In Boardable’s first-ever LinkedIn Live, we explored a topic that’s top-of-mind for nonprofit leaders across the country: how to unlock new revenue and build a more resilient funding mix. With economic uncertainty and increasing donor expectations, the old playbook isn’t cutting it anymore.
Fortunately, experts Kristi Howard-Schulz and Sarah Grimm from KHS Consulting joined us to offer practical strategies, lived experience, and real client examples on how to diversify revenue and reinvigorate fundraising approaches–with a strong emphasis on the role of boards and cross-team alignment.
Why Revenue Diversification Matters—Now More Than Ever
Let’s face it: fundraising is never easy, but recent years have introduced unprecedented volatility. Kristi and Sarah reminded us that relying too heavily on a single revenue stream, like grants or annual giving, leaves organizations vulnerable. A more balanced and intentional fundraising mix isn’t just about growth; it’s about sustainability and mission resilience.
And here’s where the board plays a crucial role.
Diversifying revenue isn’t a job for just the development team. It requires organization-wide clarity, collaboration, and buy-in from leadership, including the board. When board members understand the full picture of the donor lifecycle and feel empowered to support fundraising in ways that match their strengths, organizations see better results and more consistency.
That’s exactly the kind of strategic alignment Boardable helps facilitate.
Rethink Donor Engagement Through the Donor Lifecycle
Sarah introduced the Donor Lifecycle as a powerful metaphor: think of your donors as seeds. You plant, nurture, harvest, and steward. It’s a cycle, ongoing and relational.
Here’s how she broke it down:
- Identification: Who are your potential donors?
- Cultivation: How do you build meaningful relationships with them?
- Solicitation: What’s your strategy to make the ask?
- Stewardship: How do you retain donors and deepen trust?
Pro Tip: Spend 4x more time on stewardship and cultivation than on solicitation. Why? Because long-term value lies in relationships, not transactions.
Boardable Tie-In: Use Boardable’s platform to track donor engagement efforts across teams and document board involvement. With centralized communication, task tracking, and meeting tools, everyone—staff and board—remains aligned on how you nurture relationships across the donor lifecycle.
Activate Your Board as Fundraising Allies
One of the most resonant parts of the session was how nonprofits can tap into the full potential of their boards. Many board members want to help raise funds—they just don’t know how.
Kristi and Sarah offered tactics to:
- Provide tailored fundraising roles (not everyone needs to ask for money!)
- Set clear expectations during onboarding
- Offer ongoing training and success stories to build confidence
Insight: A board’s fundraising performance often mirrors the clarity of its direction. Equip and empower them, and they’ll show up in powerful ways.
How Boardable Helps: With Boardable, you can make fundraising part of he board’s DNA. Whether it’s assigning stewardship follow-ups, sharing development goals in dashboards, or providing easy access to onboarding materials and strategic plans, Boardable helps create transparency and accountability, without overwhelming volunteers.
Audit and Strengthen Your Fundraising Mix
The most successful organizations take a portfolio approach to fundraising. Sarah walked attendees through a tool for assessing current revenue streams and spotting gaps or dependencies. She encouraged nonprofits to explore:
- Events (with intentional ROI evaluation)
- Individual giving campaigns
- Grants (especially with smart grant management support)
- Earned income (for those with viable opportunities)
- Corporate sponsorships or partnerships
Use Data: Look at not just revenue, but cost to raise a dollar and mission alignment.
Boardable Bonus: Revenue conversations should be board-level discussions. Boardable makes it easy to build shared agendas, document decisions, and follow up with action items tied to nonprofit revenue diversification. Everyone has visibility, and responsibility.
Keep the Momentum Going
Boardable is proud to partner with experts like Kristi and Sarah who bring clarity and direction to big challenges. If you missed the session, the full recording is available on our Boardable LinkedIn page.
Schedule a custom demo of Boardable’s platform to see how we support board alignment.
