The Minnesota State Moorhead Foundation has always known something most fundraising shops take years to figure out: donors don’t give to institutions. They give to people. They give to the version of themselves that once showed up in Moorhead with more ambition than money, not quite sure what was ahead. The Foundation’s job has always been to make that connection feel real. For years, the website wasn’t doing it.
The digital front door looked like what you’d expect from a compliance requirement, not a community. The mission was buried. Students were missing. The warmth that defines every in-person Foundation interaction simply didn’t survive the screen. Meanwhile, MSUM was quietly building something remarkable: a new Institute for Applied AI, scholarship programs reshaping access, campus spaces taking shape through donor generosity. None of it was coming through.
“When we completed the Christianson Alumni Center, we finally had a physical space to call our own. Digitally, we never had one. For years our pages lived scattered inside the University’s website, a collection of links rather than a home. Tellwell helped us change that, building a place where a first-time visitor and a lifelong donor both see themselves in the mission. It isn’t just a place to give. It’s a place to belong.”
– Steve Sjoberg, VP of Operations, MSUM Foundation
Tellwell came in first as listeners. The team spent time with Foundation staff defining how the web experience could best translate the warmth and mission of their existing brand to the screen. Warm without being soft. Celebratory without being forced. Clear enough for a first-time visitor, meaningful enough for a donor who has given for decades. Every content decision ran through the same filter: does this center the student, or does it center the institution?
The stories on the site answer that question. Jenni Glenski, a 2013 mathematics graduate who went on to become Director of Product Management at BMC Software and a Gold Stevie Award winner, speaks directly to what an MSUM education makes possible. On the Institute for Applied AI, she put it plainly: “The Institute for Applied AI will give students the foundation they need not just to keep up, but to lead.” That kind of voice, specific and earned, is what the old site never had room for.
The result is a fully redesigned, donor-centered website built on WordPress with Elementor, responsive across every device, and integrated with Alma Base, Forminator payment processing, and an event calendar that keeps alumni connected year-round. The homepage leads with “Where grit meets generosity.” Student voices appear throughout. Scholarship recipient quotes are set large and unhurried. Brynna Reiser, a Mary Ekberg Teigen Scholarship recipient, speaks for many: “The impact of this scholarship on my future plans is profound. It is a stepping stone toward achieving my dreams.”
The giving experience is frictionless. Choose what you care about, make your gift, and within seconds understand what it means for a student on the other side of it. The Christianson Alumni Center, an $8.3 million, 16,400-square-foot landmark, now has a digital presence that matches its physical one. Dragon Giving Day now has a real home — helping fuel growth from roughly $157K to more than $1M, while overall donor retention holds strong at 45.6%. The story library is live and growing.
The best case stories start with a conversation. Tell us what you’re working on and we’ll tell you what it could look like.