University of the Fraser Valley
"The Bespoke team brought clarity and expertise that built trust between our internal UFV teams. We now have a solid, exciting path that will get us closer to our goals."
– Susan Mide Kiss, Vice-President of Community Engagement, UFV
The Challenge
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) stands out for its career-focused education. Located on the traditional lands of the Stó:lō (People of the River), the school has campuses in Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission, and Hope, British Columbia. Small class sizes and more than 100 programs, including a dozen trades and technology programs, cater mainly to local students from the Fraser Valley.
But as the university approached its 50th anniversary, it faced significant challenges. Enrolment was declining, and some key staff members had left. UFV had also set ambitious fundraising goals and needed a comprehensive plan for achieving them. Joining in the newly created role of Vice-President of Community Engagement, Susan Mide Kiss was charged with finding solutions.
“We needed help understanding the complex challenges we were facing, and a team of experts to help us identify the path forward,” Susan says. She reached out to Bespoke.
The Bespoke Solution
We needed to understand the big picture. We started with an audit and assessment of UFV’s advancement program that included:
• A review of UFV’s organizational and fundraising materials
• A comparator scan of their competitors
• A survey of UFV’s community engagement team
• 1:1 interviews with key staff and external stakeholders
• A focus group with community engagement team
Following the assessment, we designed a comprehensive fundraising plan for UFV. The plan highlighted the importance of implementing effective fundraising strategies that encompass major gift pipeline cultivation, effective prospect management, and establishing targeted goals. It also identified UFV’s opportunity to leverage diverse fundraising avenues like industry partnerships and legacy contributions.
• A review of UFV’s organizational and fundraising materials
• A comparator scan of their competitors
• A survey of UFV’s community engagement team
• 1:1 interviews with key staff and external stakeholders
• A focus group with community engagement team
Following the assessment, we designed a comprehensive fundraising plan for UFV. The plan highlighted the importance of implementing effective fundraising strategies that encompass major gift pipeline cultivation, effective prospect management, and establishing targeted goals. It also identified UFV’s opportunity to leverage diverse fundraising avenues like industry partnerships and legacy contributions.
The Impact
Our work and conclusive report played a crucial role in validating and clarifying the challenges the UFV team was experiencing. The findings facilitated the identification and resolution of gaps, breakdowns in trust, where relationships—both internal and external—needed to be stronger, and how they could focus on their impact as an organization.
The process and the plan helped UFV see how they could shift from a largely transactional way of working to being more transformational and relational. “The Bespoke team brought clarity and expertise that built trust between our internal UFV teams. We now have a solid, exciting path that will get us closer to our goals,” Susan says. In 2023, they also had their strongest fundraising year to date, and in 2024, the University broke ground on a new, $105 million student residence.