RETRACING FOOTSTEPS AND FINDING FUNDING AT PIER 21

(Fun)draising | Samantha Summers

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Pier 21 is a groundbreaking museum located in Halifax which tells the story of Canadian immigration. I sat down with Fiona Valverde, Vice President of Revenue Generation at Pier 21, to talk about fundraising for the museum and how to approach making corporate partnerships when your mission is politicized. 

The Pier 21 Site | Source

What brought you to Pier 21? How did you get to your current role?


So many of us here have a personal connection to the story we tell. In my case, both of my maternal grandparents actually came through Pier 21 in the late 1920s from Poland. My dad immigrated to Canada in the 1960s from his native Spain. He flew, my maternal grandparents came on a boat right through the gateway [at Pier 21]. We tell two stories here at the museum. We tell the story of those who have a direct connection to the immigration at Pier 21, and the other story is the broader story of immigration that represents all Canadian immigration. Working here is coming full circle for me. It feels like home. That drew me here.

It must be incredible to feel so personally connected to your mission here and to work here.


If you want to work in fundraising, you know that passion and having a personal connection is so helpful in the work we do.


Immigration is a hugely politicized issue. Is there ever difficulty trying to find corporate sponsors or grants when you’re telling the story of a topic that’s brought up every election cycle?


That’s actually helpful for us. It adds greater relevance for us when we’re trying to impress upon the importance of why we exist and why it matters to support a Canadian museum of immigration. I think it’s important that when we look at corporate partners we do our research, we look at corporations that align with our values as an organization, values that embrace inclusive and welcoming communities, because a lot of what we talk about is around diversity. As an example, let’s look at TD Bank. They right now are supporting a travelling exhibition of ours that’s called Refuge Canada. It looks at the refugee experience, it looks at dispelling myths about what it means to be a refugee, and it tries to look at things thematically, in terms of humanity and shared points of interest. This idea of looking at things that unite us and bring us together instills an ability to be more empathetic and more understanding. For TD Bank, they’re committed to connecting communities. They wanted to support this project that looks at the refugee journey and what brings people together, and creating this ability to understand and reflect. When we look at corporate sponsors, I think it’s very important that we look for partners that share the same values.

Exhibition Space at Pier 21 | Source

After you’ve identified a partner, how do you steward that relationship? What does contact look like?


It varies. It depends on the type of partner, how big they are, what their expectations are as far as stewardship and recognition. It’s very much peer-to-peer. I would probably have the relationship with the head of corporate giving, and my CEO might have a relationship with the CEO or a board member of our corporate partner. Corporations have clear giving guidelines and processes, so it’s pretty clear early on who your point of contact is, and you maintain a relationship with that individual. It really depends on the size of the corporate donor and what existing relationships are there to begin with, so we maintain them and continue to build them. It is really important that you figure out who these individuals are and what they’re responsible for. You should be very respectful of their process and who you’re meant to contact, and make sure that you work with them directly. While you can have other volunteers involved, it’s really important that you keep that centre person abreast of all the different touch points that are happening, and look to them first for advice. If it’s a major corporation, head office can be in a different area in Canada. They’ll want to know that you connected first with their regional representative before going to someone else in head office. If you’re looking for a major gift, they can often move you in that direction.


Once you’ve connected with an organization or an individual, and you’re getting down to the point of determining how big the logo is going to be on the exhibition poster, how do those decisions get made?


Every organization will have some kind of giving guidelines that they will adhere to and follow. It’s important you’re consistent in naming recognition and gift activation, and that you are very clear on the expectations of the corporate partner as well, so you’re comfortable early on that you can deliver on their promise and maintain consistency with your giving guidelines. When it becomes a major gift or a transformational gift, it’s important that you also allow some space to make it tailored and impactful for that donor, beyond that traditional logo recognition. For example, the Sobey Foundation has been a longtime supporter of the museum. As our relationship grew and Sobeys was coming up to their 110th anniversary as a company, and it was also Canada’s 150th, they wanted to look at a partnership that would engage their employees in the story that we tell. They came up with an idea of inviting employees from across the country to share their stories with us. It was a really successful project and partnership, because beyond what one would think of in terms of sponsorship and why a sponsor might get involved with an organization, this was about impact and engagement. I think you’ll find that more and more with corporations, that they really want to find partnerships among the communities that they serve around causes that matter to them.


It does make it sound very similar to major gifts, just identifying those shared concerns and priorities and demonstrating impact. Do you see the two as particularly similar?


As an organization, as far as corporate giving is concerned, we very much approach it as we might approach foundational or individual giving. It is typically from the philanthropic arm of the corporate body. The process is very similar. You do your research, find your points of interest. The recognition and the stewardship is a bit more specific in the corporate world than maybe an individual or foundation’s giving, there might be more reporting involved. In those ways it might be different, but at the end of the day the approach is quite similar.


What is the most exciting thing that has been achieved through fundraising since you joined the team at Pier 21?


My favourite thing working here is when you have that opportunity to just make a really deep emotional connection with someone. One example would be the Saputo family. They made a $1M donation to the museum, which in itself of course is memorable and exciting. The most incredible part of it was when Mirella and Lino Saputo came with their family including all of their grandchildren to the museum for the first time since arriving at Pier 21, and they could show them that moment of first arrival and share that with their family. It’s so intimate, and you’re with them and you can’t help but feel just as emotional as they are when they’re retelling that moment in their lives when everything changed. It’s like, “We made it, we arrived, we’re starting again.” And it happens whether it’s a well-recognized family like the Saputos, or one of the many donors who come here to retrace their footsteps. I feel very privileged when I get to be part of those moments.


I’ll be honest, I teared up hearing you talk about that.


I can’t help it either! It’s a very special place, and a very special organization to work for. We need it now more than ever.

iSCHOOL EVENT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED: INTERPRETIVE PLANNING PANEL

BY: ANYA BAKER

Last Thursday, November 20, the Faculty of Information was host to a wonderful panel of speakers, presenting various approaches to interpretive planning, and a large crowd of museum professionals, academics, Museum Studies students, and other interested parties. It was a great evening. There were cookies the size of your hand.

The panel, organized by Professor Irina Mihalache and Andrea Ott, was called "Reflections on Contemporary Practices in Interpretive Planning"and included speakers Maria Piacente from Lord Cultural Resources, Judith Koke from the Art Gallery of Ontario, Katherine Molineux from Lord Cultural Resources, and Courtney Murfin from the Royal Ontario Museum. The event was moderated by Prof. Mihalache.

Prof. Irina Mihalache, Maria Piacente, Katherine Molineux, Courtney Murfin, and Judith Koke.
Photo credit: Anya Baker

Getting a peak at someone else's work process--how they work around challenges and constraints, and how they bring their most creative ideas in to a coherent plan--is always a thrill, and the speakers that evening had some really interesting case studies to share. From Piacente's work with the Heritage Center and State Museum of North Dakota in developing a thematic exhibit of the state's history, to Koke's work at the Art Gallery of Ontario, to Molineux's involvement with the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, to Murfin's work developing the ROM's popular "Forbidden City" exhibit--these professionals had some great advice and opinions about the role of interpretive planning in the museum experience.

As the evening moved in to a question-and-answer period, the speakers were able to go into more detail about challenges in establishing intellectual pathways into exhibits that did not alienate too many audiences, tensions between museum departments, incorporating interpretive planning into smaller museums that have limited budgets and time, and the intersections between interpretive planning and other fields like museum education and visitor research.

I was able to speak to a few attendees about their thoughts on what was being presented about interpretive planning. One attendee was very interested in the tensions between different departments as interpretive planning becomes more prominent in museum environments; it certainly helped me to hear from both consultants and one-site staff about fitting into institutions unused to having a planner. It was also eye-opening to hear the speakers suggest interpretive planners can act as defacto project managers, given the depth of knowledge they have on the project and exhibit story as a whole, and the overlap the field has with so many other departments. I can see where tensions might develop as interpretive planning is making a space for itself in the museum, but it's also very exciting to see how far people are pushing the practice.

Karla Corrigan, from the Halton Region Museum was happy to have a chance to talk to people in the field and see what kind of interpretive plans were being developed and used; she thought it was nice to build resource sharing into the field, which I agree with completely. One of the speakers, Piacente, actually had a new resource available for sale: Manual of Museum Exhibitions, which she edited with Barry Lord. Corrigan also said that an event like this was a nice entry point for people interested in starting interpretive planning practices in their museums.

I had a hoot speaking to the ladies from the Lang Pioneer Village Museum: Julia Gregory, Audrey Caryi, Carol Hamilton, and Laurie Siblock. They said they had been instinctively implementing many of the practices suggested throughout the evening, but with an interesting twist. As a small museum dedicated to live historical interpretation, they changed the interpretive plan constantly. That is, according to season, time period represented, special events, theme weeks, and in keeping with any new information they developed through these interpretations or from research. They noted that as time passes, visitors get further and further away from the time period and practices represented in the museum; what would seem at least familiar to a visitor fifty years ago needs a much more in-depth interpretation for a visitor today. They see the need to interpret continuously, providing as many intellectual pathways into the exhibit as the day requires.

I'll be thinking about this panel for a while, and I'll surely be drawing on what I learned from the speakers and attendees in any future interpretive planning I do.


Note: Because they really were so good, I have to mention the cookies again; they were from Almond Butterfly Gluten-Free Bakery on Harbord Street, which is becoming the Museum Studies' favourite bakery. Coffee was from the Innis Cafe, which I feel most Museum Studies people already know about because it's right across the street from the Bissell building and everyone goes there for lunch.