A Board Member's Responsibility

Show me the money! Tom Cruise would say in a fairly recent popular movie.

Well in a nutshell that's the main job description of a board member. Actually, it might really be "go get the money."

I've dealt with many Board Of Directors and have found that the strongest ones are those whose members actually spend most of their time on their board by personally asking for money, gifts, or gifts-in-kind.

They are constantly selling and promoting their charity to those that can help fund their nonprofit.

Occassionally I'll have someone tell me that their time is more valuable than the money they give. Along with this bit of enlightenment I'm further told that they don't feel comfortable asking someone for money. These well-meaning folks should have never been asked to be on the board.

Certainly, reports from the nonprofit sector show that there is a trend of younger supporters that feel this way. Many will have great ideas and will certainly volunteer their time, but are reluctant to ask for money. Unfortunately, their volunteer time and ideas combined will not keep the doors open for the charity unless someone asks a donor to show me the money.

I've written an article on the responsibilities of a board member seen here. I hope you get some insight from it.

Cool Focus Donor Management

Just when you think that you've checked into all of the good donor management software packages, another very interesting one comes along and you just have to look into it. This one has so many bells and whistles, it could manage all of your nonprofit needs.

If you are looking for an easy to use donor management software, then you owe it to yourself and to your board to get the details on this one.

Cool Focus is a complete Nonprofit Management System.

Here are a few advantages of Cool Focus:
1. Pledge Tracking: Setup Pledges and track Amount Given for each pledge.
2. Campaign Tracking: Assign contributions to a Campaign an instantly know how much you've raised!
3. Program Tracking: Know who is benefiting from your organization's hard work.
4. Import: Already have a ton of contacts and contribution data in another format? Bring it into CoolFocus without having to manually re-enter data.
5. GL Extract: An automated interface into QuickBooks© ensures you only have to enter donations once and the accounting is done for you. Also can be used to create a standard comma-delimited output file for other accounting systems.

Check out a little more about Cool Focus Software here.

Fill out our online form and we'll send you more information direct from the company with no obligation.

Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs

This 352 page book by authors J. Gregory Dees, et. al. is a fresh approach to the topic of social entrepreneurship and how nonprofit groups can profit from it. It may just be what your group needs.

Innovation, resourcefulness and hard work in a businesslike mode of thinking while using the techniques of the social entrepreneur will truly set your organization apart from the rest. I believe this is one of those books that should be in the library of every small to medium sized nonprofit organization.

This book gives you practical tools, concepts and how to put them into practice. If ever there was a time for your group to broaden your thinking and management processes, this book will be an asset your group's future.

Check out the book for Enterprising Nonprofits here.