The give/get expectation — what each board member personally contributes plus what they raise from their network — is the single largest predictor of fundraising success. And the single most common governance gap. This tool builds the policy from the inside out: budget reality, board capacity distribution, realistic targets, stress-test, and ready-to-paste policy language. Here, try it. It may help.
Defaults model a typical hospital-adjacent house board (13 seats, mixed capacity profile). Adjust to match your bylaws and the actual room.
Rough split. The point isn't precision — it's whether your policy assumes a board that actually exists. Numbers should sum to total seats.
The board give/get isn't an abstract principle — it's a number derived from the funding gap. Start from the budget, subtract every other source, and what remains is what the board must cover.
Four common policy structures. None is inherently right — the right one depends on board composition, budget reality, and culture. Pick the one closest to what you're considering; the math and policy language adapt.
Every board policy looks good on paper at 100% delivery. The honest question is: what happens when a member or two falls short, or the budget tightens? Run the policy under the conditions you'll actually face.
The math, the recommendation, the industry benchmarks, the stress-test, and ready-to-paste policy language for your governance doc.
The Special Needs Families toolkit covers the operational and governance stack for hospital-adjacent nonprofit housing: occupancy economics, family contribution policy, hospital-partner MOU structure, capital campaign sequencing, planned-giving pipeline, peer-to-peer scaling, board nomination matrix, and the development-office workflow set. Eight tools are live; ten more in build. Here, try the ones that help.
Educational and informational purposes only. This calculator and any output it produces — including the sample policy language — are intended solely for general educational and decision-support purposes. They do not constitute investment, tax, legal, accounting, governance, or fundraising-counsel advice, and they do not create a fiduciary, attorney-client, accountant-client, or advisor-client relationship of any kind.
Estimates based on your inputs. All results are estimates derived from the data and assumptions you provide. Nonprofit governance law (state nonprofit corporation statute, IRS 501(c)(3) requirements, Form 990 reporting), accounting standards, and the specific facts of your organization can materially change the answer. The sample policy language is a starting draft only; adapt it to your bylaws and state nonprofit statute before adoption. The Baratelli Institute, its affiliates, and any co-branding professional make no warranty of accuracy, completeness, currency, or fitness for any particular purpose, and disclaim all liability for decisions made in reliance on the output.
Consult your own qualified professionals. Before adopting any board governance policy, consult your own nonprofit attorney, CPA, fundraising counsel, or other qualified professional licensed in your jurisdiction who has reviewed your specific facts and applicable current law. The Baratelli Institute is a publisher of practitioner reference material. It is not a registered investment adviser, broker-dealer, law firm, accounting firm, fundraising-counsel firm, or governance consultancy.
Co-branded versions: If a professional advisor's name and contact information appear on this tool, that advisor has elected to make the tool available to clients as a courtesy. Inclusion of an advisor's name does not constitute the advisor's endorsement of any specific result, nor does it transfer professional responsibility for the underlying methodology to that advisor. The disclaimer above applies regardless of co-branding.