For CEOs, Executive Directors,
Development Professionals & Board Chairs

Inspire Your Board to Take Action!

Easy Fundraising & Friendmaking Board Retreat

Give every board member a practical role in fundraising.

A customized Friends to Funds experience led by Gail Perry

Help your board members understand how fundraising really works—and discover the many ways they can help.

Your board will leave energized about what’s possible for your organization. Even better, each board member will identify a comfortable, practical role they can play in creating the resources to make it happen.

Gail Perry and her team create deeper conversations about your organization’s purpose and your board’s role in advancing it. Board members reconnect with the mission, align around shared goals, and leave ready to take action.

Our board retreats are high-impact, results-oriented, and actually enjoyable for everyone involved.

Talk about a Board Retreat

“You scored a home run in the warm, accessible manner you illustrated how each board member can play a key role in fundraising without asking for money.”

Independent School Board Chair
Kansas City

“The most valuable thing for me was reinforcing the fact that I don’t have to go out tomorrow and beg people for money; that it’s a process and it’s all about building relationships. And that it can be fun!”

Board member
Pathways Hospice Foundation

A different way to think about board fundraising.

Board members hear the word “fundraising” and assume it means one thing:

You want me to ask my friends for money.

That assumption isn’t a flaw in your board. It’s the result of an outdated and unnecessarily intimidating picture of what fundraising actually is. It’s also the first thing our retreat changes.

The Friends to Funds approach starts somewhere else entirely: relationships.

Who might be interested in your cause?
Who could you introduce to your work?
Who could you invite to learn more?
What donors should you thank?
What donors could you bring closer?

Most board members are already comfortable doing some of these things. The retreat helps them understand that these activities count as fundraising, too.

The shift, in one line: We move the question in every board member’s mind from “Who will I have to ask?” to “How can I help?”

“The secret to Gail’s success—and what sets her apart from other consultants—is her ability to help each individual participant identify and use their own unique spark of commitment and passion for the organization’s mission.”

—Executive Director, Ronald McDonald House Charities, Texas

Find Your Fundraising Role

Help every board member find their role.

Board members can contribute to fundraising in many different ways. No one has to do everything—and not everyone has to ask.

During the retreat, board members explore the Four Friendmaking Roles and begin identifying where they feel most comfortable:

Ambassador

Spreads the word and hosts small-group events and tours.

Influencer

Works behind the scenes—connecting people, making introductions, and offering advice about donor relationships.

Steward

Thanks donors and helps current donors feel appreciated and connected.

Occasional Asker

Participates in an important gift conversation when the timing and opportunity are right.

Naming these roles often turns:

“I don’t know how I can help.”

into:

“Oh—I can do this.”

Board members may recognize themselves in more than one role. The goal is not to put people into boxes. It is to help everyone find a comfortable place to begin.

Talk about a Board Retreat

How it works

What happens during the retreat.

This is not a long fundraising lecture. It’s an active, experiential working session.

Board members participate, talk with one another, practice real conversations, and identify specific ways they want to help.

We also learn about your organization’s specific objectives before the retreat and weave them into the experience.

Topics and exercises can include:

Crafting a clear, personal message about your mission
Talking about the organization’s work in a way that feels authentic, not memorized
Exploring your case for support—and why your organization raises money
Understanding how fundraising works today, why donors give, and why retaining current donors is so important
Understanding your organization’s fundraising program and how board members can support it
Understanding the donor life cycle and the board’s role within it
Practicing donor-centered conversations that begin with curiosity
Learning how to open doors to new donors
Identifying each board member’s Friendmaking Role
Choosing comfortable, specific ways each person can participate

“Our board members walked away from this retreat exclaiming it to be ‘the best training they had ever received’ on how to fundraise.”

—Executive Director, Montana Food Bank Network

Results

What your board walks away with.

Your board will leave with:

A clear understanding of how fundraising really works and why people give
A specific, comfortable fundraising role for each board member
Practical ways to share enthusiasm, open doors, make introductions, thank donors, and strengthen relationships
A personal and authentic way to talk about your organization
Real practice with conversations and activities they can use immediately
Greater alignment around your organization’s goals and priorities
More energy and willingness to help than they had when they walked in

The goal is not to pressure reluctant board members into fundraising. It is to help them understand:

“I don’t have to do everything. I have a role.”

A proven approach to board fundraising.

Gail Perry has spent more than 30 years working with nonprofit boards, CEOs, development professionals, major donors, and capital campaigns.

Her groundbreaking book, Fired-Up Fundraising: Turn Board Passion into Action, grew out of a central conviction: Board members already care deeply about the organizations they serve. The opportunity is to turn that passion into action that feels natural rather than forced.

Gail’s newest book, Easy Fundraising & Friendmaking for Board Members, expands that approach. It shows board members how fundraising grows through relationships, connections, gratitude, and introductions—not simply by asking people for money.

Gail Perry, MBA, CFRE, is an international fundraising consultant, keynote speaker, and LinkedIn Top Voice in Philanthropy.

“Our board left your retreat energized, confident and most importantly with a tangible action plan.”

Executive Director
Arts Organization, North Carolina

“From reservation, reluctance, and uncertainty to smiles, laughs, and excitement.”

Medical Center Trustee
Maryland

“Gail was wonderful. Even this old dog learned a few new tricks.”

Independent School Board Member
Florida

Bring new energy to your board.