Skip to main content
Nonprofit Leaders Resources Tutorials & How-To's 4min read

How to pitch a new fundraising platform to your board of directors

If your board of directors is anything like the panel on the show “Shark Tank,” you’re likely on edge reading this article right now. Don’t worry, we’re the experts in giving. After reading this, you’ll be ready to wow your board of directors with a new fundraising solution. Here are the industry-standard best practices for how to pitch a new fundraising platform to your board of directors and receive unanimous approval.

Identify the need for a new fundraising platform

Why are you looking for a new fundraising solution? Define your biggest fundraising pain points and write them down. Connect with your fundraising department to make sure the needs are accurate. Boards think high-level and strategically – give them a problem to solve and you’ll be on the right track in no time!

Create a needs matrix

This sounds technical, but trust us, it’s simple – we’re the experts remember? A needs matrix is like a magic wand. If you could build your own fundraising solution, what would you need it to do? We know, there are a lot of options to choose from. That’s why we’ve created this matrix you can use to get started.

Once your solution matrix includes your must-haves, it’s time to compare fundraising platforms.

Compare fundraising platforms

Your board is concerned with making the best decisions for your organization. They want to know that you’ve done your due diligence in researching options and recommending the best one. Luckily, you’ve already identified your needs and put them in a matrix. Now, it’s time to research platforms that can meet your needs.

Here’s an example of a product comparison chart built based on your organization’s needs matrix.

fundraising-needs-matrix

Click to Enlarge

You and your board can see the leading options and why they’re important to your organization.

Make the Recommendation

This is the easy part. You’ve identified your needs and compared platforms that meet your needs. Now it’s time to recommend a platform. Ideally, the comparison chart should reveal the best choice, but sometimes the decision can be more nuanced. Perhaps a fundraising platform offers everything you want for an exorbitant price, while another one is much cheaper but doesn’t offer a fundraising event solution.

In this case, take another look at step one. Did you prioritize your needs correctly? Whose input are you missing? Redefining the need for a fundraising solution can make the recommendation stage much easier.

Show the Results

After your hard work drafting plans, researching solutions, and crafting your presentation, you finally made the recommendation and got a “Yes!” to implement a new fundraising solution at your nonprofit. Now what? Continue to show the value of the investment to your board. Host a launch day event with your donors, staff, and board to introduce them to your new fundraising platform and kickstart giving. Here’s a helpful guide to do that quickly. Share information about your donors’ trends in giving using reports. Send your board a quarterly recap of the success you’ve had with your new fundraising solution. Showing the results is a sure way to secure funding for future projects you and your team implement in the future.

There you have it, the industry-standard best practices for pitching a fundraising platform to your board of directors. By following these steps, you’ll be ready to wow your board and get started with the best fundraising solution to meet your needs. To create your own needs matrix and comparison chart, start with our PDF template. And, don’t forget to let us know when your board says “Yes!” in the comments below.

Ready to learn more about Givelify as a fundraising solution? Introduce yourself, we can’t wait to meet you!

About the Author

Basha Coleman