How to Recruit Board Members for a Nonprofit, With Scripts You Can Use

To recruit board members for a nonprofit, decide which skills and perspectives the board is missing, look beyond the board’s own friends, ask candidates in person with a clear description of the role, and screen for conflicts of interest before the vote. This guide covers each step, with a timeline, the places to look, an outreach email and scripts you can copy, and the Form 990 rules that should shape who you recruit. The scripts, a role description and a conflict of interest questionnaire are in the free Word download.

Step 1: decide what the board needs

Start with the gaps, not the names. List the skills, experience, connections and perspectives the board needs over the next two or three years, such as finance, law, fundraising, the community you serve, or a particular profession, and mark who already brings each. A board matrix does this in one page and shows term expiries too. Then agree two or three priorities for this round. Recruiting “anyone good” produces a board of people who know the chair.

Check how many seats you have under your bylaws, and whether any terms end this year. How many directors suit an organization of your size is covered in how many board members a nonprofit needs, and which officer roles need filling in nonprofit board positions.

Step 2: look beyond your own networks

Most boards recruit from people they already know. In BoardSource’s Leading with Intent survey, 96% of respondents said their boards find candidates through board members’ networks and 88% through the chief executive’s; in the same survey, only 38% of executives felt their board represented the community it serves. A board recruited only from its own contacts tends to reproduce itself. Use several channels:

The figures are from BoardSource’s 2021 report on diversity, equity and inclusion, based on its 2019 survey; its 2023 data is published separately.

Step 3: describe the role honestly

Write a one-page role description before you approach anyone. It should cover the mission, the board’s main responsibilities, how often it meets and for how long, the committees, the term and term limits, the giving and fundraising expectation, the time commitment in hours a month, and what the organization offers in return, such as orientation and insurance cover for directors; see nonprofit D&O insurance. Being clear about the giving expectation at the start avoids the most common disappointment on both sides. Your values belong on it too, because they tell candidates what serving will be like.

Step 4: ask, in person

The best candidates rarely answer an advert. A personal ask from the chair or another director, followed by a conversation with no commitment, works far better. Aim for three to five candidates for each open seat, and give each a chance to see the organization: a site visit, a programme, a committee meeting or a board meeting as a guest.

First outreach email

Subject: [Organization] board: would you talk with us?

Dear [Name],

[Mutual contact] suggested I get in touch. I chair the board of [Organization], which [one sentence on the mission and its results].

We are looking for one or two new board members with experience in [skill], and your work at [their organization] stood out. Would you be open to a 30-minute conversation, with no commitment, to hear about the organization and what board service involves?

Board members meet [number] times a year, serve [number]-year terms and are asked to [giving and fundraising expectation].

Thank you for considering it.

[Your name], Chair, [Organization]

Phone or meeting script

Thank them for their time, and ask what they know about the organization already.

Tell one short story about the work and one current challenge the board is working on.

Explain the role plainly: meetings, committees, term, the giving expectation, and roughly how many hours a month.

Ask what interests them, what else they are committed to, and what they would want to get out of serving.

Invite a next step: a site visit, a committee meeting or a board meeting as a guest. Do not ask for a yes on the first call.

Declining a candidate graciously

Dear [Name],

Thank you for the time you have given us over the past few weeks. After talking with several candidates, the board has decided to focus this year on [specific skill or need], so we will not be nominating you at this stage.

We would very much like to keep you involved, and wondered if you would consider joining our [committee or volunteer role]. I will be in touch again when we next recruit.

[Your name]

Step 5: screen before the vote

Two federal points should shape who you recruit. First, Form 990 Part VI line 1b asks how many voting board members are independent, which among other tests means not paid as an officer or employee and not paid more than $10,000 as a contractor, with no reportable business transactions with the organization. Line 2 asks whether any officers, directors or key employees have family or business relationships with each other. Second, the IRS’s governance guidance says a board should include independent members and should not be dominated by employees or others who are not independent because of family or business relationships. That is guidance rather than a ban, but funders and watchdogs read both answers.

So before the board votes, ask every candidate to complete a short conflict of interest questionnaire, and read it against your conflict of interest policy:

1. Are you, or is any member of your family, an employee, contractor or supplier of the organization?
2. Do you, or does a family member, have a business relationship with any current director, officer or senior staff member?
3. Do you serve on the board of, or work for, an organization that competes with us for funding or contracts?
4. Have you received, or do you expect to receive, any payment from the organization other than reimbursed expenses?
5. Is there anything else that could reasonably be seen as a conflict of interest?

A “yes” is not automatically disqualifying, but the board should know before it votes, and the answer may affect the 990.

Step 6: elect and welcome

• Vote at a board meeting and record the election, the term and its end date in the minutes.
• Send a welcome pack: bylaws, the latest financial statements and Form 990, the strategic plan, the org chart, the meeting calendar and the conflict of interest policy to sign.
• Assign a buddy from the board for the first year.
• Give a first piece of work within 60 days, matched to the skill they were recruited for.
• Check in after six months: is it what they expected, and is there anything they need?

A recruitment timeline

Recruiting is easier when it never stops. A governance committee that keeps a short list of potential directors all year, and invites the best of them onto committees, rarely has to start from nothing.

Recruiting the first board of a new nonprofit

A founder starting from scratch often has no network to draw on. Three practical points. Check how many directors your state requires (Michigan, for example, requires at least three) and what your bylaws say. Avoid a board made up of your family: it may be legal in your state, but it weakens independence on the Form 990, worries funders, and leaves no one to oversee you. And recruit for one skill you lack, often finance, rather than for friendship. A first board of three people who each bring something different is a stronger start than six who all agree with the founder. If you are starting alone, see can you start a nonprofit by yourself.

Why board members leave, and how to keep them

• The role was not what they were told. Fix this with an honest description.
• Meetings are reports, not decisions. Send papers in advance and use meetings to decide.
• Their skills are not used. Match each director to real work.
• The fundraising expectation surprised them. Say it up front, in the role description and in the fundraising plan.
• Nobody thanked them. Recognise board work the way you recognise volunteers’; see how to recruit volunteers.

Term limits help too: they make it easy for a director who is not contributing to step down without embarrassment, and they create regular openings for new people. Plan leadership transitions alongside the strategic plan and succession planning.

Where the figures come from

Form 990 questions are from the 2025 Form 990 instructions; the IRS governance quotations are from its “Governance and related topics: 501(c)(3) organizations” paper; the recruitment and representation figures are from BoardSource’s Leading with Intent 2021 report on diversity, equity and inclusion, based on its 2019 survey of chief executives and board chairs. All read on 21 October 2026. The scripts and questionnaire are templates, not legal advice.

This is reference information, not legal or tax advice. Rules vary by state and change over time. For a decision that carries real consequences, check the current text at irs.gov or your state registry, and talk to a nonprofit attorney or CPA.