This May, our President and Managing Director Douglas Nelson presented at the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) COMPASS Conference in Calgary. The annual conference is one of the many professional development opportunities the organization provides to its members.
AFP COMPASS 2025 was attended by participants representing not-for-profit organizations across Canada, with 6 keynotes and more than 30 breakout sessions over 3 days. The event is designed to build a sense of community for organizations involved in fund development, communications, government relations, boards, management and leadership, and comprised attendees representing the full spectrum of the sector, including social services, animal welfare, educational institutions, health care, recovery centres, camps, seniors care homes, homeless shelters, food banks, and more.
Doug presented alongside Brian Bowman, Associate Vice President, Advancement of Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), sharing the story of SAIT’s transformational Real Futures campaign. The session, titled “Reverse Engineering: Transformational Gift First, Campaign Second – Making it Work,” broke down their innovative fundraising approach.
In 2019, SAIT received a transformational $30 million gift to establish the School of Advanced Digital Technology. With no formal plan in place for the School at the time, the gift became a catalyst for strategic change, launching SAIT’s Real Futures campaign in February 2025. This initiative not only shaped the new School but also integrated campus-wide priorities, redefining institutional planning and advancement.
In their session, Doug and Brian shared insights into how SAIT, in collaboration with The Discovery Group, developed the campaign, which aims to raise $150 million to empower students to thrive. They offered practical strategies for how to build a campaign from the ground up, and provided tips on how to engage Deans and Administration in the process as well as balance institutional and academic priorities with donor aspirations and campaign objectives.
A Legacy of Impact
Doug’s background in fundraising has its roots in the educational sector: his early development work in education propelled him to become the Chief Development Officer at the University of Alberta, and responsible for the second largest fundraising campaign in Canadian history. As President and CEO of the BC Cancer Foundation for six years, he led the organization to a revenue of $300 million, including a campaign that would launch the Personalized Onco-Genomic (POG) program. Spanning governance, culture, advocacy, and innovative granting, Doug has raised nearly $1 billion for organizations in Canada and the United States throughout his career.
Brian has enjoyed a rewarding career as a fundraising professional in the performing arts, social services, health care and post‐secondary sectors for more than two decades. After leading two $50m+ United Way Campaigns in Calgary, he joined SAIT in 2008 to lead the Promising Futures Campaign. In 2011, his team was awarded AFP International’s highest honor, “The Campbell and Company Award for Excellence in Fundraising – Large Institution,” for their work. He and his team were also recognized with the “Sun Life Team Award” by SAIT in 2017 in recognition of their innovative and exemplary work on the SAIT Centennial. He has presented at conferences in Canada, the United States and Australia on fundraising and alumni relations.
If you weren’t able to make it to the conference, you can listen to Doug and Brian in conversation on The Discovery Pod. Brian was a guest in March 2024 and discussed some of the challenges of cultivating a culture of retention within an organization, as well as the essential elements required to foster a committed team.
- Listen on Spotify
- Listen on Apple Podcasts
- Listen on Castbox
Curious about how The Discovery Group can help drive your next campaign results? Learn more about our Campaign and Fundraising Counsel services or reach out today. We’d love to hear from you.