Board recruitment brainstorming – a sample invite letter

In Recruiting Board Members? Ask for Help, I described how one small nonprofit held a gathering to ask members of their community for help in thinking up names of possible board members. As I was cleaning out their folder for filing, I spied the invite letter our recruitment team prepared.

This organization didn’t have a big farm team waiting to be called into service, so they needed outside help.

But even if you do have reserves, you can use this process to expand your circle beyond the usual suspects.

If you are wondering how to invite people to the invite, here’s a start:

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Dear [Name],

From what we’ve heard, your participation and expertise will spark our board member brainstorming session on [day and date] from 6:00-7:00 pm at [organization name and address]. So please join us!

[Add two compelling sentences on what organization does and is looking forward to do].

Our small group of current board members needs your help in identifying and connecting to a wider pool of potential board and committee members. That’s why we are turning to you.

We very much hope you can join us for just an hour on [day and date] to hear about our needs and to share your ideas of individuals we can talk to about volunteer service. There’s no expected commitment from you if you do attend — we’d just like an opportunity to broaden our network and identify people who may be interested in serving [organization].

I’ve attached our “Call for Board Members” to give you a sense of what we are looking for and to spark your thinking in advance about the types of people, skills and connections we are hoping to recruit.

I’ll follow up with you in the next few days to provide more background in advance of the meeting. Or you can reach me at [email, phone].

If you can’t attend, I would still welcome your ideas of people we can reach out to.

Thank you in advance for whatever help you might be able to lend.

Sincerely,

Jane Smith,

Board Chair

P.S. Goodies will be served!  Please join us.

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We had a great turnout and received dozens of names. If you’ve tried this, I’d love to have you share what you did and how it worked for your organization.