RECRUITING COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Most planned giving committees are staffed by technical experts from financial and legal fields. While their skills are critical for the committee, a wider pool of candidates can add great value. Adding great communicators to the team must be a priority. Find your storytellers. Search for your leaders who are passionate and articulate about your mission. A great first place to look is at your current and former board members or frequent volunteers.
When recruiting new members, make certain to set the expectations rIght up front. Everyone wants to do a great job, so assign them an area of responsibilities where they can contribute and excel. Without that they may not be clear on their role on the team. As a result, those committee members may grow inactive, and the work of the committee may fall to one or two active members. Then your committee is dependent upon the presence of the active member(s) - and threatens its momentum after their term.
For new members, give them a newcomers briefing for them to understand their role and the resources available and the many facets of planned giving, including:
- The case statement for planned giving / endowment: why they are here
- Policies and procedures
- Current marketing materials
- Current initiatives and goals for the year
- Expectations and assignments for each committee member
- Learn about their experience in fundraising / planned giving / endowments
- Learn about where they hope to provide value
COMMITTEE TERMS
Committee terms (of 2-3 years) are integral to the success of your effort. Here are 5 ways that honoring terms helps your program. It improves your ability to:
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honor your volunteers and allow them to rotate off as promised,
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introduce fresh ideas,
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refine practices rather than develop habits,
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not over-rely on a single person or inside group,
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recruit new candidates as they witness that terms are honored.
Challenge: Holding to committee terms is often difficult, especially with smaller organizations where there may not be a sufficient size pool of qualified or interested potential committee members.
RECRUITING FOR A NEW PROGRAM
For a brand new planned giving program, the task at hand is setting up the vision and infrastructure. It may be practical to recruit a shorter-term, more intense committee with a start-up mentality: Perhaps a task force. Relevant skillsets might be governance, philanthropy, financial and legal backgrounds. You might seek out personality types who are more scheduled and goal-oriented. You might also recruit them with the promise of a shorter engagement (i.e. 6-12 months) in return for a heavier work-load.
Mid-way through the start-up period, it is time to recruit the longer-term committee members who are non-technical and enthusiastic to focus more on the storytelling and on the relationships.
POSITION DESCRIPTION
Provide a committee description and committee position description so that all serving clearly understand your expectations before signing on with your committee (see a brief sample of each below).