 Know. Like. Trust. Give. Advocate. The Full Journey Your Board Needs to UnderstandThere’s a common shorthand in marketing for how individuals become familiar with brands and institutions: Know, Like, Trust. Having worked in higher education for most of my career, I have been lucky to have a ready-made constituency that knows the institution well – our alumni. If the institution has done well, most of the alumni will also like and trust their alma mater. But for most nonprofits wondering why they have trouble raising the funds they need, the problem usually happens upstream. In fact, I add two more crucial steps onto this funnel that make it more relevant for nonprofits, specifically. Know → Like → Trust → Give → Advocate  People may know of your nonprofit from social media or word-of-mouth from a friend who benefitting from your services. They come to like you when they follow you on social media or subscribe to your email list. Trust is harder to see in behavior, but it is a result of demonstrating good stewardship of your resource and integrity in how your organization moves. Only once they trust your nonprofit will they make a gift. And generally speaking only those who are fully invested (in both trust and resources) will become advocates and ambassadors for your organization, thereby filling the funnel with more potential supporters! What’s even more powerful is when you place that funnel next to the Donor Cycle: Identify → Qualify → Cultivate → Ask → Steward  They are describing the same journey from two different angles. And here’s the leadership insight: Most boards only show up at "Give" or "Ask". But fundraising strength is built long before that moment. Know = IdentifyBefore someone gives, they must know you exist. That sounds obvious. Yet many boards underestimate how much influence they have at this stage. Board members can:
This is not small work. This is pipeline work. When a board member says, “I don’t fundraise,” but never introduces anyone new to the mission, what they’re actually saying is, “I don’t participate in identification.” If you've read my post on Fundraising Avatars, Door Openers and PR Gurus belong right here. No awareness. No prospects. Like = QualificationOnce someone knows about your organization, the next question is alignment. Do they resonate with the mission? Do they see their values reflected in the work? Board members can support this stage by:
This is relational, not transactional. This is where affinity is assessed. Where you begin to see who leans in naturally. It’s also where many boards are more comfortable than they realize. They don’t need to ask yet. They just need to connect. Trust = CultivationTrust is where fundraising becomes serious. This is the longest phase of the donor cycle, and it’s where credibility is built. Board members influence trust in powerful ways:
Trust is not built through charisma. It’s built through consistency and integrity. If a board is disorganized, opaque, or unclear about financial realities, trust erodes quickly. But when a board models steadiness and transparency, donors feel it. This is also where listening matters most. Silence after the ask is powerful, but listening throughout cultivation is what earns the right to ask in the first place. Give = AskOnly after Know, Like, and Trust have been established does the Give stage make sense. This is the inflection point. Board members can engage here by:
Notice something important. Board giving is not just about dollars. It’s about credibility. When board members invest first and speak openly about why, they reduce skepticism and increase alignment. The ask should never feel abrupt. It should feel like the natural next step in a relationship. If your board only engages here, you are asking them to operate at the highest-pressure point without participating in the earlier groundwork. That’s a recipe for avoidance. Advocate = Stewardship and Re-engagementThis is the stage most boards forget. Advocates multiply impact. Board members can:
Advocacy is what transforms one-time donors into long-term partners. And stewardship is what turns satisfaction into loyalty. If your board understands that their role extends beyond the ask, fundraising stops feeling episodic. It becomes cultural. The Leadership QuestionAs a CEO or Board Chair, ask yourself:
If your board is only activated at “Give,” you are missing 80% of the journey. But when you align board strengths to every stage of Know → Like → Trust → Give → Advocate, fundraising becomes coordinated and sustainable. It becomes a system. And systems outperform heroics every time. Ready to Align Your Board to the Full Arc?If you’d like to assess where your board is strongest (and where you may be losing momentum in the funnel), let’s talk. In a Discovery Call, we can map your board’s engagement across the full journey and identify practical next steps. Fundraising is not one moment. It is a progression. And strong boards understand the entire arc. Cheers,  P.S. If you found this helpful, there's more where that came from. Subscribe to get practical fundraising strategies delivered straight to your inbox. P.P.S. If you're a nonprofit CEO who freezes when it's time to ask, or who knows your messaging isn't landing the way it should, let's connect. I work with leaders one-on-one to get this right. If you liked this…
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Jessica Cloud, CFREI've been called the Tasmanian Devil of fundraising and I'm here to talk shop with you. Archives
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