RHEA WONG
Before you ask your board to do more fundraising, find out what's actually getting in the way.
The Board Fundraising Reset is a free, done-for-you session you run at your next board meeting. Your board scores what it's actually doing. You score the system you've given them. Then you put both numbers on the wall and let the gap tell you where the problem is.
One 30-minute video. Three short exercises. Book one hour.
Send me the Board Reset
Free. Instant access.
Built for one board meeting.
Your board has never been told what its fundraising job is.
Fix that in one meeting.
A free 30-minute video and three short exercises your board runs
together at its next meeting. You'll leave with your role defined, a score
on the wall, and one new name from every person at the table.
Send me the Board Reset
Free. Instant access.
Built for one board meeting.
IF THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR
This one is for the executive director who has said "we need the board more involved in fundraising" at more retreats than you can count. It's also for the development director who watched that sentence come back as a request for "the list."
You've tried the give/get. You've sold the gala tables. You've passed around the sign-up sheet for thank-you calls. You've asked for names and gotten crickets, or gotten names along with a polite request that you make the call.
And eventually you end up having the same conversation again:
"How do we get the board more involved in fundraising?"
The hardest part is the one nobody says out loud: The people you're trying to coach are also the people you're accountable to.
IF THIS SOUNDS FAMILIAR
Nobody gave you
a job description.
When you joined this board, somebody said "fundraising," probably next to the word "expected," and that was the whole job description. Since then you've been made to feel like you're falling short, a little at every meeting, on work nobody trained you for.
You don't have a willingness problem. Your role was never defined, and your organization almost certainly doesn't have a system that could use what you're willing to give.
WHAT'S ACTUALLY GOING ON WITH YOUR BOARD
WHY YOUR BOARD KEEPS STALLING
In 20 years of this work, I have never met a board that refuses to fundraise. But I've met plenty who were unwilling to do what they thought "fundraising" means.
Like ask their friends for money. Make cold calls. Hand over names. Turn a relationship they've spent twenty years building into an awkward ask.
Of course some of them want no part of that.
So here's the REAL question:
If a board member wanted to help tomorrow, have you actually built a system they could step into?
Do they know who you're looking for? Do they know how to make an introduction without it feeling like a setup? When an introduction comes in, does someone own what happens next? Do they know which donors need a thank-you call and what to say?
Before you ask your board to do more, let's find out what's actually getting in the way.
WHY YOU CAN'T FIX THIS FROM YOUR CHAIR
THE CONVERSATION THAT KEEPS NOT HAPPENING
You may already know the conversation your board needs to have. Saying it yourself to your board, though, is a different matter.
Some things about board fundraising are easier to hear from someone who doesn't work for your organization, doesn't need anything from your board and won't be sitting across from them at the next meeting.
That's why I'm the one on the screen.
I can say the uncomfortable parts. Your board can blame me for all of it. And instead of trying to teach and defend at the same time, you get to participate in the conversation.
Why this has felt bad
Your reasons for avoiding it are good ones.
Board members avoid fundraising for good reasons, and those reasons rarely get said out loud. You don't want to look foolish in front of people whose respect took you twenty years to earn. You don't want to use up your friendships on a process you can't see into.
You've sat at a gala table or a "catch-up coffee" that turned into an ask, and you've decided, correctly, that you won't do that to anyone.
That instinct is right. What you've been shown is only one version of fundraising, and it's the version you'd be right to refuse.
What's in the kit
Three pieces. One hour.
The video
30 minutes you play in the room
You get a 30-minute video you play at your board meeting. I do the talking, and the video pauses three times for short exercises your board does together.
The handouts
Printable, and one of them stays private
You also get the printable handouts: a private reflection sheet that never gets collected, a yes/no board scorecard that does, your own system-readiness scorecard, and a capture sheet so the meeting produces names and dates instead of good intentions.
The ED guide
How to run the hour
And there's a guide written for you. It covers how to run the hour and what to say before you press play. It also walks you through the 30 days after the meeting, which decide whether the meeting was worth it.
What's in the kit
Three pieces. One hour.
The video
30 minutes you play in the room
I do the talking, so nobody on your staff has to say the uncomfortable parts. The video pauses three times for short exercises your board does together.
The handouts
Printable, and one of them stays private
A reflection sheet that never gets collected, a yes/no scorecard that does, and a capture sheet so the meeting produces names and dates instead of good intentions.
The ED guide
How to run the hour
What to say before pressing play, and what to do in the 30 days after, which decide whether the meeting was worth it.
WHAT YOU WALK OUT WITH
WHAT CHANGES AFTER ONE MEETING
Clarity about the board's actual fundraising role.
Your board gets clear on which parts of the work belong to them and which belong to staff. Nobody leaves thinking their job is to become a professional fundraiser.
Two numbers on the wall.
Your board scores what it's actually doing out of 10. You score whether the machinery exists to support them. Your number goes underneath theirs, and you don't explain it away. The gap is the finding.
One name from every board member.
Each person names someone they'd be willing to introduce to your organization. Not a donor. Not a prospect. A person.
A follow-up plan.
Those names go onto a capture sheet with how they're connected and the best month to follow up, plus your commitment for what happens next.
What your board leaves with
Four things, by the end of the hour.
A job description
Exactly which parts of fundraising belong to the board and which belong to staff. The staff list is longer than you think.
Permission to put down the dread
Nobody is asked to make the ask. In this model, that isn't the board's job.
A number on the wall
Your board scores itself in the room, on paper, out of 10. Then your ED puts a second number underneath it. The gap between the two is the real finding.
Names
Every board member leaves having named one person who should know your organization exists. A person, not a donor or a prospect.
THE PROMISE THAT MAKES IT WORK
Nobody in this room is going to be asked to solicit anyone.
I make that promise in the first thirty seconds, and I mean it.
Your board isn't being eased into an ask. In this model, asking isn't their job.
That matters because half the room may walk into any conversation about fundraising braced for an ambush. A person who's braced isn't listening. Take the ask off the table, and now we can have the real conversation.
If your organization requires board members to personally solicit donors, this Reset isn't for you.
The session opens with a promise.
No lists of strangers. No cold calls. No pledge cards. That promise is what gets a skeptical board to actually listen for thirty minutes, and it holds for the whole hour.
Who's on the screen
About Rhea
I ran a nonprofit in New York City for twelve and a half years. I once had a board member look me in the face and tell me she would rather stick hot needles in her eye than ask her friends for money. I've spent 20 years in fundraising since then, coached 400+ nonprofit leaders on how major gifts actually get raised, and supported boards and EDs across the country.
What I teach is consent-based. Nobody is asked for anything they haven't already agreed to discuss, and that includes your board.
Who's on the screen
I was an executive director in New York City for years, and I've spent eight more working with 100+ nonprofits and their boards on how major gifts actually get raised. I've sat on the wrong side of plenty of bad fundraising conversations. What I teach now is a consent-based approach, where nobody is asked for anything they haven't already agreed to discuss.
Your board can blame me for the uncomfortable parts. That's why I'm the one on the screen.
How to use it
Four steps to a booked hour.
step one
Download the kit.
Step two
Talk to your board chair and get them bought in before the meeting.
Step three
Book one hour at your next board meeting. Put it second on the agenda, after the consent agenda, never last.
Step FOUR
Send the included board email 4–5 days before the meeting.
How to use it
Three steps to a booked hour.
step one
Download the kit.
Step two
Forward it to your board chair and executive director. The ED guide tells them exactly how to run it.
Step three
Book one hour at your next board meeting. Put it second on the agenda, never last.
Before you ask your board to do more, find out what's actually getting in the way.
Run the Reset at your next board meeting. Put both numbers on the wall. Then you'll know what needs to change.
Free. Instant access. Built for one board meeting.
Your board is more willing than anyone thinks.
Give it a job it can say yes to.
One video. Three exercises. One meeting.
Free. Instant access. Built for one board meeting.
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©Rhea Wong Consulting. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service
© All Rights Reserved.
©Rhea Wong Consulting. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service