End the Struggle. Build a Powerhouse Board That Drives Consistent Funding and Secures Your Mission

Your board is one of the most important factors in building a successful and sustainable nonprofit organization.

This is because you can’t do it alone. With your board, you can build out every aspect of your organization, raise money sustainably, get the emotional, financial and expert support you need to scale your organization and more.

But sadly, many founders struggle with their board. Many boards are disengaged, passive, lack motivation and others do not even have a board at all.

But how do you build an organization without a board to empower you? You will most likely be everywhere doing everything all by yourself.

This is the reason we created The Board Ultimate Fix: the 5-step process to transform your board into a powerhouse team regardless of the present state of your board. Let’s dive right into the process.

1. The first step is to reactivate your board.

You can’t build with a passive or disengaged board. You can’t keep carrying people along who do not want to go along with you. You also need to understand why your board was disengaged in the first place; only then can you successfully build a stronger board when you bring new board members in, or you will repeat the same dysfunction even with a different board. This is where the board audit process comes in. With the Founder’s Audit, Complete Board Audit, and Self-Audit for each board member, you can see how your leadership has impacted your board, the gaps within your board, and the present state of each board member and how they want to move on. This way, you can then re-engage the board strategically based on the audit response to get board members willing to step up and commit to their responsibilities, expectations, and commitments, and those willing to step down to do so gracefully or move to other areas of the organization. This is very important so you can drop any deadweight without confrontation and get those willing to move on to do so with commitment.

Note: If you’re approaching a board recruitment season or preparing applications for upcoming grant cycles, you can’t afford to wait to know which current members will show up. Run the audit now so you can move into recruitment and grant conversations confidently.

Step 2. Board recruitment:

With your understanding of the gaps within your board from the board audit exercise, it’s time to recruit new board members to complement the board so you can have a powerhouse team. A board looking to raise money should have a good fundraiser and marketer on the board. A board looking to create and execute impactful programs should have a board member with lived experience or a professional in that field within the board, and so on. Your goal must be to build a powerhouse team with all the skillset and experience you need to achieve your mission and not just fill up board seats. And as I will always say, the process you bring board members in through is as important as the quality of board members, because if you bring them in the wrong way, no matter how good they are, they are likely to be disengaged or passive in no time.

Note: Many funders and institutional donors align with fiscal-year cycles and application windows. If you plan to apply for grants this quarter or lean on year-end giving, start recruitment now so new members can be onboarded and ready to support fundraising before deadlines arrive.

Step 3: Strategic Planning:

The one and only way to secure the commitment of board members and get them to build with you is through strategic planning. The mistake founders make is that they outsource this process or they create this plan in isolation. Strategic planning is the process that gets board members to build a sense of joint purpose; it is the process that helps them understand the effort and resources needed to achieve the mission. It is the process that helps them build a rapport that’s needed to work together as a team, and the end of strategic planning, which is delegation, is how you empower board members to lead the different aspects of the organization. So, missing out on this process is a huge blunder that always affects and limits most nonprofits.

Note: If your fiscal year planning, budgeting cycle, or major grant calendar is coming up, now is the moment to engage your board in strategic planning; otherwise, you’ll miss windows for funding and alignment that only open at specific times of the year.

Step 4: Board execution:

This is where you begin to build out the organization with your board and get your board members to work with the teams within the areas they've been delegated to begin executing consistently for the organization. Each board member must be able to build and lead a team that helps the organization execute, with you providing all the support they need to be successful (if you don’t have resources to employ staff, you can bring in volunteers or interns). This cuts across fundraising, partnerships, program execution, marketing, and every aspect that moves the needle for the organization. This is why you need a powerhouse team with expertise across every aspect of your organization. This way, you won’t have to do everything yourself, but you can begin to serve as the leader who provides the support and accountability to ensure everything is done and done right. Your board meetings no longer become platforms to approve minutes but working sessions where each board member shares what’s happening within their area, asks for ideas, support, and resources.

Note: Fundraising windows such as year-end giving and quarterly grant deadlines reward organizations that can move fast. If your board can’t execute now, you’ll miss those time-sensitive opportunities and the funds they bring.

5. Sustainability:

With you initiating this process for your board and organization, you must ensure the process continues. You must ensure board members continue to lead, and that’s where sustainability comes in. This is where you put accountability processes in place and you implement deliberate strategies that keep your board members motivated and engaged, including you leading from the front.

Here’s how we help you

1. The DIY Toolkit: If you are a self-starter, we will equip you with the instructions, tools and framework to execute each step of this process. From the founder audit form to the complete audit form to the self audit form for board members, the email templates to share these forms and communicate each step of the process, to board recruitment materials, board application forms etc., to strategic planning facilitation template to delegation facilitation template, to instructions on how to build a team with each board member and how to start executing you will receive everything to help you start taking action immediately.

2: One-on-one coaching: If you do not have the time to learn before executing, you can book our one-on-one coaching for only $597. We will train you on each step of the process then equip you with the complete DIY toolkit to guide your execution, provide you a personalized action plan you can follow specifically for your organization and situation plus provide you 30 days execution support so that you have all the real time answers to your questions you need over the next 30 days as you execute this process.

Coaching slots often fill up quickly around recruitment seasons and fiscal planning windows. Book now to secure a slot before our calendar fills for the quarter.

3. Do-With-You Execution: Here we will work with you hand in hand, providing you with all the support you need to execute each step of the process. We will write the emails you will send out, sharpen your forms, sit in meetings with you, coach you throughout the journey, build your teams with you, launch your board recruitment campaigns, and make sure you show up as the leader that’s needed to achieve your mission and the leader your board and organization will follow until you transform your board into a powerhouse team you are proud of for only $2,999.

We limit the number of Do-With-You engagements each quarter to ensure high-quality support. If you want intensive support before grant deadlines or year-end giving, now is the time to secure your place.