Location
Grand Forks, North Dakota
Sector
Education

In 2013, the University of North Dakota (UND) concluded its first comprehensive campaign, the North Dakota Spirit Campaign, raising $324 million towards a $300 million goal. The campaign made history as the largest capital campaign the state had ever seen.

The North Dakota Spirit Campaign realized significant impact for UND, including doubling the UND AA&F endowment to $162 million, doubling scholarship endowments to $60 million, tripling to $30 million endowments impacting educators, and raising annual support from $5.8 million in FY05 to nearly $15 million in FY13.

“BWF has been a great resource and voice when working with our board of directors and campaign committee, bringing an outside perspective and educating us on pitfalls we may encounter and where we are excelling compared to our peers.”
DeAnna Carlson Zink
CEO • University of North Dakota Alumni Association & Foundation

Three years later, university leadership commenced with planning for the next comprehensive campaign, again ultimately working with BWF as campaign counsel as they had done in 2013. As Foundation leadership noted, the University found “great value in having that broader expertise from outside our organization that can keep us abreast of industry best practices and guide us.”

Ongoing counsel has involved helping the UND Foundation team elevate its focus on principal gifts, extending its reach beyond the existing pool of donors, aligning philanthropy with institutional priorities, developing a campus-wide effort on corporate and foundation relations, training and supporting leadership, and taking campaign fundraising success to the next level. In addition to working directly with senior leadership, training senior faculty and staff and engaging with the board have been a beneficial part of the engagement.

UND has indeed elevated its fundraising to a new level. Fiscal Year 2020 was its best fundraising year ever, and FY22 was the second highest on record.

UND utilized the Campaign Planning service offered by BWF for campaign counsel. To learn more about this solution, click here.