How to get an unresponsive nonprofit board to help
Nonprofit executive directors are forced to handle every administrative, financial, and fundraising duty alone while unresponsive board members completely ignore requests for assistance. This leaves directors stuck doing everything from bookkeeping and grant writing to social media and payroll without any support or follow-through.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1doing all the work independently
- 2loaning personal money to keep the organization running
- 3planning to leave the organization at the end of the year
- 4Creating a form for board members to sign up for fundraisers
- 5Making a PowerPoint to cover the rest of the year in terms of fundraisers
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I've asked the board for assistance and I get NOTHING.”source ↗
“I have said multiple times I am not an accountant/bookkeeper and we need to get one, but again, no one does anything and I get stuck playing accountant/bookkeeper, along with grant writer, HR, fundraiser, communications, social media, payroll.....I do it all”source ↗
“AND I have emailed her several times with no response about the $10K check her org is supposed to be giving us (invoiced them in June) and help with IT that she OFFERED to help with.”source ↗
“I am struggling to get assistance with fundraisers and social media interactions from the board.”source ↗
“I am wondering how other RDs present their social media schedule to the board in a way that makes sense to everyone, regardless of technical ability.”source ↗
“adding 3 months of social media posts to a powerpoint seems excessive lol”source ↗
Where this came up
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