested applicants to submit their resume or apply. [For more tips on using social media, click here.]
8. Post your board job description on free board match websites, like BoardNet, Idealist, OnBoard/CharitySTRONG, and VolunteerMatch. [For more resources, click here or visit BoardSource.]
9. If you are looking for more diverse members (isn’t every nonprofit!?), share your board job description with corporate donors and ask that they share it with their company’s diversity and inclusion officer. Current board members should also share the job description within their companies.
10. Share your board member job description with your staff and ask them if they know smart people with the skills missing from your board. Who better to represent and build your agency?!

We take our name very seriously. Right now we are working with organizations on board assessments, succession, and recruitment, so they can grow for good. If you are interested in learning more about our board development service, email us at: contact@growthforgood.com

Click here to see our Board Member Job Description Checklist.

Photo Credits: Isaac D., Easton Oliver, and Rob Walsh on Unsplash

What our clients say about us
“Thank you, Claudia Zeldin and Growth for Good for presenting our New Jersey non-profit community with a very important webinar, ‘Develop a Better Board: Effective Ways to Find Talented Board Members.’ Claudia really understands the challenges non-profit leaders face during board recruitment and offered excellent tips on how to be organized through the process and innovative ways to do the searching, interviewing and onboarding. The Center for Non-Profits is grateful for her generosity in time and expertise and looks forward to working again with Growth for Good.” – Susan Merrill O’Connor, Communications Specialist, Center for Non-Profits