Presentation given by Gail Perry of Gail Perry Associates during 4/16/13 webinar.

1. Turn Your Board from Bored
to Blazing!
7 Steps to Fire Up Your Board
Gail Perry
MBA CFRE
gp@gailperry.com
www.firedupfundraising.com
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2. Turn Your Board from Bored
to Blazing!
7 Steps to Fire Up Your Board
Gail Perry
MBA CFRE
gp@gailperry.com
www.firedupfundraising.com
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3. Who Am I?
• 25 years as staff or consultant
• Veteran of Duke and UNC-CH
• Fired-Up Fundraising Blog 11,000 followers
• Author, “Fired-Up Fundraising: Turn Board
Passion into Action” (Wiley)
• AFP Fundraiser of the Year 2011
• International speaker and workshop leader
Gail Perry
gp@gailperry.com • email: gp@gailperry.com
• facebook: firedupfundraising
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4. Our Agenda Today
How to Transform Your Board
• A different philosophy and approach!
• 4 personal changes you need to make.
• 7 steps to change your board from bored to
blazing.
• An Action Plan for your trustees!
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5. A Different Philosophy and
Approach
• Assume responsibility for your board.
• Take a motivational approach.
• Give them a terrific experience.
And you’ll be
amazed at your
results!
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6. The Fired-Up Philosophy:
Transforming Your Board Requires Two Magic
Ingredients
1. Emotion - fire them up
2. Action – specific to-do’s
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7. Change is Hard!
Be Realistic and Aware
• It’s hard for people.
• It’s hard for boards.
• It’s hard for you.
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8. Your Biggest Challenge?
The Pull of the Status Quo
"If you always do what you always did,
you'll always get what you always got."
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9. Peter Drucker:
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.”
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10. Why Invest the Time and Energy
What’s at Stake?
“We All Get The Boards We Deserve”
True?
False?
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11. 4 Personal Changes to Make
1. Take charge.
Don’t be passive!
Be willing to lead!
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12. 4 Personal Changes to Make
2. Be the cheerleader.
• Encourage them
• Gung-ho
• Cheerful
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13. Want Different Results?
3. Model the
energy you want
your board to have.
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14. Start With Yourself:
Embody the Change You Want to See
Be the Change
you want
to see in the world.
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15. Energy and Emotions are
Contagious
~
The
interpersonal
neurobiology
of
leadership.
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16. My favorite executive
director:
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17. People
will
forget
what
you
said,
people
will
forget
what
you
did,
but
people
will
never
forget
how
you
made
them
feel.
Maya
Angelou

18. Want Different Results?
4. Make it fun.
• Lighten up.
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19. Why You Should Lighten Up With
Your Board
Nobody’s having any fun.
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20. Why You Should Lighten Up
With Your Board
• Volunteers have plenty
of places to put their time.
• Why would they choose
you?
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21. 21

22. 7 Steps to A Fired-Up Board
1. Ignite their passion.
2. Where does the $ go?
3. Mission moments.
4. Interesting meetings.
5. Give them what they want.
6. Social time.
7. Clarity on action items.
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23. How Do You Define
“Fired-Up” for Your
Trustees?
Energy, commitment, action?
Engagement, accountability?
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24. Step 1:
Ignite Their Passion
for the Cause
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25. How to Get Them
In Touch With
Their Personal
Story?
Ask Them To
Share It!
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26. The Amazingly Powerful
Mingle Exercise
Introduce this as a
“messaging exercise.”
“Exercise” vs.
“Hands-On Training”
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27. How to Ignite Their Passion?
Why Do You Care About Our
Organization?

28. Remind Them: Make it Short
“I didn't have
time to write a
short letter,
so
I wrote a long
one instead.
~Mark Twain
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29. Remind Them: Make it Simple
“If you can’t
explain it
simply,
you don’t
understand it well
enough.”
~Einstein
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30. Remind Them:
Board Members Do Better Than Staff at
the Elevator Speech
They are at the
30,000 foot level!
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31. Debriefing
The Mingle Exercise
Question #1: What did you hear that
really resonated?
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32. Debriefing The Mingle Exercise
~
Question #2: How Were You Being?
• Energetic
• Enthusiastic
• Authentic
• Honest
• Personal
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33. Nothing great
was ever
achieved
without
enthusiasm!
~Ralph Waldo
Emerson
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34. SNEEZE
(the
Viral
Message)
Wherever
You
Go!
This is how you turn your board members into “sneezers!”

35. Debriefing
The
Mingle
Exercise:
Queson
#3:
How
To
Turn
Your
Elevator
Speech
Into
a Conversation?
“What
are
YOUR
impressions?”
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36. How to Train Board Members in
Conversation Skills
• Listening skills
• Use the word “you”
• Pull out the donor’s story
• When in doubt, shut up!
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37. Debriefing the Mingle Exercise:
Question #4: How Can A Board Member Followup
An Introductory Conversation?
What kind of followup requests can
you make?
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38. How Can You Followup?
1. Come for a tour?
2. Lunch with the ED?
3. Advice visit coffee?
4. Our next event?
5. Something specific
to your friend’s
personal interest?
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39. Try This Question To Pull Out Their
Personal Story
“Gail, I am putting some of your ideas into action….
At our last Trustee meeting, I asked, “What
legacy do you
want to leave from serving on this board?”
Well, you would have thought I had opened the flood gates. One
man told us about his cousin in hospice . . . and how we helped his
family through that terrible time.
This turned out to be the best meeting we've had so far on with
this group in the last 3 years!
I can’t change them, but I can change me.
Laurie Taylor, Lower Cape Fear Hospice Foundation
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40. More Questions To Try With Your
Board
1. “What do you believe is your purpose or your
contribution to the world?”
2. “What kind of difference do you want to make?”
3. “What do you do well, and how do you want to use
that toward the highest good you can possibly
imagine?”
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41. FireA Deep Discussion 2:
Up Your Board Step
A Deeper Discussion
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42. A Broader Conversation
What Are We Raising Money For?

43. Fire Up Your Board Step #2
Where Does The $ Go?
• A panel discussion or interview
format.
• Why does it cost so much?
• Program by program.
• How much does it cost per
person?
• Story about someone whose life
was changed.
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44. Fire Up Your Board
10 Terrific Questions to Discuss with Your Board
1. “Why do we even need private contributions anyway?
2. “Why does it cost so much?
3. “Where exactly does the money go?
4. “Why does it take so much staff to do this work?
5. “How many students are we helping in this program?
6. “About how much does it cost per person helped? (Or per center
that you operate? Or other measure relevant to your operation.)
7. “What else does this program really need? And how much would
that cost?
8. “How many kids are we missing? What happens to them if we
can’t help them?
9. Can you tell me a story of someone whose life was changed thru
this project?
10. “What would we do if we had an additional $100k? (or $50k, or
$500k or million – whatever is relevant to your budget size.)
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45. Fire Up Your Board Step #3
Mission Moments:
Give Board Members a Direct
Personal Experience

46. Try cancelling your next board meeting and take
everyone on a field trip.

47. A Word
About
Nonprofit BOARDS
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48. Is This Your Board?
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49. Is This Your
Board?
Is This Your Board?
Is
This
Your
Board?
Or Is this Your Board?
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50. Is This Your Board
Meeting?
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51. “After all is said
and done,
more is said
than done.”
--Aesop
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52. Is This Your Board? Board
Is This Your Board?
Boring Meetings = A Bored
Is This Your Board?
Is This Your Board?
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53. High
Level
People
Doing
Low
Level
Work?

54. Fire Up Your Board Step #4
Liven Up Your Meetings
NOT Business As Usual

55. Convert Your Committees to
Task Forces
To
kill
Ame,
a
commiCee
meeAng
is
the
perfect
weapon.
~Author
Unknown
A
commiCee
is
a
group
that
keeps
minutes
and
loses
hours.
~
Milton
Berle
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56. 12 Ways To Liven Up Your Board
Meeting
1. Focus on results.
2. Be creative with the agenda.
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57. 12 Ways To Liven Up Your
Board Meeting
3. Focus on
problems,
challenges,
broad issues.
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58. 12 Ways To Liven Up Your
Board Meeting
4. Look at trends
within routine
reports.
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59. 12 Ways To Liven Up Your
Board Meeting
5. Plan big.
6. Cheerleading sessions.
7. Use consent agendas.
8. “Interview” the ED.
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60. 12 Ways To Liven Up Your Board
Meeting
9. Set up one interesting
item for a discussion.
10. Select a theme for
each meeting.
11. Create “mission
moments” in every
board meeting.
12. Break into groups.
Find this handout on my website:
Firedupfundraising.com
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61. Fire Up Your Board Step #5
Give Them a Terrific
Experience
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62. What Do Board Members Want?
To get their
hands dirty.
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63. What Do Board Members
Want?
To work with people
who are as
passionate and
excited about the
organization as they
are.
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64. What Do Board Members
Want?
To feel that
their time is
used wisely.
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65. What Do Board Members
Want?
To meet the
other board
members.
-June Bradham
“What Nonprofit Boards
Want”
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66. The Number One Reason
People Join Nonprofit Boards?
Who else is on the board!
-June Bradham
“What Nonprofit Boards Want”
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67. What Determines How Much $$
Your Board Members
Will Give?
How much they enjoy their
experience as a board member.
-June Bradham
“What Nonprofit Boards Want”
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68. 7 Steps to A Fired-Up Board
1. Personal story.
2. Where does the $ go?
3. Mission moments.
4. Interesting meetings.
5. Give them what they want.
6. Social time.
7. Action items.
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69. Fire Up YourSocial Time #6
#5 Give Them
Board Step
Give Them Social Time

70. Down Time Together is Essential
Social Time For Board Members
Builds
Trust and Collegiality
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71. And
TEAM
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72. The Five Dysfunctions of a
Team
1. Absence
of
Trust
2. Fear
of
Conflict
3. Lack
of
Commitment
4. Avoidance
of
Accountability
5. InaCenAon
to
Results
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73. Group Process
What’s Underlying Your
Board?
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74. Peer Pressure:
The Best Motivator
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75. Fire Up Your Board Step #7
Clarity
What’s Their Job?
• Champion – the cause and the
case
• Invite . . . others to get
involved and engaged
• Invest . . . to help fund the
vision.
~ forimpact.org
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76. #7 Clarity
What Expectations?
• They agree among
themselves.
• Staff can’t set it for them.
• “If it’s to be. . . It’s up to
me.”
• Gotta have leadership.
~ forimpact.org
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77. #7 Clarity
On Action Items!
• Give them
something specific
to do!
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78. #7 Clarity
On Action Items!
• What do they need to
accomplish in the next 2
months?
• What is each individual
board member’s action
item?
• Rule of THREE!
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79. Accountability?
To
succeed
as
a
team
is
to
hold
all
members
accountable
for
their
experAse.”
~
Mitchell
Caplan
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80. 7 Steps to A Fired-Up Board
1. Personal story.
2. Where does the $ go?
3. Mission moments.
4. Interesting meetings.
5. Give them what they want.
6. Social time.
7. Clarity on action items.
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81. Try These Ideas and
This Is What You Will Get!
“It was such a thrill to see the body language and faces of our
board members change
from reservation, reluctance, and uncertainty to
smiles, laughs and excitement.”
~Abby Johnston, Director of Development,
Saint Mary’s School, NC
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82. Free
Handouts
and
Checklists
153
Tips
to
Raise
More
Money
By
Mail
20
EASY
Ways
Board
Members
Can
CulAvate
Donors
10
Easy
Ways
Board
Members
Can
Raise
Money
12
Ways
to
Liven
Up
Your
Board
MeeAngs
—and
Your
Board
Advice
Visits:
Searching
for
Hidden
Gold
Gail
Perry’s
Golden
Rules
of
Fundraising
Ten
Basic
ResponsibiliAes
of
Nonprofit
Boards
www.gailperry.com
Get
Fired-­‐Up!
NEWSLETTER
gp@gailperry.com
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