Trustees Don’t Do Enough to Help Charities Raise Money, Study Finds

Board members of nonprofit organizations aren’t doing enough to raise money for their groups, according to a new report that surveyed chief executives and board members from more than 1,100 organizations.

Only 40 percent of charity board members feel comfortable asking other people to donate to their organizations, and on average, only about three-quarters of board members donate money themselves, according to the report by BoardSource, a Washington nonprofit group that provides governance training to nonprofit groups and their trustees.

“Fund raising is the No. 1 area of board performance that needs to be improved,” said Linda Crompton, president of BoardSource. “The nonprofit sector needs more board members who understand their fund-raising role and are willing to take an active part in the sustainability of their organizations.”

She advises charities to set expectations for incoming board members about their role in raising money for the organization. The report found that about half (51 percent) of charity boards require their members to solicit donations for their organizations. Slightly more require board members to attend fund-raising events (60 percent) and to identify prospective donors (61 percent). A little more than two-thirds (68 percent) of boards require members to make a personal contribution to the organization.

Recruiting New Trustees

The report on board practices was based on a survey of chief executives and board members of nonprofit organizations that belong to BoardSource. A total of 1,126 chief executives and 1,026 board members responded to the survey. Respondents were drawn from throughout the United States and represented charities of all sizes.

The report said that beyond fund raising, charity executives and trustees gave their boards low marks on community relations and recruitment of new board members. They said they felt they did a relatively good job of understanding the mission of the charity and providing legal and financial oversight.

Among other key findings in the report:

Nearly half of chief executives (49 percent) said their boards weren’t diverse enough, according to the report. The majority of board members were white (86 percent) and male (57 percent). About half were 50 to 64 years old. Nearly half of chief executives (49 percent) say they plan to leave their positions within the next five years, but fewer than a third of the board members surveyed (30 percent) said they expect their executives to change jobs. The ideal board size appears to be 15 to 22 members, according to the report. Chief executives whose boards had more than 22 members said they were too big, while those with fewer than 15 members said their boards weren’t big enough.