A nonprofit’s board of directors plays a key role in raising, managing, and retaining grant funds. They offer strategic guidance, fundraising assistance, community ties, institutional credibility, and financial management. Funders scrutinize an organization’s leadership, governance, and longevity before providing funding. Intentional board engagement strategies directly boost the quality of grant proposals, build trust with funders, and improve funding outcomes.
What Roles Should Board Members Play in the Grant Process?
Here are the 5 Roles Board Members Should Play in the Grant Process:
- Grant Strategy Development: Board members help identify organizational funding priorities, review potential opportunities, and ensure targeted grants align with the long-term strategic plan.
- Funder Relationship Building: Leaders get nonprofit staff to meet grantmakers, warmly introduce one another, and engage in relationship-building activities with foundation officers.
- Proposal Review and Feedback: Seasoned board members review and give feedback on draft proposals, which includes feedback on the goals of the proposed program, community needs, and the impact of the narrative.
- Resource Development: Trustees contribute money, make corporate contacts, engage in matching gifts cultivation, and do community outreach to help the organization raise funds.
- Grant Accountability: The board is involved in the program outcomes, reviews grant financial reports, and ensures organizational compliance with grant funder agreements.
How Can Nonprofits Prepare Their Boards for Grant Engagement?
Nonprofits organize their Boards by offering structured grant training, in which Board Members are educated on the current funding trends, the grant cycle, and specific roles of the Board. There needs to be transparent leadership sharing of the organization’s funding objectives to understand what is needed now and what is needed next. Board members understand funder expectations to see how funders assess an organization’s leadership, its impact on the community, and the long-term sustainability of that impact. Board roles help to keep board members up to date with pending applications, recent awards, and funding results.
How Can Board Members Help Identify Grant Opportunities?
Board members conduct their own search for prospective grants by engaging in networking with family foundations, corporate giving representatives, and civic groups. They assist nonprofits in tracking new funding opportunities and adjusting proposals to new funding priorities with their industry expertise. Trustees help with the research process to identify potential funders, considering the strategic fit of the funding and the organization’s capacity. The grant board membership reflects the area in which they live, and its members use local relationships and experience to pinpoint specific grants that focus on the region’s key issues.
How Can Boards Strengthen Grant Applications?
Participation on the board strengthens grant applications by reflecting the board’s highest level of commitment to the grant and demonstrating organizational stability to reviewers. Trustees bring valuable local knowledge to the service and assist staff to fully capture the needs of the community and accurately target beneficiary groups. Their industry expertise enhances the quality of their proposals, leading to clearer and more compelling narratives, strategic alignment, and impact statements. Visible board oversight provides grantmakers with confidence that qualified and responsible board leaders are overseeing grant allocation and financial oversight.
What Grant-Related Activities Should Board Members Participate In?
Board members should be involved in the funder research process, finding opportunities in their professional networks. The Trustees consider high-value grant applications before submission to ensure the grant project is strategically aligned, financially accurate, and the grant story is well told. They are willing to contribute funds that provide needed matching funds or unrestricted operating income. Board members participate in executive leadership meetings with funders, visit sites, and engage in outreach to the broader fundraising community to communicate the organization’s impact.
How Can Board Members Build Stronger Funder Relationships?
Board members cultivate relationships with funders through networking events, civic events, and industry conferences where they speak out on behalf of the nonprofit. Trustees establish institutional trust by telling prospective grantmakers the true mission stories and their story. Timely and professional correspondence with foundation leaders strengthens the positive reputation of your organization. Board members continue to be involved in stewardship activities by signing thank-you letters, making appreciation calls, and giving impact reports once the grant money is received.
How Can Nonprofits Improve Board Participation in Grant Activities?
Nonprofits enhance participation by creating a formal grant engagement plan with concrete board tasks through the grant lifecycle. Executive Directors plan for periodic grant updates at Board meetings to review pipeline progress and funding needs. Assigning tasks to members according to their particular expertise legal review, network outreach, budget analysis) helps to maximize member involvement. Public recognition of the board’s contributions and measurement of board engagement indicators allow leaders to continually fine-tune their board engagement approaches.
George C. Tagg, Jr.
George serves as a trusted counsel to business leaders, non-profit executives, and management teams. George is a licensed attorney with a master’s in international affairs and over 20 years’ experience in the U.S. Congress, Department of State, Department of Defense, global public policy, and political campaigns.