Location
Minneapolis, MN
Sector
Education

Summit Academy OIC’s mission is to empower individuals to develop their ability to earn and become contributing citizens in their communities as well as economic drivers of the State of Minnesota. Summit was ready to scale up its services and programs for students. To accomplish that, school leadership understood that major philanthropic support would be necessary and determined that a campaign planning study would provide concrete direction and the next steps they could and should take.

Summit offers specializations and industry certifications for in-demand careers, with plans to continue to add more, such as Information Technology, Construction, and Medical Administrative Assistant through 20-week accredited trainings as well as an accelerated 10-week GED program and 6-week Food Manufacturing training—all at no charge to students. And Summit’s STEM career pathways for youth, provides high-quality, hands-on STEM programs, activities, and education to prepare students of color to be the workers of the future.

“Our collaboration with BWF meant that Summit Academy OIC could work towards achieving ambitious current goals while simultaneously building long-term capacity to ensure the achievement of future goals. BWF really takes the time to get to know their clients—to understand organizational strengths and challenges—and they are committed to their clients’ success.”
Sarah Armstrong
Chief Development Officer • Summit Academy OIC

The campaign study established a right-sized fundraising goal and timeline. Ongoing counsel for both internal and external leadership equipped the Summit team to pursue major gift strategies and grow its pipeline of support.

With the road map to success in hand, Summit Academy exceeded its initial working goal ahead of schedule and extended the campaign goal to $13 million and is now successfully executing the public phase of its campaign. The chief development officer has aligned the fundraisers with volunteer leadership, creating a stronger and more knowledgeable team, and has increased fundraising capacity. Summit believes that “the best social service program in the world is a job,” and the successful campaign is helping the school deliver on that promise to students from the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota.

Summit Academy OIC utilized the campaign planning and management services offered by BWF.