Swedish Medical Center in Seattle recently announced its Foundation had raised more than $100 million in its most ambitious capital campaign to date. The health system not only met but exceeded its goal — raising a total of $103 million so far — and did so more than a year before the campaign's self-imposed deadline.
At a time when charitable donations are harder to come by, yet increasingly important for fulfilling a hospital's mission, Swedish's feat is quite remarkable. And with more than a year until the campaign officially ends, the total funds raised are expected to grow even larger during what Swedish is calling the "Campaign Homestretch."
How did the medical center achieve such success? Through building one of the strongest fundraising teams around, engaging administrative and physician leadership, careful planning and a systematic yet individual approach to donor "asks," says Don Theophilus, executive director of the Swedish Medical Center Foundation. Mr. Theophilus joined Swedish in 2003 specifically to lead a major capital campaign for the system, which before had only carried out one other capital campaign, raising $20 million.
The Foundation launched The Campaign for Swedish in January 2007 and went public in September 2010 after securing $65 million in gifts. More than 50,000 individuals have participated, and notably, local physicians have contributed a total of more than $11 million. According to Mr. Theophilus, the campaign's success — and really any fundraising campaign's success — can ultimately be attributed to focusing on five key elements.
1. A strong fundraising team. A strong team is the foundation of any successful fundraising effort and can't be overlooked as the very first and perhaps most important element of launching a successful campaign.
"I put that first because [even] with the best strategic plan you can have, you're not going to get there without the team to implement and execute," says Mr. Theophilus.
Development staff should be viewed as a partner with senior administrative and physician leaders in helping them in achieve their goals. After all, a new facility or cutting-edge piece of equipment is increasingly difficult to cover as a budgetary line item, and philanthropy represents an increasingly important revenue source for funding hospitals' strategic investments.
"My philosophy is to hire very smart people that are gong to have the ability to come in and very quickly gain the respect and trust of senior leaders," he says.
2. Engaged volunteers. In developing the goals for the campaign, the Foundation staff met with senior leaders in each of the center's service lines to learn more about the leaders' vision for their programs and identify the biggest capital and programmatic needs. As Mr. Theophilus explains it, each leader was essentially helping the Foundation answer the question: "What are going to be those compelling projects that we know are going to be essential to provide the best care for everybody in the region?"
From there, Foundation staff recruited community volunteers — themselves potential donors — to serve on an advisory council for each service line and, through the councils, gained feedback on which projects were the most compelling to potential donors. By soliciting input from community members on the projects, designs, etc., Swedish engaged potential donors from the community, increasing the likelihood they would donate once the campaign launched. "The more engaged they are, the more apt they are to support it in a significant way," said Mr. Theophilus.
After the specific projects were selected, the Foundation team began to explore the feasibility of a $100 million fundraising goal for the campaign. One hundred million dollars was a discussed fundraising goal, according to Mr. Theophilus, and was a large enough to fund the priority projects. However, according to a third-party feasibility study, which included confidential interviews with around 80 major community leaders, $100 million was a bit of a "reach" for the organization. Always up for a challenge, Mr. Theophilus and his team settled on the reach target and turned to putting their plan into action.
3. Strong administrative support. According to Mr. Theophilus, support for a large capital campaign must begin at the top. He credits a great deal of The Campaign for Swedish's success to the unwavering support of Rod Hochman, MD, who served as Swedish's CEO from 2007 until earlier this year (Note: Dr. Hochman now serves as a group president for Providence Health & Services, which Swedish affiliated with in February.) Shortly after coming to Swedish, Dr. Hochman and his wife, Nancy, made a quarter of a million dollar commitment to the campaign — an act Mr. Theophilus calls a "tipping point." Other members of the executive team also made significant donations.
These executives not only personally contributed to The Campaign for Swedish but also helped pave the road to success by helping cultivate what Dr. Theophilus calls a "culture of philanthropy" — a culture where "everyone in the organization recognizes the value of the philanthropic dollar." Mr. Theophilus or a member of his team now speaks at every new employee and physician orientation, explaining the importance of philanthropy and how employees can get involved.
4. Strong physician leadership. Physicians are extremely influential to a hospital's capital campaign's success. Not only do they and their practices have the potential to contribute large donations, but they also often have the closest relationships with some of the potential biggest donors in a community — grateful patients. Swedish Foundation staff met with physicians and educated them on the goals of the campaign, requested contributions and — perhaps most importantly — advised them on how they might encourage patients to contribute, or at least meet with Foundation staff so they can get these patients more engaged with the institution and begin cultivating them as donors.
5. An individualized approach to potential donors. Finally, for a campaign to achieve success, it must reach beyond those affiliated with the hospital and sell others on the opportunity to invest in the future health of a community. One way Swedish did this was by increasing its profile among potential donors. "Now the institution is top of mind for major philanthropic investment," said Mr. Theophilus.
Additionally, donors were and are targeted thoughtfully. With more than 40 projects funded by The Campaign for Swedish, a wide variety of potential donor interests are represented; the most relevant giving opportunities are identified for each prospect. When major donors are approached, hospital leadership is actively involved. Top administrative and physician leaders attend meetings between campaign staff and potential donors in order to demonstrate leadership's commitment to the project. The CEO may talk about the direction the institution is taking, and service line physician leaders share their visions for their programs and what they need to get there, explains Mr. Theophilus.
Perhaps the most important part of communication with potential donors is reminding them of the impact the organization has on the community. "At the end of the day, what we raise money for always ultimately gets back to improving treatment and care options for patients in the region and nationally," said Mr. Theophilus. "If somebody comes to Swedish, we want to ensure the very best options are available."
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At a time when charitable donations are harder to come by, yet increasingly important for fulfilling a hospital's mission, Swedish's feat is quite remarkable. And with more than a year until the campaign officially ends, the total funds raised are expected to grow even larger during what Swedish is calling the "Campaign Homestretch."
How did the medical center achieve such success? Through building one of the strongest fundraising teams around, engaging administrative and physician leadership, careful planning and a systematic yet individual approach to donor "asks," says Don Theophilus, executive director of the Swedish Medical Center Foundation. Mr. Theophilus joined Swedish in 2003 specifically to lead a major capital campaign for the system, which before had only carried out one other capital campaign, raising $20 million.
The Foundation launched The Campaign for Swedish in January 2007 and went public in September 2010 after securing $65 million in gifts. More than 50,000 individuals have participated, and notably, local physicians have contributed a total of more than $11 million. According to Mr. Theophilus, the campaign's success — and really any fundraising campaign's success — can ultimately be attributed to focusing on five key elements.
1. A strong fundraising team. A strong team is the foundation of any successful fundraising effort and can't be overlooked as the very first and perhaps most important element of launching a successful campaign.
"I put that first because [even] with the best strategic plan you can have, you're not going to get there without the team to implement and execute," says Mr. Theophilus.
Development staff should be viewed as a partner with senior administrative and physician leaders in helping them in achieve their goals. After all, a new facility or cutting-edge piece of equipment is increasingly difficult to cover as a budgetary line item, and philanthropy represents an increasingly important revenue source for funding hospitals' strategic investments.
"My philosophy is to hire very smart people that are gong to have the ability to come in and very quickly gain the respect and trust of senior leaders," he says.
2. Engaged volunteers. In developing the goals for the campaign, the Foundation staff met with senior leaders in each of the center's service lines to learn more about the leaders' vision for their programs and identify the biggest capital and programmatic needs. As Mr. Theophilus explains it, each leader was essentially helping the Foundation answer the question: "What are going to be those compelling projects that we know are going to be essential to provide the best care for everybody in the region?"
From there, Foundation staff recruited community volunteers — themselves potential donors — to serve on an advisory council for each service line and, through the councils, gained feedback on which projects were the most compelling to potential donors. By soliciting input from community members on the projects, designs, etc., Swedish engaged potential donors from the community, increasing the likelihood they would donate once the campaign launched. "The more engaged they are, the more apt they are to support it in a significant way," said Mr. Theophilus.
After the specific projects were selected, the Foundation team began to explore the feasibility of a $100 million fundraising goal for the campaign. One hundred million dollars was a discussed fundraising goal, according to Mr. Theophilus, and was a large enough to fund the priority projects. However, according to a third-party feasibility study, which included confidential interviews with around 80 major community leaders, $100 million was a bit of a "reach" for the organization. Always up for a challenge, Mr. Theophilus and his team settled on the reach target and turned to putting their plan into action.
3. Strong administrative support. According to Mr. Theophilus, support for a large capital campaign must begin at the top. He credits a great deal of The Campaign for Swedish's success to the unwavering support of Rod Hochman, MD, who served as Swedish's CEO from 2007 until earlier this year (Note: Dr. Hochman now serves as a group president for Providence Health & Services, which Swedish affiliated with in February.) Shortly after coming to Swedish, Dr. Hochman and his wife, Nancy, made a quarter of a million dollar commitment to the campaign — an act Mr. Theophilus calls a "tipping point." Other members of the executive team also made significant donations.
These executives not only personally contributed to The Campaign for Swedish but also helped pave the road to success by helping cultivate what Dr. Theophilus calls a "culture of philanthropy" — a culture where "everyone in the organization recognizes the value of the philanthropic dollar." Mr. Theophilus or a member of his team now speaks at every new employee and physician orientation, explaining the importance of philanthropy and how employees can get involved.
4. Strong physician leadership. Physicians are extremely influential to a hospital's capital campaign's success. Not only do they and their practices have the potential to contribute large donations, but they also often have the closest relationships with some of the potential biggest donors in a community — grateful patients. Swedish Foundation staff met with physicians and educated them on the goals of the campaign, requested contributions and — perhaps most importantly — advised them on how they might encourage patients to contribute, or at least meet with Foundation staff so they can get these patients more engaged with the institution and begin cultivating them as donors.
5. An individualized approach to potential donors. Finally, for a campaign to achieve success, it must reach beyond those affiliated with the hospital and sell others on the opportunity to invest in the future health of a community. One way Swedish did this was by increasing its profile among potential donors. "Now the institution is top of mind for major philanthropic investment," said Mr. Theophilus.
Additionally, donors were and are targeted thoughtfully. With more than 40 projects funded by The Campaign for Swedish, a wide variety of potential donor interests are represented; the most relevant giving opportunities are identified for each prospect. When major donors are approached, hospital leadership is actively involved. Top administrative and physician leaders attend meetings between campaign staff and potential donors in order to demonstrate leadership's commitment to the project. The CEO may talk about the direction the institution is taking, and service line physician leaders share their visions for their programs and what they need to get there, explains Mr. Theophilus.
Perhaps the most important part of communication with potential donors is reminding them of the impact the organization has on the community. "At the end of the day, what we raise money for always ultimately gets back to improving treatment and care options for patients in the region and nationally," said Mr. Theophilus. "If somebody comes to Swedish, we want to ensure the very best options are available."
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