Your board of trustees are your premier brand ambassadors. Here are a group of people who have taken the legal and strategic responsibility of the organisation, on a voluntary basis. This speaks to their commitment to anchoring the vision and mission statements and organisational causes, into the public consciousness. By doing so, they aim to manifest the intention to increase the level of financial and stakeholder support.

However, in my experience of working with non-profit organisations, too often I have come across trustees who are oblivious to this responsibility. I have met compassionate people who want to offer themselves to support the organisation. However, invariably they are not fully aware of what is required of them. Particularly, in terms of the responsibilities laid out in charity legislation. Alternatively, they defer responsibilities to the ‘charismatic leader’ or more vocal and politically savvy trustees.

In today’s climate a partially astute board does not cultivate the range of possibilities that lie within the untapped knowledge of all board members.
All of them need to bring the best of what they have to grow the organisation into sustainability. This should not be the sole responsibility of the chief officer and other paid employees.

Here are 5 ways that trustees can be deployed to market the attributes of the organisation. This can be done for the cost of a travel card for them to attend a meeting or less. The first thing to do is to assess the; strengths, talents, skills, knowledge, work environments and networks of your trustees.

Once you’ve ascertained this information then engage your trustees in the following:

1. Design a business model for the organisation around revenue generating activities that can grow unrestricted income. Involve the skills of enterprising trustees to lead on this.

2. Lobby government officers and / or politicians for resources. Larger, well resourced organisations are already adept at this. However, if you are an under-resourced organisation, then utilise trustees who have connections to government officials. Ask them to lead on the communications to explore access to contracts, commissions and relevant grant options that may be available.

3. Create promotional pieces in the form of personal testimonials in writing, audio or video, that profile trustee stories about why they are committed to your organisation.

4. Put together a tour programme that highlights the work of the organisation. It should be easy to enrol committed trustees to lead a tour programme for their friends and colleagues. This will be an opportunity for them to gain a practical understanding of the organisation’s mission. Through this personalised connection, they may feel inspired to engage with the mission. This could lead them to become financial donors or brand supporter and advocates.

5. Build a case for support by engaging all trustees and employees to create a pitch around why someone who doesn’t know the organisation should care about what it does. And as a result of this want to donate money, time and other resources. This exercise will help to establish a unified view of what the organisation stands for.

I would love to hear how you get on, so let’s connect via Twitter - @BybreenSamuels.
Bybreen Samuels is the writer and author of Non-Profit Booster – 10 steps to building a successful organisation. Due out in 2014.