Today our School Spotlight focuses on Stratford Hall in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Stratford Hall’s mission to educate students to the highest global standards through the programmes of the International Baccalaureate. Excellence and confidence are developed through a challenging academic curriculum with further emphasis on creativity, action, and service.
The Problem: A New Position and a Blank Slate
Isabel Sankaran-Wee is the Director of Advancement at Stratford Hall, overseeing development, marketing, and admission. Coming from a media and public relations background, Isabel had experience in marketing, admission, and major gifts. However, when she joined Stratford in 2017 as the Director of Community Development, she had to bring together all three areas in a new role and take on a fresh set of challenges.
Isabel wanted to build up her department and create processes to support recruitment, retention, and fundraising. After that, she wanted to strengthen the school’s annual fund strategy, and accordingly, create a culture of philanthropy throughout the community.
Searching for materials and input to guide her, Isabel turned to ISM. The Advancement Academy focuses on bringing three often-siloed school functions—development, enrollment management, and marketing communications—together to create unified, cohesive strategies. Since Isabel was responsible for overseeing all of these areas, she signed up to attend the 2017 Advancement Academy in San Diego.
The Solution: Inspiration and Collaboration
When Isabel arrived at the Academy, she was assigned a mentor and a group of peers to work with throughout the week. She discovered that she had a lot in common with her mentor group, and they could share experiences, successes, and challenges to help inform the strategies she would use in her own school.
“I realized that other people had worked through tasks that were daunting to me … it was a really good confidence booster.”
With a mentor to guide her and new colleagues to fall back on, Isabel learned new approaches and created her action plan. She returned from Advancement Academy ready to set her plan in motion.
The first thing Isabel did was request a change her title—from Director of Community Development to Director of Advancement. This title change clarified her role to the school community and inspired her team to better understand their goals.
Next, Isabel used her action plan to begin cultivating a culture of philanthropy in her community. She worked methodically, focusing on creating strategies and processes that her team could continue to use. She knew that if this was going to be effective, it should be systematic and repeatable year-after-year.
As Isabel worked over the next 18 months, she decided she wanted to return to the Academy. This time she would bring her team and her Head of School to collectively strengthen the plan they had already begun to implement. Isabel returned to the Academy in 2019 with her team.
“When everyone attended the Academy in 2019, it was a true eye-opener. We could all get on the same page immediately, and make cohesive plans for the future.”
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The Benefit: Exceeding Fundraising Goals
With everyone on the team aligned, including the Head of School, they could make a demonstrable change right away.
On the fundraising side, the team wanted to maintain their current donor pool while continuing to expand it.
In the 2018–2019 school year, Stratford Hall raised $320,000 for its annual fund. Just six months after the 2019 Academy, the team had already raised $300,000 toward its 2019–2020 annual fund! They fully expect to surpass their goal this year.
For admission, the team implemented a new process to help them better recruit and retain mission-appropriate families.
“Everyone knew what to do and the results fell into place. The Academy definitely helped us because we know how to ensure these three different functions work together effectively. Now the team wants to go to the Academy every year!”
Isabel is excited about Stratford Hall's future. Today, they are working on a strategic plan and are preparing to conduct ISM surveys to assess their priorities. There is also a campus master plan in the works.
“Coming to the Academy gave me and my team clarity so we could come back and achieve more. It has helped us take our efforts to the next level.”
