Ep 97: Committees: What Are They Even For?

Committees are a really hot topic in the nonprofit world. You can create a committee for almost anything and comprise it of staff, board members, and/or volunteers. But, how do you create a committee that’s actually useful—both to the organization and those involved?

In today’s episode, we’re talking about all things committees: from how to manage expectations and accountability, to good examples (and bad ones), to how to successfully create engagement that doesn’t overwork your staff.

We’ll also share some actionable takeaways so that you can make sure to use committees to their greatest benefit. The most important thing is truly evaluating if your committees are doing what they’re intended to and being willing to pivot and get creative. Because let’s face it, a useless committee doesn’t serve anyone.

What’s in this episode:

[04:13] How committees create engagement opportunities, but also more work for staff

[06:41] Why fundraising committees aren’t necessarily a substitute for nonprofit staff when it comes to event planning 

[12:16] A fundraising campaign committee horror story, complete with mansplaining and class elitism

[19:51] Why holding committee members accountable and giving them the tools to be able to complete their jobs is crucial for success

[22:48] An example of a really good committee (it’s not a fundraising committee) —and one that just doesn’t work

[28:48] The actionable takeaways that’ll help keep your committees from becoming a huge headache

Do you love our show and want to hear even more from us? You can get behind-the-scenes episodes and more by supporting us on Patreon! We have plans starting at just $3 a month. Can’t wait to see you there!

A big thanks to our sponsors for this episode on year-end giving: Brittny Wilson Consulting and Mission Launch, and to Jake Walker Music for our theme song!

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Transcript for Ep 97: Committees: What Are They Even For?

[00:00:05] Brittny I’m Brittny Wilson. 

[00:00:06] Nia I’m Nia Wassink. And you’re listening to the nonprofit Reframe, because we know that nonprofits and their staff. 

[00:00:13] Brittny Are undervalued, under-resourced and unrelenting. Welcome back to the nonprofit Reframe. 

[00:00:24] Nia Happy Monday, folks. Today is Monday, October 24th, that we’re recording this for release on November seven, 2022. 

[00:00:33] Brittny I think one of the things that I’ve missed the most about doing this is this projection into the future, right? So every time we have a record, we know it’s not going out for two weeks. So then I immediately think of like November 7th. Hmm. By then, Halloween will be over. Like, all these things will have passed. And we’ll have to give updates on how everything went. 

[00:01:00] Nia But most importantly, November seven is election eve. 

[00:01:04] Brittny Oh, I can. 

[00:01:05] Brittny Say that, yes. 

[00:01:08] Nia Lot nerves are on that. Yeah. But we are also recording on the day that our first episode released. So y’all are getting this real time. It is so exciting. We love that listeners are coming back and you all are excited about the content. 

[00:01:22] Brittny And. 

[00:01:24] Nia We already have five count them five Patreon subscribers. 

[00:01:28] Brittny Woo hoo. I love it. 

[00:01:32] Nia Quick shout out Alyssa, Spring, Marjorie, Ellen and Sara. Y’all are rocking it and genuinely made our day. 

[00:01:40] Brittny I mean, so much so. We can now say that we have a podcast that makes money. Now, is it paid for? No. But we’re one step at a time. 

[00:01:58] Nia We could, like, get snacks for the next time we do a planning meeting. 

[00:02:02] Brittny That’s exactly what we do. 

[00:02:06] Nia But genuinely, the five of you, thank you so much for jumping in on our Patreon so quickly. Thank you for just like, being excited to be back with us because we are so excited to be back with you. 

[00:02:17] Brittny And you know, we just finished recording our next behind the scenes episode that they’re all going to have access to on Monday, October 31st, on Halloween. So they’re the only five people so far that’ll be in the know about all the things that are going on. Like, what am I going to do for Halloween? 

[00:02:38] Brittny I don’t know. They do. 

[00:02:39] Nia Mm hmm. So if you were like, Oh, my gosh, I can’t believe I had to wait two weeks for a new episode. Go join us on Patreon. Patreon.com/NonprofitReframe and you’ll get an episode in the off weeks. 

[00:02:51] Brittny And just the last little plug for that. There’s three different levels. Yeah. So you can pick and choose which benefits you think are fun and worth the extra dollar or two. But it’s all very minimal and it all goes to help us continue doing this. So thank you. 

[00:03:07] Nia And all levels get the extra episode. 

[00:03:10] Brittny Yeah,. 

[00:03:11] Nia Most importantly. 

[00:03:12] Brittny Yes, that’s correct. 

[00:03:13] Nia So we’re talking about committees today. 

[00:03:17] Brittny I. I have so many thoughts. 

[00:03:19] Nia I love this topic because first and foremost, I’m very surprised we have not covered this like in-depth to date. We have not done a committees episode. Oh, even go. 

[00:03:28] Brittny Back and check. 

[00:03:29] Nia Oh, I went back and checked. Oh, I did. A deep dove. 

[00:03:32] Brittny Okay. 

[00:03:33] Nia Obviously, we rag on committees a lot. We talk about how to make them more effective. Maybe sometimes. Right. But this is really come out of our experiences, especially over the last six months of committees that really range in their effectiveness. 

[00:03:50] Brittny It’s so true. And like most topics that we choose to discuss on this podcast. I believe this one came from a month or so ago where I sent you a text and said, Committees, what the hell are they for? And we said, that should be a podcast episode. 

[00:04:11] Nia Mm hmm. 

[00:04:13] Nia So let’s start with the fundraising committees, because I think that’s probably the area we have the most to say about. And there are a lot of different types of fundraising committees, from events to campaigns to everything in between. Any particular examples you want to bring up? Start with? 

[00:04:31] Brittny Well, and even to just take a step back before we dove into that about, okay, what are they for? I mean, when I have been involved in working with committees as a staff member and or as a consultant, they’ve really been formed to help with engagement with their organizations. So what are some of the benefits that you’ve seen of committees? 

[00:04:56] Nia Well, it depends because each of them are structured so very differently. You know, if you think about internal committees, it’s usually about getting like work done in a more significant way than can be done, say, with a full board. 

[00:05:07] Nia Or because you need additional fundraisers to help with a big campaign versus it sounds like more what you’re talking about, like committees that would engage volunteers, donors, just getting people more involved in the organization who aren’t directly working for it. 

[00:05:22] Brittny Yeah, I mean, both even those internal committees, they do force engagement from board members, right. So instead of having like a board member who’s just showing up for meetings and maybe not participating that much. Committees are a way that you can try to get those board members more active and force them to participate in a smaller group at a deeper level. 

[00:05:43] Nia For sure. 

[00:05:44] Brittny But then also, yes, you know, I’ve worked a lot with events committees over this last year, and those in particular tend to also open it up to people outside the organization and use it as a way to either engage donors, engage volunteers, just engage people in the community that you think would have an affinity to the organization, get them involved in a deeper way, and then they can be used also as kind of a stepping stone to then having them join the board. 

[00:06:12] Nia Right. Yeah, absolutely. 

[00:06:14] Brittny So conceptually, I understand their significance. 

[00:06:18] Nia Mm hmm. In practice. 

[00:06:20] Brittny In practice, it doesn’t always work out that way. And what I feel like, what backfires is while yes, it might create these opportunities for engagement, but it also creates a lot more work for the staff. 

[00:06:37] Nia A lot of work for the staff to effectively manage a committee. 

[00:06:41] Nia Yeah. 

[00:06:42] Brittny Yeah. So back to your original question, I think what was it? It was around. 

[00:06:46] Nia Fundraising committee. 

[00:06:47] Brittny Yep. So let’s talk about event committees. Let’s go right in. Yeah. So one thing that I have noticed a shift is that. Organizations like right now. So this is not just common to right now, but, you know, the turnover of fundraising staff can be high. 

[00:07:12] Nia Yeah, right. 

[00:07:14] Brittny And right now, it’s kind of at the peak. 

[00:07:17] Nia But yeah. It’s rough, especially along the front range. 

[00:07:20] Brittny Yeah. And so the organizations don’t have these nonprofits don’t have the the staff capacity to manage and plan an entire event. Or three events. 

[00:07:35] Brittny Right. So in the past it was like, well, we’ll just get a committee and we’ll put a committee together. Then they can they can do it. 

[00:07:43] Nia Oh, the naivete. 

[00:07:45] Brittny Yeah, right. It’s hard. It’s hard because the thought is like, okay, well, here’s our goals and you all plan it. But I will say, as an event consultant, not everybody has the experience. 

[00:08:01] Nia Yeah. 

[00:08:02] Brittny To know w hat goes into the large event planning. 

[00:08:06] Nia Yeah, for sure. I also feel like if we’re talking about like folks external to the organization, they may not be or I should say most likely are not as aware of some of the movements within fundraising and around events like how folks are shifting around accessibility and equity and inclusion and creating events that maybe look and feel very different from traditional events that those folks may have attended and what they’re thinking should be happening. And so in a space like that, it’s really hard to like train people, educate them on these new concepts while also actively planning the event. 

[00:08:50] Brittny Oh, for sure. Well, particularly, you know, some of these events have a long standing history, right? Well, we’ve been doing this event for 15 years and we’ve always hit our fundraising goal. Why would we change anything? Right. Why do we need to if it’s not broke, why fix it? Not recognizing that what’s broken or what’s a barometer of what’s working or not working is not just the financial outcome of the event. Right? 

[00:09:20] Nia For real. 

[00:09:22] Brittny And there has and we’ve talked about it on the podcast a lot about organizations more and more wanting to look at their fundraising practices, events included, if not at the top of their list of are they in line with the values of the organization? 

[00:09:36] Nia Yes, absolutely. 

[00:09:39] Brittny So I do think that when you get somebody on a committee that is not immersed in that conversation or versed in it, and they’re using experiences from event planning at other institutions, I don’t know. I don’t like bigger budgets and different values and, you know, whatever. It’s that expectations misalignment too. Right. 

[00:10:04] Nia Yeah. I mean, I think expectations is the theme of this episode. 

[00:10:09] Brittny Mm hmm. 

[00:10:10] Nia Like from expectations of what committee members are going to do, expectations of what events are going to look like, expectations of what the organization should or should not be doing. Like that. That setting of a collective understanding of those expectations is often at fault when we see committees that fall apart. 

[00:10:30] Brittny And I just feel so bad for the staff because they’re managing or attempting to manage all those expectations while still again being in a place of what I want to say, a place of like gratitude. 

[00:10:49] Nia Yes. Right. Yes. 

[00:10:55] Brittny And that’s fucked up. 

[00:10:56] Nia Mm. 

[00:10:57] Brittny I’ll never forget. I had a committee member one time who was helping me on this gala committee, and she said, you know, I go to a lot of different events. And I went to one last weekend and when I showed up at the event, there was a really long line for check in. And they met us at the door with glasses of champagne. And she said, I took one sip of that champagne, and I knew exactly what type of event it was going to be. And I thought she was saying it as a positive example. I was like, Wow. Good on them. They’re like, meeting people at the door. Champagne? Holy crap. And she’s like it was horrible champagne. 

[00:11:36] Nia Oh, yes. Because our events here are to cater to the rich and famous. 

[00:11:40] Brittny Right. 

[00:11:41] Nia Oh, my God. So you were like, I know exactly what type of donor you are based on that story. 

[00:11:47] Brittny I know. And it was like, wow, you have totally different expectations than I do for a nonprofit event. 

[00:11:56] Nia Yeah. 

[00:11:57] Brittny Right. Like, I was thinking, wow, that’s really, I guess, kind of classy that they met them at the door of champagne. I mean, we could have a whole conversation about that, too. But her takeaway was like it was really shitty champagne. So this is going to be, like, a subpar event. 

[00:12:14] Brittny Yeah. Oh. 

[00:12:16] Nia Well, I have a really apropos story. Okay. And I’ve been muddling through this all morning and just, like, rolling around in my head to figure out how to tell this in a way that doesn’t get me so angry that I can’t finish the episode. Let me start off by saying this is one of my absolute favorite clients. I love working with them. I have for years and we are helping them with a very specific fundraising campaign. And we wanted to get together prospective campaign committee members to kind of talk about what the campaign is going to look like, get their feedback on some things. Luckily we said very clearly like this is an exploratory session on both sides. Right. And the luckily is because it was awful. So picture first you’ve got this room and all of the staff from the organization that are there and the board member who’s been helping us in the planning process. All women. My team are women. We’ve got a couple of donors on Zoom who are women and then two white men in the room. And those are prospective committee members. They proceed to talk down to us to such an extreme level that all of the women we are texting each other, like trying to figure out how the fuck to get out of there. They explained what the organization does to the executive director. 

[00:13:39] Brittny Oh, my God. 

[00:13:40] Nia They explain fundraising to me. 

[00:13:43] Brittny Okay. 

[00:13:44] Nia It was just like the worst mansplainiest mansplaining. But my favorite part was probably like you were saying, we’re trying to get that balance of, like, gratitude. These people have been donors to the organization. They’ve been board members. Right. Like, they they’re there for a reason and setting expectations for what things are going to look like going forward. And also my role as consultants like these are not my donors. 

[00:14:06] Brittny Right. 

[00:14:07] Nia So I can’t ruin the relationship on behalf of my clients. 

[00:14:10] Brittny Absolutely. 

[00:14:11] Nia So near the end, one of them is like, well, you should really consider naming opportunities. And this is what it looks like with this other organization I’m involved with. And I was like, Yeah. So what I’m hearing from you and what we’ve heard from others is everybody really wants to be seen through this campaign, which is why we’re going to be doing a flat acknowledgment. Every single person who donates will be acknowledged unless they want to remain anonymous, of course. And he starts to get upset and I explain and even bring it in. Like, you know, we all have different socioeconomic statuses. And for somebody giving $100 is going to mean a lot. And we want them to be seen and be part of this campaign as much as you might want to. And he got so angry, like visibly angry with me. And the only thing I could think of is that he doesn’t want his name listed next to a poor person’s name. 

[00:15:05] Brittny Oh, my. 

[00:15:06] Nia It was horrific. But the good news is, at the end, you know, we’re all kind of debriefing and the client fully agreed, like they do not need to be on this committee like we put out there the kinds of work we’re going to be doing, how we’re going to be instilling community centric fundraising in this campaign. They’re not on board for it. They have no desire to learn or be on board for it. They do not need to join. 

[00:15:28] Brittny So are they going to have that conversation with him? 

[00:15:31] Nia Yeah. Luckily, we did not even bring up, like, committee membership. It was just like we’re in these planning stages we’re going to be rolling out in January. And they have some specific, specific expertize that could be used in other ways. So we’re going to tap him for that. But they don’t need to be sitting on the committee and dragging the process down. 

[00:15:49] Brittny Well, so you bring up such a great first of all, that sucks. 

[00:15:54] Nia Yeah. 

[00:15:55] Brittny And I think we’ve all been there to some capacity. And I know how infuriating that can be because you’re stifled in it, right? Because you can’t defend yourself. You have to. I get it. Be professional. But the part that you brought up that I wanted to emphasize, too, is now that I’m a consultant, we’re really getting that other perspective of when you’re a consultant in this. You know, we talk a lot about power dynamics and sometimes as a consultant, you can come in and you’re going to be listened to because you’re the third party that they’ve hired. Right. And sometimes you’re saying stuff that the staff has already said, but they hear you because you’ve been kind of framed as the expert. But there’s other times where you come in as a consultant and. The volunteer slash, board member slash, whomever doesn’t know why you’re there, because they feel like they already know it. And, you know, not to like I’m kind of jumping back and forth because I know you were working on a different kind of campaign but like on events committee with. Organizations not having internal development capacity. Some of them, I mean, thankfully, because I am an events consultant, have started hiring. More of them have started hiring event support. Right, external event support. And so when I’ve come in as a consultant, I’ve kind of taken over either the tasks or the decision making power that the committees were used to having. 

[00:17:30] Nia Mm hmm. 

[00:17:32] Brittny So now I’m sometimes perceived I mean, this is kind of a strong word, but kind of as a threat, you know, of like, well, we’ve been making these decisions for years. And who’s this person who came in? And so I wonder, too, if any of that was playing out in the dynamic that you were experiencing, too, of like, well, I already know this. So they brought in this consultant, but I could have told them this information. 

[00:17:57] Nia Oh, no, I think it’s because I don’t have a dick. But yeah, like, I’ve seen those dynamics play out the way you’re talking. 

[00:18:03] Nia About as well. 

[00:18:05] Brittny Fair enough. Well, I definitely knew that played a part in it. But yeah, I mean, I think it’s interesting. But it’s forcing organizations to rethink the purpose of these committees. Yeah, right. Mm hmm. And. And the cost benefit analysis of it. Right. Is it really worth our time? Again, this is just an example but like to have six people stand around a room and talk about. Brainstorm venues of where to host their next event. 

[00:18:43] Brittny And then the time it takes for those people to then call those venues and get the information around like costs involved. And you know, what’s the occupant The highest occupancy they can have and then come back and then all like talk about that again and share the information that they gathered and then do the pros and cons of all of them. Then like three weeks later come up with a decision versus just asking somebody who that’s what they do for a living. Hey, what venues would hold 250 people? Here they are. What are the pros and cons we want to be able to do X, Y and Z? I think you should go with this one for these reasons and be done. 

[00:19:25] Nia Mm hmm. 

[00:19:25] Brittny Right. 

[00:19:27] Nia I’m just laughing because, like, how many conversations like that have we both been in so many times in our careers? 

[00:19:33] Brittny So many. So many. And I get it. Like, again, I’m trying to see both sides. I get it wanting people to have a voice. Right. And to be able to participate. But again, it goes back to could the participation be in another way? 

[00:19:51] Nia Totally. Exactly. Like I think that that’s a big part of this, is making sure that the efforts are funneled into something truly useful for the organization and the mission. I was just talking to a client a couple weeks ago and, you know, he’s talking about a campaign committee they have around a fundraising campaign. And he said to me, like, you know, I just feel like we go to these things and I’m just giving them updates for an hour and they’re asking me questions about our programs. I was like, Well, what sorts of fundraising are they engaged in? Like, are they having barriers to that? And he’s like, Well, they’re not really doing any. I was like, Okay, so you’ve created a structure for some sort of fundraising campaign committee. You’ve told them that that’s why they’re sitting there, and yet you haven’t actually enabled them to do the fundraising. So of course, they’re just going to come and ask you a bunch of questions, like if you actually want to use this committee, which I think is an IT right. Like, I’m not saying that’s a foregone conclusion, but if this is the way you want to do this campaign, you got to get them fundraising. 

[00:20:51] Brittny What are the action items? 

[00:20:52] Nia Yeah. Identifying their prospects. Saying how many calls they’re going to make. Right. Like get some accountability going because committee members also want to do something important. Like, I don’t think any of them are leaving those thinking like, yep, I did a I did a good thing for a good cause. 

[00:21:07] Brittny Right. And that’s ultimately at the end of the day, whether we’re talking about any kind of volunteer, but particularly like board members or committee members, they want to feel like they have helped. Right. And so it’s kind of like this no win situation when they don’t feel like they’re being useful, you don’t feel like they’re being useful, but you’re still going through the motions just because you feel like you should. 

[00:21:32] Nia Yeah. 

[00:21:33] Brittny To keep them, quote, unquote, involved. Yes. Right. What about committees where the committee members don’t get along? 

[00:21:41] Nia Oh, God. 

[00:21:42] Brittny Those are fucking awkward. Isn’t that awkward? 

[00:21:46] Nia How about a committee that has to split in two because they can’t even be in the same room with each other. So you do the same committee meeting twice a month. 

[00:21:55] Brittny Stop it, you did. 

[00:21:56] Nia Yes. 

[00:21:57] Brittny You’ve done that? 

[00:21:58] Nia It’s awful. 

[00:22:01] Brittny I feel like I spend a lot of time, particularly, like, on campaign committees, like being a cheerleader. You know. 

[00:22:08] Nia Are we thinking the same? 

[00:22:10] Brittny Yeah. 

[00:22:10] Nia Okay, keep going. 

[00:22:11] Brittny Uh huh. Uh huh. And I just think it’s so funny. It’s like the time and energy it takes to keep people energized and positive thinking. 

[00:22:22] Nia Yeah. 

[00:22:23] Brittny I mean, that’s the best, too. It’s like, okay, well, you’ve hired me because I am quote unquote this expert, and I’m telling you what you should be doing. And you’re not doing it and. 

[00:22:34] Nia You’re not doing it. 

[00:22:35] Brittny You’re not doing it. So I don’t know what to tell you if you’re not getting the results you want. 

[00:22:41] Nia Yeah. Do the thing I told you to do. 

[00:22:44] Brittny Do the thing I told you to do. 

[00:22:48] Nia Yes. Oh. Can I give an example of a really good committee? 

[00:22:52] Brittny Oh, yeah. I was just going to ask you, is it the fundraising committee? 

[00:22:56] Nia No.

[00:23:04] Brittny Oh. [laughing]

[00:23:04] Nia It’s a strategic planning committee, so it has a mixture of board and staff. This is for an organization we’re working with right now. And they serve the low and no vision community. 

[00:23:13] Brittny Mm hmm. 

[00:23:14] Nia And so as we’ve been developing both the strategic plan, but the process, we obviously want to make sure it’s really accessible. And so we’ve done our research. We’ve reached out to, like the disability office, the local community college, and done a ton of reading and talked to other consultants. But this committee has also a mixture of fully sighted people and folks with low or no vision. And so every step of the process we’re able to bring to them and say, is this accessible? Does this work? Is there something we could do to help? And first off, it’s been a huge educational process for me and not just like how we do our work, but just like how fucking ableist everything is. 

[00:23:54] Brittny Right? Sure. 

[00:23:55] Nia But, you know. I know. But it’s it’s a nice reaffirmation. But this committee, we we did a retreat. And so I asked each committee member if they would, you know, lead some of the small group breakouts. And I just love this so much. So we prep the questions in advance, decided how we were going to do it. Like we’re not going to use sticky notes because the folks with low or no vision can’t read sticky notes. And so we decided we’re going to use a Google Docs so that those who use screen readers can use that. And we’re going to make sure that there’s somebody in every group to read aloud, any responses. Right? So we’re coming up with all these ways to do things. But then the committee members who are equally in their small group got so excited that they took it upon themselves to come up with, like, small group names they made. Small group signs. They had reformat, formatted the document so that each of them had it in a way that worked for them. They came up ready to fucking play at that retreat. It was amazing. 

[00:24:54] Brittny That’s awesome. That’s so cool. 

[00:24:57] Nia And such ownership is what we want, right? Especially in a strategic plan. We want the committee to feel like it is theirs, not mine, as the consultants. 

[00:25:06] Brittny Right. Absolutely. Well, I know I would love to hear from people who have participated in effective committees and find out what they think, what it was that made it an effective. 

[00:25:21] Nia Mm hmm. Have you ever [laughing]

[00:25:24] Brittny Here we go. 

[00:25:25] Nia Ever worked with a program committee? 

[00:25:29] Brittny No. That’s one committee I have not, but I have heard about. 

[00:25:34] Nia So in general, just a hot fucking mess. 

[00:25:36] Brittny Yeah. Yeah. That’s kind of the feedback that I’ve gotten from them. 

[00:25:40] Nia Unless your board has, like, deep. Ties to your mission and deep understanding of the programing and assuming your programs committee is made up of board members and staff and other volunteers. It just doesn’t make fucking sense. 

[00:25:56] Brittny Yeah. 

[00:25:57] Nia I mean, if we’re getting organizations that have more community centered boards, maybe programs, committees could be something to put back on the table. Sure. But given our current structures, they’re such a waste of time. You end up with board members way overstepping because they’re jumping into programs, spaces that they should not be in, that they don’t even fucking understand. 

[00:26:18] Brittny Yeah. 

[00:26:18] Nia And they just get in the way of staff. I don’t think I ever once recommended a programs committee to any client. Ever, ever, ever. 

[00:26:26] Brittny Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, because you see that a little bit in every committee. Yeah, but programs is so specific. And I mean, how many people really have experience that can support that? 

[00:26:39] Nia Yeah. No. 

[00:26:41] Brittny Well, have you ever worked with a fund raising committee that worked? 

[00:26:44] Nia Uh, no. Well. I shouldn’t say no. They all work to varying degrees, right? 

[00:26:52] Brittny Yeah. 

[00:26:52] Nia Like I’ve certainly been part of successful campaigns that had committees involved with them. Do I think that the campaign was successful because of the committee? Probably not. Were they maybe buoyed by the committee? Sure. 

[00:27:05] Brittny That’s fair. 

[00:27:07] Nia And I also don’t want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Like committees can feel really frustrating when there’s like one or two committee members that aren’t doing the things they say they will do. Yep. Like, I just remember so many meetings. I had this one client and they had a board and campaign committee member who was very wealthy and very, very well connected. Like to this day you say this name in Boulder. Everybody knows who you’re talking about. And they refused to actually do any fundraising but not say that. Like they would talk about it. Yep, I’m going to go have dinner with John. I’m going to ask him about that. I’m bringing Sally in next week but would never actually fucking do it. And so we spent so much time just brainstorming. How do we engage them differently? How do we help them strategize? How do we create accountability? I don’t think we ever got them to do a single fundraising meeting in the three years that we worked on that campaign. 

[00:27:59] Brittny Which is going to be a fun tie in because. Aren’t we doing an episode soon about why don’t you want to talk to your donors? 

[00:28:06] Nia Yes. Oh, my gosh. Exactly. 

[00:28:11] Brittny So I think that’s going to be a great tie in to that because it’s it’s the same vein. Like, I don’t understand. Like, why just, just talk to them. 

[00:28:20] Nia Talk to them. I mean, we were even like we wrote a letter, but they could send inviting them to like coffee at the new facility because of course, at this point, the whole thing’s been built. 

[00:28:31] Brittny Right? 

[00:28:32] Nia Well, still waiting for them to do any of their donor engagement. Nothing. 

[00:28:37] Brittny Oh, my gosh. Oh, my gosh. Well, we want to hear your stories. Good, bad and ugly. 

[00:28:44] Nia Right? Well, can I say one more thing? Actually first. 

[00:28:47] Brittny Of course! Yeah. 

[00:28:48] Nia Okay. So the one thing I will say, if you are doing fundraising committees that are not shared by staff. Do a co-chair model. 

[00:28:58] Brittny Yeah. 

[00:28:59] Nia Like if you want momentum to be maintained and you’ve got a volunteer, a single volunteer as a chair, the minute they go on vacation, something happens in their life, everything stops. And I’ve had, like, entire capital campaigns that suddenly, like, just halt because we have lost the cheerleader of a chair. With a co-chair, not only do you have, like different strengths you can pull on, but hopefully you can maintain that forward motion that you’re working on and progress can continue. And if one of them needs to leave the committee entirely, you still have somebody to maintain while you get another co-chair. 

[00:29:33] Brittny I love that idea. And you know what? You at the very beginning talked about how we have forgotten how to do this podcast thing. And I forgot that we actually do takeaways and give like actionable advice. I forgot about that part. 

[00:29:50] Nia Yeah, we sit here ragging on committees and we’re just like, good luck. 

[00:29:53] Brittny Good luck with it. So I would say I’m working with a client right now who kind of takes it to a whole nother level in, they have a document that specifies the role of each, like the role of the consultant, the role of the staff member, the role of the committee, and who has decision making power at what into whatever. And it’s all spelled out. Yeah. And so at the very beginning, everyone sits down and we go over it so that there’s no questions about it that we know. Okay, you’re in your lane. I’m in my lane. We’re not stepping on toes. Everybody agreed to this. Nobody should be upset. I mean, still, you’re going to have things that come up. But I found that really helpful. 

[00:30:42] Nia Yeah. Expectation. Setting, accountability. Having actual work for them to do that is beneficial to the organization. 

[00:30:50] Brittny Action Items. Yes. 

[00:30:52] Nia Co-Chairs. Anything else we’d recommend? 

[00:30:55] Brittny There was something else that I was just going to say. Well, I think it’s just it goes back to your expectations that you just listed. But again, it’s that if you’ve always had a committee for something, but it’s not working. Like, don’t just do it because you’ve always done it. 

[00:31:10] Nia Don’t just do it. 

[00:31:11] Brittny Nobody’s benefiting from it. Like, rethink it. Like, it doesn’t mean you have to necessarily get rid of the committee, but you could repurpose it. You know, and talk to the committee members, talk to the staff. Like what would be helpful from a staff point of view? What would be helpful from the volunteer point of view? And maybe it’s just changing their job role a little bit. And with that will come a clearer expectation of what they’re there to do. And everybody will feel like they are benefiting and participating. 

[00:31:45] Nia Mm hmm. I mean, consider, like, a committee relaunch. 

[00:31:48] Brittny Yes. 

[00:31:49] Nia You know, kind of scrap the old stuff. Relaunch with a slightly newer name, better expectations, better accountability, all those things that pretty much she’s talking about. And just, like, delineate that this is something new. 

[00:32:01] Brittny Because resources are going to come and go at organizations. And so it makes sense that you might have to rethink it or repurpose it or that a role might change if that person’s not there anymore. Yeah. 

[00:32:15] Nia Mm hmm. 

[00:32:16] Brittny So, yes, I agree. 

[00:32:18] Nia Awesome. Well, make sure you’re following us. Facebook and Instagram @NonprofitReframe. Email us. NonprofitReframe@gmail.com. And stay in touch because we’re back. 

[00:32:29] Brittny We’re back. And tell your friends tell all your friends at your your work at your nonprofit. Anybody that you know that’s on a board, anybody that’s a donor, just tell them all. 

[00:32:43] Nia Tell every single one of them. 

[00:32:44] Brittny Every single one. And we’ll see you soon, right? 

[00:32:49] Nia Yeah, in a couple weeks. Bye folks!

[00:32:51] Brittny Take care. 

[00:32:54] Nia Don’t forget to become a Patreon subscriber for behind the scenes content, starting at only $3 a month. Learn more at Patreon.com/NonprofitReframe. We would like to thank our sponsors. Brittny Wilson Consulting helps nonprofits raise even more money through fundraising, coaching, training and event production. Learn more at BrittnyWilson.com. That’s BrittnyWilson.com. 

[00:33:21] Nia Mission Launch is a Colorado based consulting firm working towards social good in all sectors through fundraising, board, governance, strategy and planning and equity support. You can learn more at MissionLaunchCo.com. And Jake Walker Music who provides our theme music. You can find him at JakeWalkerMusic.com. Thanks for listening.