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Board Preparedness Worksheet: Is Your Board Ready for a Campaign?

Curious how your board measures up to the most functional board?

With the Winkler Group’s newest resource, The Board Preparedness Worksheet, you can rate your board on core competencies like roles and responsibilities, spheres of influence, personal investment, and campaign planning—and learn how to increase their functionality 

⇣ Click below to get the guide ⇣

Why is a prepared board important to a successful capital campaign?

Although boards are no longer the primary source of a campaign’s funding, board members and trustees are still essential to a campaign’s success. They must:

  • approve and then promote the campaign as ambassadors.  
  • be in agreement about the campaign’s priorities and where they fit within strategic objectives.  
  • stay in their lanes and provide oversight and governance while leaving organizational functions to leadership and staff.  

This worksheet, designed to be a companion to the Winkler Group resource Finding the Function in Dysfunctional: Strategies to Prepare Your Board for the Next Campaign, will help you identify how your organization or institution measures against functional boards.  

What metrics determine how ready a board is for a capital campaign?​

The Winkler Group has led every type of academic, healthcare, and nonprofit board through campaigns that exceeded their goals.​ From this experience we’ve assembled the metrics that best predict which boards are most ready to support a successful campaign.  

The worksheet asks 15 questions, including: 

  • Do your board members or trustees have job descriptions that are reviewed each year?  
  • Do board members have ample opportunities to build relationships with your donors? 
  • To what level were/are current board members actively involved in strategic planning? 
  • Do your board members or trustees recognize the need for a campaign and are they in sync with proposed campaign priorities? 

What can board members or trustees do to prepare for a campaign?

If your board is not where it could be, this worksheet will help identify the gaps and where more work needs to be done. With coaching and intentionality, most boards can become well-oiled governing bodies that lend support and influence to successfully execute a campaign. 

The Board Preparedness Worksheet is part of the Winkler Group’s series of resources designed to help nonprofit institutions and organizations fuel their vision. More fundraising resources are available here.

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