What is the best tact for inviting a celebrity to be on the board of your non-profit?

Offer something to them, maybe book an event through the stakeholders and fundraising capacity you possess now, without becoming tapped out entirely of course. Offer a stage to peform on, and along with it sales opportunities in merchandise, a wider audience, and wider notoriety, and with it attach a cause such as a treatment in screening for cervical cancer which anyone with any decency would have no problem with performing as a representative of. More than likely, an artist or celebrity will have some personal attachment to the cause. After offering a platform on which to perform and benefit, politely request (ahead of time) that an audience be given to yourself and your non-profit by the artist or celebrity, and as a well coordinated show brings people together so to shall it bring an artist to the non-profit's mission. Make that mission known without overshadowing the artist in the process, and more than likely you will come out with a notable stakeholder position in them. Take what is offered and do not push the point, but offer a position on the board as a way to see where that notable artist/celebrity's funds go, reciprocating with their own fame. If you would like, contact me directly and I can help provide a financial model and mock project charter complete with risk analytics and if so desired real world practicalities should you feel compelled to use my ideas. My own financial specialist and representative is brilliant and investment is his main game but that is a game which we all play in every ongoing 'project' in our lives.

Essentially, collaboration beats conflict regularly. A reciprocating and exponential dynamism can develop between a noble cause and an artist's name reaching a wider audience together. From there, more causes and more artists will join following suit and benefiting as will those wider audiences themselves. Especially given artists of great notoriety and fame tend to come under fire and constant scrutiny some times unfairly, a way to better their names wholly and meaningfully can be of great benefit. That said, it is not to take advantage of their shortcomings just as your non-profit would not benefit from aligning itself with a poor representative.

A matter of pragmatism is the current state of your non-profit, whether it is a public or private one, and past and future projects on its table. Ask yourself, "why do I want this artist representing this cause," and "how will this artist be of benefit on the board of this non-profit more than another?" If a private, as opposed to a public, non-profit, you will more than likely already personally have sway over the board more than in a public non-profit board, so be more prepared (if you seek to retain that control) to develop an intimate relationship with the artist by way of your own stakeholdership and funds sunk into the investment to bring them to perform. Bear in mind also - a performance doesn't have to be the event, a book signing, an album dropping, a simple appearance can all be platforms to help the artist gain and reciprocate the help to your non-profit. So stands the ultimate question: What does your 501c3 have access to that the artist you'd seek to have on your board either has limited or no access to, yet would benefit from it, and what would, at the simplest form of giving back through say, a public statement mentioning your non-profit, your non-profit stand to be ready to offer and potentially lose to little or no detriment. If the final rhetorical question's answer is money, well, you've got little to fret over. More than likely, however, it isn't. After all, you're fighting to have cervical cancer screening done. A third partnership with clinics that practice those screens will complicate the project's budget, and personal relations, but those medical clinics may have money and means your 501c3 does not have. Nevertheless, make sure to bring something to the table lest the clinics and artists come to fight the cause without your non-profit and its more directed and focused eye to raise awareness. Concentrate on what you can see and spend time analyzing that they cannot.

Hello Jean,

Try to research for celebrities that had this kind of illness and survived, or support similar causes.
Contact their manager or PR through email, and include foundations that you are already working with.

Best,
Mirjana

I recommend building a relationship with the celebrity, as asking them to be on the board is a big ask if you don't have a relationship. Maybe start out by asking them for something smaller, then building a relationship with them overtime that can eventually lead to that. Though this can take some time, it can be very effective.