Actors of Change: Meet Nathalie Lévesque

It’s not easy to successfully lead an entire philanthropic organization, but Nathalie Lévesque sure makes it look like it is.

As the Executive Director of the McCord Museum Foundation, she is responsible for developing and overseeing the action plan that ensures the museum meets the goals set out by its board.

It can be difficult to try and broaden an organization’s donor base while retaining the current ones, but Lévesque uses her extensive marketing and communications background to rise to the challenge.

Nathalie Lévesque

Working with institutional partners helps a lot.

“They provide the clout, the credentials and the financial support required to make our cause and projects become a reality,” says Lévesque.

“Without the support of private partners such as National Bank, the McCord Museum would not be able to maintain its educational mission and continue to develop innovative, relevant cultural activities and exhibitions that are essential to ensure the sustainability of our institution among the Millennials and the generations to come.”

Nathalie Lévesque

As is the case in many different professions, the demographic of 20 and 30-somethings that is currently the largest in the workforce is also changing the game immensely when it comes to philanthropy.

For instance, Lévesque explains that millennials tend to support causes and not organizations.

“If we want them to love us and support us, we therefore need to make sure they care about our issues and projects. Not only, do they need to connect to the cause but they also need to be involved in order to donate,” says Lévesque.

Nathalie Lévesque

Of course, social media is an important tool for communicating with younger donors, but the McCord Museum is also trying to engage them in more creative ways.

For instance, they offer membership privileges to encourage them to participate in cultural activities specifically tailored toward a younger audience, such as the After Hours at the McCord presented by National Bank and the McCord Museum Sugar Ball. They are also leveraging newer technologies like crowd-sourcing to engage donors, like their One week at the Museum campaign.

Nathalie Lévesque

These types of activities are often the first point of contact for people with the museum; the beginning of a hopefully long and fruitful relationship between a new generation of volunteers, fundraisers and philanthropists with the organization.

However, while the field of philanthropy may be changing with the times, the building blocks of what you need to be successful in the industry remain the same.

Lévesque leaves us with three pieces of advice for anybody looking to get into the profession: “Be passionate about your cause, cherish your prospects, donors and volunteers and never forget that there is no such a thing as a small gift.”