I was a bit nudged to serve on the board for our region's YMCA. I'd say there are about 20-30 board members. But it appears the board members are also a source for donations to the organization. Of course there are some good causes in public service the organization provides.

But I can't help feel that they're "REALLY" looking to us for money.

Anyone have any experience with this sort of thing?

I served on a couple of different boards back in the day (our company had a long history of board participation).

One of those had some very, very wealthy people on it. Old school family money.

The organization staff was really cool. One day they explained to me how they put the board together using two types of people -- people with lots of money and connections who made personal donations and solicited money from friends; and "worker bee" types who could provide in-kind services due to their day jobs or skills.

I was clearly a worker bee.

One time before a meeting I was making small talk with the board president. He was telling me all about his tennis exploits. I stupidly asked, "Oh, where do you play?" He looked at me like I had the plague and said, "River Oaks Country Club, of course."

Thank you guys.

I've been asked to donate...range of $1000 - $1500.

OP, what you're experiencing is very common. In most non-profits, board members are really expected to be major fundraisers, and you can't be begging for money when you don't donate yourself. I was fairly high up in my organization in NYC, and I was regularly approached about joining non-profits. Some of them had extremely high expected participation rates ($10K), and they would have 25 - 30 board members (hint: why do you think they have so many?).

I never did it, because I was stretched to the max with family and job anyway, and while I don't mind donating money, I hate begging for it. But I know people that did it as a stepping stone. A small non-profit leads to a larger one, which leads to a larger one, etc......

AggieDruggist89 said:

---

Thank you guys.

I've been asked to donate...range of $1000 - $1500.

---

Doesn't strike me as unreasonable in this situation. But be careful what other areas they expect you to support financially (auctions, fundraisers, capital campaigns, etc.). Again, I don't think it's out of bounds, if you want to join the Board and pay the donation, to let them know you are not in a position to be a deep pocket Board member but you are also more than willing to donate your time and talents to help the Y. My experience is that most charitable Boards need that as many people are happy to pay and be associated with the Board but don't have the time or desire to actually do much work.

Served on a center YMCA board for 7+ years. Was campaign and board chair. Our was an advisory board as we we were part of greater Houston YMCA. In Houston there is a "big" board that had governance.

As advisory it is donating time, talent and treasure. Ideally you do all three as a board member. Sometime you do all three with focus on two more than the third. Do a lot of time and talent but lower on treasure. If only doing treasure then a donor. If time then a volunteer. Same can be true for talent.

If a board member was doing all three the we don't put pressure on how much $$. Not all can donate $. We had some that were in the sub $500. Some were in the $3000 or more for donations.

It is expected that board members fundraise and some board members would donate $500 but then fundraise to get another $10k. Time and talent right there.

Serving on board and donating means that I had a part in where my donated dollars were spent. Giving memberships to with low incomes, purchasing basic needs for homeless kids attending school.

Happy to ask any questions you may have. It was very rewarding for me and was a bummer to resign. I needed to work on career. I'll probably go back in a few years. I'm friends with the Houston CEO and more than a few of the big board members.

We didn't have a minimum dollar requirement. We just asked that each board member donated. One or two each year would be $100 -$200. But they donated time and talent at high level.

Many boards have a give/get threshold they want the members to meet. Sometimes it's give at least a base amount plus go drum up donations for another amount. Other times it's either donate $10,000 annually or bring in $10,000 in donations or a combination of the two.

I have served on boards during my work career and never felt I was asked to be on a board, or elected to be on it, because they expected me to donate money. I always got the impression that what the entity was looking for in board members were people who could direct the entity, help get major objectives accomplished because of their knowledge and/or connections, and for their expertise. If a board suggested a dollar amount for me to donate, I would figure they are not after what I might bring to the board from my work or career experience but saw me as a source of funds. At that point, I'd bail on them.

Have been on a couple of different boards. One of the questions on a lot of grant applications is what percentage of the board donates to the charity and what the average donation is.