Case Study: University of Calgary achieves millions in cost savings and community-driven budget solutions with IdeaScale

Community Building While Problem Solving

The University of Calgary, a major Canadian research university serving 30,000+ students and 155,000 alumni, faced a sudden government cut to its Campus Alberta grant (nearly $32M in March 2013), forcing a 7.3% budget reduction. To engage the campus community on how to balance the budget, leadership turned to crowdsourcing.

Using IdeaScale in a three‑phase process (idea gathering via town halls and online, sorting/routing to experts, and reporting/implementation), the community generated 200+ ideas from hundreds of participants and cast over 12,000 votes. The exercise uncovered millions of dollars in potential savings and revenue opportunities, flagged program and hiring changes for further review, reached far more stakeholders than traditional methods, and was later reused for sustainability and mental‑health initiatives.

University of Calgary

Bruce Evelyn

Vice-Provost for Planning and Resource Allocation