Success story from my time as Director of Fund Development at CUPS in Calgary. Project completed 2023.
Most donor walls are rows of names on acrylic or metal. People walk past them without a second look.
We wanted something warm, natural and human. The people CUPS serves face real barriers to health and wellness, and institutional spaces can feel unwelcoming – even triggering. So the donor wall needed to feel like the opposite of an institution: inviting, calm and alive.
I developed the concept, the design and the words, including "Oki," the Blackfoot word for welcome, and the donor names.
Then I made it. I cut the live edge wood in my home shop, sanded each piece on my deck and applied every donor’s name by hand.
The response was warm from everyone who saw it – donors, funders, partners, staff and, most importantly, the people who come to CUPS for care. The natural look and feel made the space more welcoming, and the major project funder was very pleased with how their recognition appeared.
Walk into your own space as if you were someone arriving on the hardest day of their life. What’s the first thing you see? Make sure it says “you’re welcome here.”
Be well.
Conor leads Know Good Consulting. For nearly 30 years he has led marketing, communications and fundraising for charities and businesses, always through an equity-forward lens. If something here sounds like your organization, he'd be glad to talk it through.