AHP Pacific Regional News
March 2006

Greetings! Janet DeWolfe,CFRE Regional Director

“Help and share with others. The real test of business greatness lies in giving opportunities to others.” – Charles M. Schwab

This quote reminds me of the special people who took the time to share their experience and wisdom with me over the years and provided incredible opportunities for me throughout my career. These are my mentors. I in turn try to give back what they taught me and provide opportunities for others when I can.

With that said, I want to encourage everyone in a leadership role to provide a great opportunity for your staff by sending them to the AHP Pacific Regional Conference, Creating the Margin of Excellence: Best Practices in Health Care Philanthropy, on April 23-25, 2006 in San Diego. Under the leadership of Bill Littlejohn, CEO of Sharp Healthcare Foundation, this conference will provide great opportunities for newcomers and seasoned professionals alike -- from learning about best practices to networking with some of our region’s best professionals. New this year is the “Best Practice Roundtable” on Sunday afternoon that will cover a variety of important topics; and for fun is the San Diego Padres baseball game on Monday night! Be sure to make your reservations early!

Another way we can share and create opportunities for others is by volunteering in our region. We have an amazing wealth of talent in our region and I want to thank everyone who has answered my request to serve on the 2006 Cabinet:

Thank you to our state representatives who help raise awareness for AHP through area meetings, roundtables, workshops, etc. and communicate issues and or concerns that may arise in each area.

I look forward to seeing you in San Diego in April!

Janet DeWolfe, CFRE
Regional Director

Dear Colleagues:

I am honored to chair the 2006 AHP Pacific Region Conference. I hope you will join me for the conference, which will be held April 23-25 in San Diego. Creating the Margin of Excellence: Best Practices in HealthCare Philanthropy will include:

• Keynote address by Bradford S. Koles, Jr., Executive Director, The Advisory Board Company. From Backstage to Spotlight -- The Future of Health Care Philanthropy will frame the opportunities for healthcare philanthropy of the decade ahead in the context of larger industry dynamics, and lay out the critical challenges for development professionals in rising to the occasion.

• 15 educational sessions in three tracks, which will cover a variety of best practice topics including fundraising operations, physician engagement, performance metrics and benchmarking; major and planned gift dynamics and board and executive leadership.

• AHP Primer and Advanced Courses on Sunday, April 23

• Best Practice Roundtable. This special three-hour roundtable discussion on Sunday, April 23, will cover a variety of topics – from the best ways we can work and learn together as a region; to the issues we face; to sharing innovative and successful best practices that will further our efforts on behalf of excellence in healthcare in our communities and our profession.

• A Night Out at the Ballgame. On Monday evening, we will enjoy a wonderful Major League Baseball experience from atop the historic Western Metal Supply Co. Building, built into PETCO Park, the San Diego Padres new downtown stadium. In addition to the extraordinary views of the game and downtown San Diego from this rooftop location, we’ll enjoy a pre-game buffet and other special activities.

Conference materials were mailed in mid-March and more information is available online.

The Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine is the official conference hotel for the 2006 Pacific Regional Conference, but due to overwhelming response to this year's conference, the room block at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla has been sold out. Alternative accommodations can be made by calling the Radisson Hotel La Jolla at (858) 453-5500. The Radisson is offering AHP conference attendees a special rate of $159 single and $169 double plus tax. There are a limited number of rooms at this rate, please make your reservations early. The Radisson also offers complimentary airport shuttle to and from the hotel. The special rate at the Radisson will be available until April 10, 2006. Reservations made after April 10, 2006 will be on a space-and-rate-available basis.

I would also like to make a special request. The conference committee believes this will be a great educational and professional experience and we hope that you will join us. As is the case for most conferences, we rely on our vendor partners to provide sponsorship, but we need additional support to meet our goals. Believing that philanthropy begins at home, I would like for your institution to consider sponsoring this year at either a $500 or $1,000 level. We still need additional sponsors to help us cover general costs, to ensure that we can continue to provide roundtable session at no charge, and to keep costs for activities like the baseball game to a minimum. The Sharp HealthCare Foundation is going to sponsor at $1,000 and I know several of your colleagues have agreed to sponsor as well, including Mary Anne Chern, of White Memorial Medical Center Charitable Foundation, our incoming regional director. It's not to late to help!

If you would like to join me as a sponsor please call (858-499-4826) or email bill.littlejohn@sharp.com or Gary Steinhauer, our sponsorship coordinator at 310-713-0551 or email GDSTEINHAUER@cs.com.

Thanks for your consideration and I look forward to seeing you at the conference.

Best regards,

Bill Littlejohn
CEO and Senior Vice President
Sharp HealthCare Foundation
San Diego, CA

Six Reasons to Attend the Pacific Regional Conference...

1. Learn new fundraising ideas and management techniques.
2. Hear from colleagues who have successfully implemented the latest fundraising technologies in health care and in other non-profit arenas.
3. Network with your colleagues - in health care and other non-profit settings - professionals from throughout the AHP Pacific Region and beyond.
4. Return to your organization with dozens of new concepts that you can implement immediately.
5. Attend practical roundtable discussions addressing the most talked-about topics in the fundraising industry.
6. Attend educational sessions presented by top development and other non-profit executives.

"Each time I attend an AHP Regional Conference, I'm amazed to hear the variety of new ideas that surface at each session. As I meet new people during AHP coffee breaks or at luncheons, it's always interesting to hear how they will put some of those new ideas to work for them... and to share with them some of my new strategies."

Joan Worsham, Director of Annual Gifts
Sun Health Foundation
P. O. Box 2105
Sun City AZ 85372

"As I co-chaired the regional here in Seattle last June I picked up on several nuances of conferencing that I had not been tuned into before. Most significantly for me, as one who has been in the profession for more than 20 years, conferences open the door to opportunities to learn more about the real lives of fellow professionals. Like many of my colleagues, I am in the fundraising profession, not to make a living, but to make a life. Life is much more than what we do professionally, and what we do outside our "day job" determines the effectiveness of our work. I've met people with a passion for running, others who have climbed mountains, who garden, who love to read, who dance, who golf, who struggle with the demands and challenges of family and relationships. Many have shared the inspiration and motivation of their personal life victories that have contributed to professional success."

Mark S. McCampbell, CFRE
Executive Director
Northwest Hospital Foundation
1550 N. 115th Street
Seattle WA 98133

Register Online Now!

Washington State

Congratulations to John Gilchrist, who has joined Empire Health Services (EHS) in Spokane, Washington, as the Vice President of the Deaconess and Valley Foundation for Healthcare. Mr. Gilchrist most recently held the position of Chief Development Officer at Lourdes Health Network in Pasco Washington, where he worked since 2002.

Empire Health Services is a not-for-profit multi-service healthcare system that provides inpatient and outpatient services to the Spokane community, Eastern Washington and the surrounding three-state region. The EHS system has 511 licensed acute care beds and outpatient services provided at Deaconess Medical Center in downtown Spokane, Washington and Valley Hospital and Medical Center located in the eastern part of the Spokane Valley.

Dear Fellow AHPers,

What an exciting time for development professionals!!

Some of you may recall a wonderful article several years ago in the AHP Journal entitled “The Radical Sabbatical”. The thrust of this article focused on the need for development professionals to find a way to 'refresh' and take time for themselves.

Many fundraisers put so much into the relationship building and stewardship part of our daily work activities that sometimes, “depletion” is often an outcome that sneaks up on us. The best way to take time to replenish these depleted energies is a very personal, individualized and unique process. But it is a necessary one!

Recharging the batteries is not just for one’s personal energies. It is equally as important to recharge the professional batteries as well.

Attending an AHP Conference often serves a dual purpose. Learning the latest and greatest information about fundraising is a way to sharpen our skills that will benefit our organizations, our donors and our careers. The Conference also provides the opportunity to renew longstanding friendships as well as create new ones. Learning from our peers and from our mentors provides us with yet another set of tools to refresh, recharge and move forward.

Please take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to attend this Conference, which is certain to enhance your professional and personal energies. It just might be the ‘Radical Sabbatical’ you have been looking for!

Gina W. Griesman
Director of Development
Sun Health Foundation
Sun City Arizona

The AHP Resource Information Center (RIC) handles over 3,000 requests annually. It is the most consulted and most comprehensive resource AHP members have to answer all their questions about fundraising -- and it's free!

The AHP Pacific region urges our members to submit to the RIC your new or updated policies and programs, campaign case statements, policies related to HIPAA implementation and any other development information that could be of use to another AHP member.

The Resource Information Center is currently looking for the following sample documents to expand the AHP RIC On-Line Library:

1. Capital Campaign Case Statements
   
   
2. Development Plans
   
   
3. Organizational Charts
   
   
4. Special Event Gala Materials (brochures, invitations, etc.)

Do you have a good example of one of these "most wanted" documents? Please e-mail them to ric@ahp.org !

To learn more about the AHP Resource Information Center, Click here!

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