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AHP Pacific Regional News
The quote makes me chuckle, and it is a source of inspiration to me in this tumultuous world of health care fundraising. I think enthusiasm is what we are selling. Enthusiasm for our organizations and institutions, enthusiasm for our opportunity to improve our communities, enthusiasm for the spirit of philanthropy that is ours to nurture and grow. Involvement in AHP is a key source of enthusiasm building for me. Our conferences, newsletters, audioconferences, and national resource for critical developments in our field, i.e. HIPAA, will help you be successful. The friendships you make with colleagues who have experienced the "failure, without loss of enthusiasm" will buoy you up and reinvigorate your work. Plan to attend the AHP Pacific Region conference, Treasures and Transformations, June 22 in San Diego. You will meet with colleagues from 11 western states in an intimate setting conducive to meeting new people and engaging in important discussions about our field. The conference refreshes skills and renews friendships. Knowing that you have a colleague a phone call away is a great resource when you are stymied by a fundraising conundrum. If you are new to health care fundraising, the conference gives you a great introduction to the particular characteristics of our field. If you are new to fundraising itself, the conference will give you an introduction to the basics, the professional vernacular you need to do well in a creative, entrepreneurial, and challenging field. All year long, health care fundraisers meet in audioconferences sponsored by AHP, in roundtable meetings sponsored by our members in each state, and through the AHP Listserv available for our 3,000 members nationwide. Please let me know what you would like out of your membership in AHP. How can we improve our AHP Pacific Region? Our membership encompasses 11 states, from Hawaii to Alaska, thousands of miles and hundreds of hospitals. Let me know your ideas, your questions, how this organization can better serve you. E-mail me at rehrmann.l@ghc.org or join me at the conference in June so we have a chance to meet and talk. I look forward to doing everything I can to strengthen our profession and bring in talented new members to the important, challenging, creative work of healthcare fundraising. See you in San Diego. Laura W. Rehrman, CFRE
The AHP Pacific Nominating Committee urges members to participate in the nominating process for AHP Pacific Regional Director Elect. The term for Regional Director Elect is for one year beginning in October 2003. The Regional Director Elect automatically moves into the Regional Director position in October 2004 for a two-year term, succeeding Laura Rehrmann, CFRE. Please download the PDF form to suggest members you believe are qualified to hold office. The candidate must hold Individual or Institutional membership in AHP. To be considered, nominations must be received by May 15, 2003. Please return the form to Kathy Delaney, CFRE, Chair, AHP Pacific Nominating Committee, either by email to delanek@sutterhealth.org or by fax, 510-537-3530. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact a member of the Nominating Committee. The 2003 Nominating Committee members are committee chair, Kathy Delaney, CFRE, Mary Anne Chern FAHP,ACFRE, David Gillig FAHP, Pamela Meyerhoffer FAHP, Laura Rehrmann CFRE, and Milt Smith, FAHP.
How do I plan for special events in these times of uncertainty? Many non-profits took tremendous "financial hits" directly following the tragic events of September 11th. Many organizations had signed contracts guaranteeing revenues to for-profit entities. These revenues were still due regardless of the fact that many events had to be cancelled. A "force majure" clause, appearing in all future contracts, provides non-profits from being held responsible for payments due to certain crisis situations. It is suggested that all future contracts are reviewed with this important clause considered. It is also important to recognize that the "force majure" clause, like all legal language, can become quite detailed. Please consult your legal advisor for the specific language to best protect the interests of your non-profit. Quite often, "acts of war" are included in the statement. It is also important to note that the clause protects both parties depending on the specific situation. "Force Majure" Sample Language: The "non profit" shall be excused from performance to the extent that performance is prevented, delayed, or obstructed by causes beyond the "non-profit's" reasonable control, including delays in performance of the Client, acts of Nature (fire, storm, floods, earthquakes, etc.) civil disturbances, disruption of telecommunications, power or essential services. How do I establish the "fair market value" for my event? The Internal Revenue Service has quite a lengthy outline for "fair market value" (FMV) in the Charitable Contributions Publication #526. However, for the purposes of dispelling a myth regarding FMV, the following should be kept in mind: FMV is not established by taking the gross expenses of an event and dividing them by the number of people attending! Because most special events profit through large sponsorships/underwriting, and not the lowest general admission price, using that type of simple math really doesn't work. FMV is established by deciding what the guest will be receiving "in value." If the hotel you are working with is charging you $75 for a filet mignon and lobster tail... keep in mind that the same meal, at the local seafood restaurant, would probably run closer to $35. If an entertainer is costing a very large amount of money (and some do), the important factor is determining how much a ticket would be to a concert performed by the same entertainer. Do not consider the actual cost of the entertainer, but instead the "fair market value" for a performance. It is not about what it costs the non-profit... but what it would cost the donor if he/she went for a night out on the town. This applies to "significant" table favors or give-a-ways at the event as well. If you are giving Tiffany's crystal to each attendee, chances are there is a value to be added... whether or not the items are donated! If an event is completely underwritten, it does not preclude a FMV from being applicable. There is always "gray" and seldom "black and white" when determining the FMV. However, it is the ethical responsibility of the professional fundraiser to provide a good faith estimate. Keep in mind that you generally do not want to exceed 50% of the actual ticket price as the FMV. Events do differ, however ticket price should be established with the FMV in mind. Submitted by Tracy Richey, CFRE
Each year, AHP conducts a drawing for one lucky member to attend the Fundraising Institute of Australia's Annual Educational Conference. Along with AHP's President/Chief Executive Officer, Bill McGinly and AHP's Board Chair, Stu Smith, the February 22 — 25, 2003 conference was attended by fundraising professionals from throughout Australia and New Zealand. This year Kathy Delaney, our region's Immediate Past Regional Director, was the lucky winner of the drawing! Kathy enjoyed networking with development professionals, took advantage of interesting educational sessions and luxuriated in the wonderful scenery of Canberra, Australia and the warm hospitality of the friendly residents of that community. "What an absolute thrill to win such a great trip! I am so grateful to AHP & FIA for giving me this opportunity," said Kathy. "It was a wonderful and unique educational experience." Congratulations, Kathy!
At a recent Pacific Region Cabinet Teleconference, the following impressive stats were reported: The AHP Pacific Region annual fund campaign was a great success! Janet DeWolfe, Vice President for Development, Saddleback Memorial Foundation in Laguna Hills, annual fund chair, masterminded a campaign that exceeded the goal by $5,148 dollars for a grand total of $35,148. The region reached 156% of its donor goal to end with 250 donors to the annual fund. Congratulations to Janet and thank you to all the wonderful donors for your support of our profession. Gary Steinhauer, Vice President, Barlow Respiratory Hospital Foundation, is this year's chair for this important campaign. Under the worthy leadership of AHP Membership Chair Anita Grossman, CFRE, Director of Philanthropy at Palo Alto Medical Foundation, membership goals were exceeded in 2002 by nearly 10% to bring us to 588 members. A triple welcome to new members included a letter from the membership chair, another from the regional director, and phone calls and emails from colleagues. It's great to see membership growing. Many thanks to Anita and all the others who participated in making this terrific membership growth something we can all be proud of!
As someone who is rather new to fundraising, I found two recent AHP audioconferences quite interesting -- "Leadership for Physician Giving" and "Capital Campaigns During an Economic Downturn." These audioconferences present each of us with an opportunity to hear discussions on various fundraising challenges and to evaluate how they may affect us. How can we best identify prospects and then prioritize and strategize each approach and request for funding? How can we determine donor capacity, relationship development, donor interests, and above all, timing? It was encouraging to hear time and again the importance of inviting the CEO, Board member or another donor on a prospect call to assist in making the presentation. When I heard the theme of “focus on describing community needs rather than on campaign goals”, it prompted me to consider a variety of ways to communicate with prospects and donors. Hearing the dialogue among seasoned professionals inspired and motivated me to reflect on appropriate ways to comfortably guide or even shift the flow of conversation while meeting with our donor constituency. How can donor calls, although very different in tone due to differences in personalities, have a common theme which ultimately produces the results to support community needs? In participating in the AHP Audioconferences, I learned a variety of tips on many aspects of prospect identification, donor cultivation, and asking for and closing a gift. Whether being new to the field or having many years of successful experience in fundraising, I believe hearing about different methods, styles and techniques in the field of development helps all of us to consider all processes. And simply “by listening” to conversations about the process, we can feel renewed energy and focus as we go about our daily business of raising those most valuable funds. Pat Wein
Helpful hints and suggestions from friends and colleagues all over the region are listed below. Feel free to use any or all of these tips! Tip #1 Have you hugged your HIPPO today? We had a mini-hippo campaign in an effort to remind all of us at Palo Alto the importance of privacy. And by adding a little humor to a rather serious issue, it lightened the stress of this rather intimidating topic. To promote a heightened awareness of the HIPAA and the deadline of 4/14/03 to implement, we distributed colorful, plastic hippos which are proudly displayed in the offices and at the workstations of healthcare professionals and staff throughout our system. The cute, attention-getting desk ornaments are just distracting enough to put patients at ease, to facilitate conversations and to remind us that even the most difficult subject can be embraceable! Submitted by Anita Grossman, CFRE Tip #2 Who you are is what you were when! At a Sun Health Foundation Board of Trustees retreat last fall, we were privileged to hear a presentation on and participate in a discussion from the book "The Fourth Turning." Suggested by the Board Development Committee, this book profiles and addresses four generations -- GI Generation, Silent Generation, Boomer Generation and The Xers! A representative from each generation facilitated group discussion which centered around a topic I am sure is near and dear to all of us! "How can we encourage the upcoming generations to gift time and treasures as previous generations have?" Although we did not solve the world's fundraising challenges in that one session, excerpts from this book have helped me look at the big picture as I prepare direct mail appeals, manage donor recognition events and coordinate unusual recognition opportunities. Submitted by Joan Worsham Tip # 3 Useful Editing Tips the AHP Way! Fundraising- When used as a noun, fundraiser is two words, no hyphen. (e. g. Laura is a fundraiser; AHP represents professional fundraisers.) When used as an adjective, (describing a noun) use a hyphen. (e. g. Stu is attending the fundraising event; Laura ordered the fundraising publication, "Fundraising Fundamentals.")
SCAHD, or the Southern California Association for Healthcare Development, is a not-for-profit organization for health care and hospital development in Southern California. SCAHD, working in conjunction with AHP, is dedicated to preserving and improving the high professional standard of its members. SCAHD keeps abreast of current trends and developments for both its members and healthcare associations by providing comprehensive education programs and resources for professional career development. SCAHD has developed some very creative ways to promote the importance of philanthropy, volunteerism and the role of not-for-profit institutions in Southern California. One particular way that has effectively created the opportunity for conversations, meetings and seminars that offer educational programs to its members is through Roundtables. The roundtable concept is a great way to exchange information among newcomers as well as among seasoned professionals. SCAHD typically plans the topics and locations for their Roundtable Conferences about one year in advance. Discussions center around (but are not limited to) direct mail fundraising, major gift programs, annual and capital campaigns, planned giving and more. SCAHD, its board, its members and its website (www.scahd.com) are wonderful resources for all of us to access to find great suggestions and recommendations for Roundtable Topics and Conferences. Submitted by Janet DeWolfe
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