Should you set up a volunteer board to help with major gift fundraising? Adrian Beney advises to think very carefully before doing so.

Good volunteer boards transform fundraising. Bad ones suck out energy and happiness rather like Dementors in Harry Potter. In my experience I would say that the ratio of good ones to bad ones is about one good for every three bad.

For a good board, first find the chairperson. Ideally this person will already be a donor - it certainly has to be someone who will set an example in their giving, and who will be a peer of the others you want to get on to the board. You need leadership, in vision and in giving and in asking. A chair at too low a level, intellectually, philanthropically or organisationally will drag everyone else down to their level. And of course the converse is true as well. A visionary chair raises everyones expectations and philanthropy.

Then find the members. All the above applies, but the weaknesses are less catalytic. Try as far as possible not to have people there because they are representatives of anything. They should be there because they care about the charity and will put their money where their mouths are, and will ask others to do the same.

Once you have you the board, give them the right jobs to do, and see them frequently between meetings. Don't be fooled into thinking that the board does its job when it meets. The function of the meetings is to make sure people have done something between the meetings. And make sure they are doing fundraising things, otherwise these high-achieving impatient people will become a set of shadow trustees, and that's really dangerous for them (they will get frustrated) and for the trustees (they will get annoyed.)

Boards are like fire. Great when used constructively - they hone things, weld things, clear out the rubbish etc. Terrible when used badly. They can burn the fundraising house down by being demanding of your time, "constructively critical" of the organisation and completely unproductive.