Expectations for Board members "bringing" their employers' gifts

Question:  If a board member* "brings" the support of their employer to your organization, should you expect them to also make a personal gift comparable to what other board members give?

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*Note: In this article, we're focusing on board members who are employees (even top managers like CEOs or other C-suite officers are most likely employees).If your board member owns a private company or is a financial partner in the company and makes their gifts through the company, that's essentially giving their own assets, and outside the scope of this article.

Some perspective:

First, it's seldom really clear that the organization's support of your organization is due to your board member's influence. Sometimes it's the other way around:  Your board member became a board member because their employer already supports you. So it's not really fair to give the board member the "credit" for their employer's gift.

Second, even if we do give the board member credit for bringing their employer's gift, why would the employer's support of your organization substitute for your board member's personal contribution? Your board member may not be able to give as much as their employer can, but the amount they give personally should be as much as they can afford AND a comparable amount to what others on the board give. 

The employer's gift goes in your "Business/ Corporate" or "Government" support column, and the Board member's gift goes in the "Board Member" column. No reason to confuse them.

Something else to consider:  How will independent board members who make generous personal gifts feel if we expect less of board members who work at companies that support our organization, especially if it's obvious the employee board members are very generously compensated? 

Giving generously - financially, in making connections, and giving their time - are personal investments that we expect every board member to make to the best of their ability.

Attacking this question head-on can help your organization and your board tremendously.  You can keep resentment from clouding the issue by simply putting every board member on the same footing: to give as much as they personally can give.

© 2025 by Dianna Smiley LLC