Communicating Your Plan to the Board

Last week, we talked about the budget. Oh, those numbers can be tricky but they’re such a big piece of getting your fundraising plan solidified.  

What’s next?  

You pitch to the board to get their buy-in.   

• You’ve prepped everything  
• You created line charts to show revenue, expenses and projected growth 
• You know your numbers  
• You prepared a script 

And the day comes for your pitch... 

>>>>>>And they tear it up. 

Well, not literally but they ask question after question and they don’t trust the numbers and you get flustered and...it doesn’t get approved.  

You’re gutted.  You worked so hard on it.  

So what's the secret to communicating your plan to the board and get buy-in? 

Psssssst....come closer. You know what the secret is? 

You can’t do it by yourself.

That's not to say that you can't do it! It's that you're not supposed to do it alone. You need people to see it, to ask questions, to check your numbers, to socialize it. And those people become your allies. 

And all of that work starts well before the board meeting.

1. You make sure your chair has seen it and agrees with it.  
2. You make sure finance approves of the numbers and your plan to get there.  
3. You make sure the fundraising lead on the board has had her hand in finalizing it.

Why?

Because the board members trust each other. And when more than one of them has seen it and approves of the plan (including the Chair)...they are all more likely to support it.

They are peers after all and you’re a staff member.  

Hey, we don’t make the rules! We just like to share the information so you can knock it out of the park the next time you pitch.  

>>>Before we go further, let’s get back to the basics.  

Do you even have a plan? 

Maybe you do but you've always wanted to follow a formalized approach to building it...or you're not sure it's solid...or you've never written one at all. 

No worries. We've gotcha. 

Have you heard of Planning with Purpose - our flagship course? If not, check it out. It leads you through the A - Z on building your fundraising plan and budget - and throws a whole bunch of free stuff in with it including masterclasses on database essentials and building a case statement. Check it out.