Five questions every board member should ask about fundraising

You do not have to make the calls. You have to ask the questions that make the calls happen. Here are five, with what a good answer sounds like, what a bad one sounds like, and what to do when nobody in the room knows.

BoardSource has been surveying nonprofit boards for more than twenty years, and in every study the board's role in fundraising has landed near the bottom of the performance ratings. In the 2021 edition it was the bottom. Forty-eight percent of chief executives graded their board's fundraising "below average or failing." Seventy-six percent said the board spends "not enough" time on it. Asked whether board members hold each other accountable for their fundraising responsibilities, 35 percent of executives said "not at all" and 42 percent said "to a small extent."

Source: BoardSource, Leading with Intent 2021, pp. 14, 22, 65, boardsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-Leading-with-Intent-Report.pdf.

Most of that is a question problem. A board member who asks "how's fundraising going?" gets "good, busy, the gala is coming up." A board member who asks one of the five questions below gets a number, or gets silence, and either one tells you what to do next.

1. What is our donor retention rate, and what was it last year?

Why it matters. Retention is the number that predicts next year. The Fundraising Effectiveness Project, which tracks $13.2 billion in gifts from 7.8 million donors, puts the sector's 2025 retention rate at 43.3 percent, up from 43.1 percent in 2024. Repeat donors came back at 59.3 percent. First-time donors came back at 18.9 percent. Fewer than half of the people who gave to the average organization last year gave again this year.

Sources: Fundraising Effectiveness Project, Q4 2025 report, publications.fepreports.org/archive/2025-q4; retention by donor type, publications.fepreports.org/archive/2025-q4/retention-by-donor-type.

A good answer: "Forty-one percent, down from 44. We lost 60 donors under $250 and kept every donor over $1,000. Here is the list of who lapsed."

A bad answer: "We don't track that." Also bad: "Our donors are very loyal," or a single number with no prior year next to it.

If nobody can answer: ask for two lists at the next meeting, everyone who gave last year and everyone who gave this year. The overlap, divided by last year's count, is the retention rate. It is arithmetic, and a spreadsheet can do it.

2. How many donors gave $1,000 or more, and who owns those relationships?

Why it matters. Money is concentrated, and more so every year. In the FEP's 2025 data, donors giving $50,000 or more accounted for 53.3 percent of all dollars, donors giving $5,000 to $50,000 for another 25.3 percent, and donors giving $501 to $5,000 for 15.5 percent. Donors under $100 accounted for 1.4 percent. Fewer than 4 percent of donors produced nearly 80 percent of the money. In a small organization the same shape starts at $1,000. Each of those names needs one person responsible for the relationship, and it cannot be the executive director for all of them, because the executive director has thirty other jobs.

Source: Fundraising Effectiveness Project, Q4 2025 report, dollars by donor size, publications.fepreports.org/archive/2025-q4/dollars-by-donor-size.

A good answer: "Thirty-one. Here is the list, with a name next to each one and the date of the last personal contact."

A bad answer: "A lot." Or a list where every name has the same owner. Or "we don't want to bother them."

If nobody can answer: ask for the list, then volunteer to own three of the names on it. A call to say thank you, with no ask attached, is the whole assignment.

3. What happened to the people who gave to us for the first time last year?

Why it matters. The FEP's first-time donor retention rate of 18.9 percent has not moved in a year. Roughly four of five people who make a first gift never make a second. The usual reason is that nothing happened between the receipt and the next appeal. It is the cheapest problem in fundraising to fix.

Source: Fundraising Effectiveness Project, Q4 2025 report, retention by donor type, publications.fepreports.org/archive/2025-q4/retention-by-donor-type.

A good answer: "We had 84 first-time donors last year. Twenty-two have given again. Every one of the 84 got a call or a handwritten note from a board member within 30 days of the gift."

A bad answer: "They're on the newsletter list."

If nobody can answer: ask for the count. Then ask for the list. Then split it among the board and make the calls before the year-end appeal goes out, so the second contact they get from you is a person and the third is an ask.

4. What share of revenue comes from our largest funder, and when does it renew?

Why it matters. The Nonprofit Finance Fund's 2025 survey of 2,206 nonprofits found that more than 70 percent received government money in 2024 and 84 percent of those expected cuts. Fifty-five percent of government-funded organizations were paid late, 11 percent by more than 90 days. Thirty-six percent ended 2024 with an operating deficit, the highest share in ten years of the survey, and 52 percent held three months or less of cash. A large funder, a late payment and thin cash is the sequence that closes organizations, and it is visible a year ahead if someone asks. BoardSource's own list of key financial questions for boards includes "Are our revenue streams diversified in both the contributed and fee-for-service buckets?" and "Are our key sources of income rising or falling? If they are falling, what are we doing?"

Sources: Nonprofit Finance Fund, 2025 State of the Nonprofit Sector Survey, pp. 3, 9, 13, 14, 15, 17, nff.org/wp-content/uploads/NFF-2025-Survey-Report.pdf; BoardSource, "Financial Issues: FAQs," boardsource.org/resources/financial-issues-faqs.

A good answer: "The county contract, 38 percent, renews June 30. We meet with the program officer in March. We have four months of cash if it slips."

A bad answer: "It always renews."

If nobody can answer: ask the treasurer for one page: the top five revenue sources as a share of total revenue, each with its renewal date and the months of cash on hand. That page belongs in every board packet from then on.

5. What does a donor receive from us in the 90 days after a gift?

Why it matters. The other four questions all come back to this one. Retention, second gifts, the number of donors at $1,000: each is decided in the weeks after the receipt, when most organizations go quiet until the next appeal. If the honest answer is "a receipt," you have found the reason for whatever the retention number was.

A good answer: "A receipt within 48 hours. A handwritten note for any gift over $250. A call from a board member for any gift over $1,000. In month three, a short note on what the money did. No ask until month four."

A bad answer: "A receipt, and then the year-end letter." Or "it depends on who handles it."

If nobody can answer: ask for it in writing. One page, by gift size, with a name next to each step. If it does not exist, writing it is the first job, and it takes an afternoon.

Three questions people ask

What is a good donor retention rate for a small nonprofit?

The FEP's sector-wide figure for 2025 is 43.3 percent overall, 59.3 percent for repeat donors and 18.9 percent for first-time donors. Beat those and you beat the sector. The more useful comparison is your own number last year.

Do these questions require board members to ask people for money?

No. All five are about numbers and process, and the executive director or treasurer can answer them. Whether board members solicit is a separate decision. In BoardSource's 2021 survey, 67.8 percent of chief executives said board members were required to give with no set amount, 18.6 percent set an amount, and 13.7 percent had no requirement. The questions work under any of those policies.

Source: BoardSource, Leading with Intent 2021, p. 65, boardsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/2021-Leading-with-Intent-Report.pdf.

How much reliance on one funder is too much?

There is no sector-wide threshold this page can cite with a straight face, so it will not. The practical test is cash: if the largest funder paid late or did not renew, how many months could you run? The NFF survey's answer for half the sector is three or fewer.