Our Approach:
Connect - Collaborate - Counsel
MISSION
ARBORA Philanthropic Dialogue supports nonprofit organizations, individuals, foundations, and businesses in optimizing their philanthropic strategies. We help our clients maximize the impact of their actions, ensure the sustainability of their initiatives, and build lasting relationships with their communities through strategic and tailored approaches.
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VISION
To be change agents for strategic fundraising and philanthropy management, fostering a culture of informed, sustainable, and effective generosity. We aspire to create a philanthropic ecosystem where every commitment, whether individual or organizational, generates significant and measurable impact for society.
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VALUES
Commitment – We are fully dedicated to helping our clients achieve their philanthropic mission.
Excellence – We provide services based on expertise, rigor, and best practices in philanthropic management.
Collaboration – We believe in the power of dialogue and collective work to strengthen philanthropy and its impact.
Innovation – We develop strategic, innovative solutions tailored to the current challenges of the philanthropic sector.
Integrity – We support our clients with transparency, ethics, and respect, placing their values and objectives at the heart of our approach.
Our Team
With a dual background in art history/museology and leadership in arts administration, Laureen Bardou has built a career across major museums in Montreal and internationally. An accredited Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) and twice named among Montreal’s Top 50 Women of Influence by Women We Admire (2024 and 2025), she brings over 12 years of experience spanning the arts, higher education, and the health sector. Deeply convinced of art’s vital role in serving the common good and fostering understanding of social issues, Laureen believes that philanthropy is a powerful tool for driving meaningful change. She works to build thoughtful, values-driven relationships with donors who aspire to create a better world for future generations. Passionate and deeply committed to advancing philanthropy as a force for social change, Laureen balances a full-time role as Senior Director of Philanthropic Development at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Foundation, her part-time role at ARBORA Philanthropic Dialogue, with an active life as a mother to two young daughters, aged 5 and 8, and numerous volunteer commitments. Beyond her full-time work, Laureen is an active volunteer and sector advocate. She holds board and governance roles with the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) locally, nationally, and globally (AFP Québec, AFP Canada, AFP Global), serves as a 2025 CFRE Ambassador, and mentors emerging fundraisers through HEC Montréal and AFP. A sought-after speaker, she shares her expertise in philanthropy at academic institutions and conferences in Quebec and internationally (AFP ICON).
Amanda was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec and completed degrees in Psychology, Public Relations, and a Masters in Philanthropy & Nonprofit Leadership (MPNL). Her 17-year career in the non-profit sector spans education, health, and community. She is passionate about leveraging data and modernizing the way our field’s professionals approach major giving, capital campaigns, and volunteer management. In her current role as Director, Major Giving and Campaign Tracking, CHU Sainte-Justine Foundation, Amanda works to put in place the strategies and tools needed to secure $500M in new philanthropic investments – the most ambitious campaign ever undertaken by a healthcare institution in Quebec. Amanda proudly serves on the Board of Directors of the Montreal Children’s Library, Champions for Life, and is the Co-Chair for the Association of Fundraising Professionals Foundation for Philanthropy - Canada. In 2018, the Governor General awarded Amanda the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers for her service to youth education. She has spoken at fundraising conferences across North America on the topics she is passionate about - major campaigns, volunteer mobilization, and the importance of developing data-driven strategies.
Our Story
Amanda and Laureen are both known in the not-for-profit sector for their leadership, their passion, their professionalism, their strong ethics as well as their impact and impressive track records in fundraising. Both involved for many years at the highest levels of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) and accredited as Certified Fund Raising Executives (CFRE), they keep up to date with the best practices of the fundraising profession, its code of ethics, and its advancement in Canada and the US.
For years, they have been solicited individually to consult with organizations and philanthropists.They have discussed starting their own consulting practice because there are a lot of needs in the nonprofit sector for human-size consulting based on the relationship first, not the money. Our philosophy is that philanthropy is about building relationships first - then the donations will come. In 2024, despite both working full time jobs with major Montreal foundations in the healthcare and arts sectors, Amanda and Laureen have decided to take on selective consulting mandates together to support nonprofit organizations in developing their philanthropic strategies, and to help donors achieve their philanthropic goals and optimize their impact with the causes that they care about.
Our Clients
College of Nursing and Midwifery
Kaabong, Uganda
Our Promise
CODE OF ETHICS
As long-standing members of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), Amanda and Laureen both adhere to the AFP Code of Ethical Standards.
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