Your non-profit board. Give or get.

Maximizing your board for marketing success

Non-profit organizations often overlook the potential of their board to help achieve marketing objectives. To be blunt, the question to ask is, what are they doing for you? In the most simplistic terms, they need to give or get, and ideally some will do both.

Give

Look at your board as an extension of your team. Presumably, they are on your board because they align with your values and your mission. But that’s only a baseline requirement. How are they contributing? Advice and guidance are helpful, however, they must demonstrably be moving you forward to achieve your objectives and the vision of your organization. Giving means that they are financially supporting you in a meaningful way (writing that check), or they are providing a meaningful service through their expertise. If your organization is small, it could mean they provide legal, marketing, HR, or other advisory support where you may need some help by tapping into their knowledge and know-how.

Get

Not everyone can write that big fat check or volunteer hours of their time. And that is totally acceptable, but it may mean that instead of giving, they know people. More importantly, they know people who you need to connect with that can help your organization. It could be that they can connect you with senior level executives with companies that may be able to donate money to your cause, create partnerships, or are a source for reaching out to your target audience.

Beyond the giving and the getting, there’s always more that your board can do on a regular basis to contribute to the marketing success and therefore the overall success of your organization. Simply engaging with your social media platforms for example. Ensure they are following, liking, and in some cases contributing content to increase awareness and engagement across your social media platforms. And sometimes, it’s just showing up and being present. Being there for the events, helping get others to show up for events, volunteering their time, spreading the word, helping enroll others into your organization, and just being a constant supportive representative.

Your board is an asset, and they can be leveraged to achieve your marketing and development goals. Who are giving? Who are getting? And who are doing neither?