Fiona Valverde, Vice President of Revenue Generation at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 (Halifax, Canada)

Fiona Valverde makes her home in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaw People. A first-generation immigrant, she is Vice President of Revenue Generation at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, where she advances values-based philanthropy to strengthen dialogue around belonging and identity. With over a decade of experience in major gifts fundraising, Fiona builds trusted donor partnerships grounded in shared values, authenticity, and long-term impact. A Certified Fundraising Executive, she serves as President of AFP Nova Scotia and volunteers nationally and globally, guided by a deep commitment to inclusion, diversity, equity, and accessibility.

Building Trust for Intangible Impact: Lessons from Values-Based Philanthropy

For museums whose work centers on values, identity, and cultural dialogue, impact is not always tangible, yet trust is essential. Building philanthropic support for work rooted in inclusion, belonging, and narrative change requires time, transparency, and sustained relationship-building, particularly within complex institutional environments.

In this session, Fiona Valverde shares lessons from over a decade of major gift fundraising at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21. As a national museum with a unique governance structure, the organization faced challenges in developing a major donor pipeline, expanding support beyond its home region, and communicating the value of work whose outcomes are social and cultural rather than material. As the Museum’s profile and relevance grew, so too did expectations, scrutiny, and the responsibility that comes with being a trusted public institution.

Fiona will reflect on successes, missteps, and moments of tension, and how trust, transparency, and values alignment helped navigate them. She will explore what it means to be a trusted partner to donors and stakeholders when impact is measured in understanding, dialogue, and social cohesion rather than bricks and mortar.

This session invites museum professionals to consider how values-based philanthropy can strengthen institutional resilience, deepen engagement, and sustain long-term support, even when the impact cannot be easily quantified.