Since 2000, Westby Associates, Inc. (WAI) has served as one of the premier regional fundraising consulting firms, having worked with over 80 clients in the last 25 years with an estimated $350 million generated for the non-profits they have served.
Sadly, founders Mike and Patti Westby announced that they would be closing their business starting this summer and sunsetting completely by the end of the year, and while the efforts and dedication to the community will be truly missed, it is with immense gratitude that we reflect on those efforts and achievements over the last quarter century of work at Westby Associates.
To learn more about the businesses, their decision to close its doors, and what lies ahead in retirement, we spoke with WAI President and CEO Mike Westby to unpack and reflect on the home stretch of his business.
“We started to draw up our retirement plan 10 years ago,” says Westby. “We were trying to manage our timeline so that we were not taking on projects that pushed us beyond that time period but, things happen, so we have allowed the grace for some projects to continue through the end of the year. It has dramatically decreased from what it has been.”
Westby Associates, which moved to Officers Row in 2006, notes that more than half of their estimated generated funds have come from public sources, such as federal, county, state, and municipalities. Equally, the public funds have helped to leverage philanthropic support from corporations to foundations to individuals, maintaining the core belief that the fund development is a people business and not a money business.
“Once Patti and I began to develop our long-term exit strategy we knew that we had to be more intentional about the projects that we took on,” says Westby. “We actually downsized during COVID-19 and decided to not build the business back up, keeping us smaller and actually helping guide our final few years. I’m very satisfied and content with the particular projects we’ve chosen to do in that time.”
When discussing some major milestones over the course of its 25-years, Westby notes how WAI chose to measure a project’s success not by its size but rather profoundness it offered. “I reflect on the impact these projects had on its communities,” shares Westby. “One hits close to home in Vancouver, the Providence Academy, a project for the historic trust. We also did one project in the Dalles, OR, with one campaign being for cancer screening that saved a documented four lives in the first year. That left a major mark. The last big one that comes to mind is a current one where we did a campaign for a hospital expansion at Grande Ronde Hospital in La Grande. We’re staying with this project until the end of the year given the success we’ve had. It’ll be an amazing way to run through the tape and finish WAI.”
So, what does that finish line look like? Westby plans to return to the performing arts with his wife and partner, Patti, a community where they had met nearly 30 years ago during a production of A Chorus Line at the Columbia Arts Center. “We are excited to return to theatre,” says Westby. “Patti has already been cast in a couple of upcoming plays in Portland, and I’ve been writing again. I look forward to taking that time to advance my creative work.”
So, why choose to close their doors completely rather than sell WAI to another potential stakeholder? “In every scenario we explored involving selling the business it would’ve required my involvement to some capacity which wasn’t appealing,” says Westby. “Equally, we developed so many amazing fundraising officers but the situation wasn’t right to hand it off, either.”
However, while Westby Associates Inc. may be departing, it’s not without one last act of philanthropy as Mike and Patti plan to donate all of their office furnishings, equipment, artwork, and systems to three regional organizations who are expanding: CDM Caregiving Services (Vancouver), PAX Learning Centers (Vancouver), and Glide Revitalization (Portland).
