The Impact Issue #44: Unlock Your Nonprofit Board’s Potential

Hey there!

This week, we are:

• Diving into strategies to turn your board members into fundraising rockstars,
• Introducing an innovative engagement tool,
• And showcasing a creative fundraising idea you don’t want to miss.

Let’s make the most of your board’s potential and elevate your nonprofit’s impact!

Welcome to The Impact 😃!

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Pitfalls and Pointers

⚠️ Pitfall: Underestimating Your Board’s Role in Fundraising

Many nonprofits fail to fully engage their board members in fundraising efforts, treating them as passive advisors rather than active participants. This often leads to missed opportunities for leveraging their networks, expertise, and influence to secure funding.

💡 Pointer: Activate and Empower Your Board

Your nonprofit board has immense potential to amplify your mission—if engaged the right way. Make fundraising a shared responsibility by equipping board members to contribute effectively:

• Define clear roles: Set specific expectations for fundraising activities, from donor outreach to event hosting.
• Provide training: Offer workshops or coaching to boost their confidence in asking for support.
• Leverage their networks: Encourage members to connect with personal and professional contacts to find opportunities for partnerships, sponsorships, in-kind or monetary donations, or to cover other needs your organization may have!
• Recognize efforts: Celebrate their contributions to reinforce engagement and accountability.

Need more tips? Check out this article 👇

😠 Why Your Board Hates Fundraising and What To Do About It!

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Tech You Should Know

What: Mentimeter

Tired of disengaged board meetings or one-sided discussions? Meet Mentimeter, an interactive presentation tool that can transform how you engage with your board. Mentimeter allows you to create live polls, Q&A sessions, and interactive slides to gather real-time input and keep discussions dynamic.

How It Can Help Your Nonprofit:

• Boost Participation: Collect anonymous feedback to hear honest opinions.
• Foster Collaboration: Use live polls to prioritize ideas or vote on decisions.
• Streamline Discussions: Visualize input with word clouds, bar charts, or pie graphs to keep everyone aligned.

🎯 Pro Tip: Use Mentimeter during strategic planning sessions to prioritize goals based on collective input.

🚀 Explore Mentimeter Now!

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Expert Perspectives

🏆 Jan Spackman, Director of Grants at Sleep in Heavenly Peace, on “Getting Your Board on Board”

Sometimes it might feel like pulling teeth to get board members engaged with your fundraising efforts. While we hope that’s not the case, we know that it can be the reality. In this Instrumentl workshop, Jan Spackman provides tips on how to engage your board, double your funding, and stop losing sleep in the process.

Here’s her expert advice:

• Inspire With Vision: Communicate your nonprofit’s impact with stories and tangible results to make your mission engaging to your board members, and give them clear points to share with their contacts.
• Make Fundraising Manageable: Break fundraising tasks into achievable steps. For example, provide templates for donor emails or social media posts to make outreach easier.
• Lead by Example: Encourage board leaders to model engagement by contributing personally or hosting events—others will follow their lead.

Want all five tips to activate your board’s fundraising potential?

📣 Dive into the full webinar!

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Fundraising Inspiration

Reverse Raffle: A New Spin on Tradition

🎉 A reverse raffle turns the traditional raffle format upside down, keeping participants engaged until the very end!

Here’s How It Works:

1. Sell raffle tickets as usual.
2. Draw names, but instead of the first name drawn being the winner, eliminate tickets one by one.
3. The last ticket standing wins the grand prize.

Why It Works:

• Builds excitement and anticipation as the pool of participants shrinks.
• Encourages attendees to stick around until the end of your event.
• Raises funds while creating a fun, engaging atmosphere.

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Opportunities Spotlight

✨ P.E.A.R.L. Pledge

Who It’s For: Organizations operating anywhere inside the United States dedicated to creating opportunities for Black women and girls

Next Deadline: June 26, 2025

Grant Amount: $10,000- $100,000

The Details: The P.E.A.R.L. Pledge program seeks to fund organizations that uphold 5 different pillars: Prosperity, Empowerment, Access, Representation and Leadership for Black girls and women in the United States.

👉 Apply Here!

🌟Sachs Family Foundation Grant

Who It’s For: Organizations and institutions in the United States with an established record of increasing economic and educational opportunities in both low-income, inner-city neighborhoods, as well as in rural areas.

Next Deadline: Rolling Deadline

Grant Amount: $1,500 median grant amount

The Details: The Sachs Family Foundation's primary commitment is to improving the overall quality of life for economically and/or educationally disadvantaged individuals and families who have a genuine desire to help themselves. To support that mission, the Sachs Family Foundation supports projects focused on low-income housing, affordable day care, after-school programs, drug rehabilitation clinics, juvenile intervention (pre-incarceration) counseling, and job-training among others!

👉 Apply Here!

🔍 Explore thousands of other grant opportunities now!

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Networking Nook

📅 Conference: NonProfit Learning Lab: Designing Inclusive Surveys for Effective Fundraising

January 22, 2022 | 12 pm ET | Online

This workshop will dive into techniques for crafting questions that invite honest responses from a broad audience. From identifying biases to ensuring accessibility, this session will show how even small adjustments can make a big impact on the quality and representativeness of your data. This practical course will give you the skills to design effective surveys to capture underrepresented voices in your community. 

✅ Register Now!

To check out more recent and upcoming live events, go here.

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In Case You Missed It

📑 Article:  How to Find Foundation Grants for Nonprofits in Instrumentl

This article gives an overview of how to search for corporate, private, and community foundation grants, and the pros and cons that each might bring to your nonprofit fundraising.

✅ Get the Full Story!

📼 Webinar: Making Money Moves: Motivating Your Board Members to Give

From our partners at Givebutter, check out this webinar discussing how to involve, motivate, and engage your board members and reach your fundraising goals in the process.

✅ Watch the Webinar!

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Instrumentl Can Help You Find Your Next Grant

Ready to find grants that can enhance your mission?

Check out our extensive grants database which features more than 400,000 funders and 17,000+ active grant opportunities. New opportunities are added weekly!

👉 Try Instrumentl for free for 14 days today!