|
IN THIS ISSUE: AHP membership & its advantages The CFRE and FAHP process - Part II Member news from around the region
|
AHP Pacific Regional News
Your AHP Pacific cabinet continues to represent you with all 17 members, including your state representatives, participating in all calls! Our commitment to member education continues with our regional conference in Monterey, California June 22-24, which is focusing on “Best Practices in Health Care: Raising the Bar for Philanthropy.” We’re offering a new track this year for hospital CEOs and CFOs in support of AHP’s new benchmarking initiative. There will be special session to discuss the CEO's and CFO's role in fundraising, to help them understand and set realistic expectations for their fundraising teams. I think this will offer a tremendous value to our members. In addition to our outstanding educational program, Monterey offers conference attendees kayaking in the bay, whale watching, diving in the kelp forests and golf at Pebble Beach Golf Course. Visit the beaches, enjoy watching the sea lions and sea otters, walk Cannery Row, and visit the world-class Monterey Bay Aquarium! AHP’s 2007 Annual Fund solicitation has kicked-off under the leadership of Mary Jane Crist. Your generous gift supports scholarships, the Ask AHP eFAQs e-newsletter, and the AHP Resource Information Center services where you can find valuable healthcare philanthropy resources and get questions answered. Membership at AHP continues to grow, with 4,406 members as of February. Gina Griesman is launching our 2007 Pacific region membership drive. Please call her if you know of colleagues who are not members, but should be! Dena Cochran, FAHP is eager to assist you if you need any help in applying for the CFRE or FAHP certification programs. She has many resources and can answer any questions you might have, including identifying mentors to help you through the process. For those of you interested in government affairs, Marite Butners, J.D., LL.M-Tax is staying on top of policy issues affecting our work. Please contact Marite, marite.butners@providence.org, if you would like to be involved. She would especially like to hear from members who have recently talked with elected officials and have new information that should be shared. Your cabinet looks forward to serving you this year. Please feel free to call or e-mail me with any suggestions or ideas. I look forward to seeing you in Monterey!
AHP Membership and its Advantages By Gina W. Griesman, AHP Pacific Membership Chair AHP membership reached an all time high of 4,372 members in 2006! Professionals who willingly share their expertise on the latest in the areas of technology, taxes, law, estate and financial planning, are just a phone call or e-mail away. Aside from having access to some of the brightest, best and most experienced professionals in fundraising, the opportunity to develop wonderful friendships that are rich in experience as well as long in duration exists as well. Your AHP membership represents your commitment to the profession. AHP is your connection to essential resources; take full advantage of your membership! Did you know that you have access to the AHP Resource Information Center (RIC)? You don’t have to re-invent the wheel. If you need help, you can search the RIC Online Library, or pose a question to Ask AHP, the AHP Listserv, or the AHP Librarian. If you haven’t, join the AHP Listserv and post a question to thousands of development professionals at once. The AHP Listserv is only one aspect of the AHP Resource Information Center. Visit the AHP web site often – new resources are added all the time! Each of us has the opportunity to help retain. Retention of current members leads to a stronger network of experienced and engaged professionals. Mentoring opportunities for younger or less experienced fundraisers and valuable resource connections for all levels of development professionals exist in this association. Talk with your colleagues and associates to affirm their participation and encourage engagement to reap the rewards and benefits of being a member of AHP. In 2006, we exceeded our goal of increasing membership by 5% within the AHP Pacific region. You can now connect with nearly 800 AHP members in the AHP Pacific region! Be sure to tell a colleague about AHP – help us reach our goal for 2007, while sharing the invaluable resources of this great organization! Your role and active participation in AHP membership directly relates to the valuable benefits of being a member as well as the success of the association. I hope to see you at the AHP Pacific regional conference in Monterey, CA June 24-26. Gina W. Griesman
Washington State AHP Roundtable Bruce Flessner, principal, Bentz Whaley Flessner was the featured speaker at the Washington state AHP roundtable held in Seattle on February 2nd and attended by nearly 50 health care fundraising professionals. His presentation focused on the changing demographics in the U.S. and the implications for health care fundraising. AHP informational updates on membership, government affairs and the upcoming regional conference were given by Douglas Picha; Laura Rehrmann, FAHP; Marite Butners, J.D., LL.M-Tax; Michael Friedline and Susan Blake. Susan Blake
The Montana Healthcare Communications & Development Association (MHCCDA) Spring 2007 Conference was held at Chico Hot Springs Resort in Pray, Montana, March 22-23, 2007. Keynote speakers included Bill Littlejohn, chief executive officer, Sharp HealthCare Foundation; Sandi Marlowe, community development director, Livingston HealthCare; and Carlos Arce, director of organizational development, Billings Clinic. If you have updates on statewide or area activities in the AHP Pacific region please forward them to Mark McCampbell for inclusion in the newsletter. The CFRE and FAHP Process - Part II By Dena Cochran, FAHP, AHP Pacific Education/Certification Chair In the last issue we talked about demystifying the CFRE/FAHP application and testing process. Since you have now overcome your fear of failure, I’ll tell you how to apply to take these certifications. There are two things to always remember:
The first step is the application. Don’t underestimate the time it will take you to complete it! More about this later. The second step is preparation. I believe this is the most valuable part of the process. At the very least, it will bring you “up to speed” on the latest developments in fundraising. Much more likely, it will also hone your skills and prepare you to take advantage of opportunities in a way that you never could have contemplated in the past. The third step is the exam itself. Once you go through the first two steps, the exam will not seem nearly as intimidating as you might imagine. To begin, I suggest you view the application. The CRFE application is on the CFRE Web site and the Fellow application is on the AHP Web site. When you look over the application, you will see that it is based on a point system with minimum requirements in each of several categories. The first category is education. When you look at it, you will probably realize that you should have kept better records of all the educational conferences and sessions you have attended. Don’t feel alone—this happens to almost everyone. Perusing your old calendars, educational files, and the bundle of educational materials that you have probably collected from past conferences will help refresh your memory about conferences and educational sessions you have attended. You can also use AHP’s point-tracker system for conferences you have attended during the past two or three years. In addition to the education and professional practice categories, you will need to complete sections on professional performance and service to your community. You can meet the professional practice requirement in three ways: communications projects that directly influenced fundraising, management projects that directly influenced fundraising, and actual funds that you have raised. The CRFE Web site gives you examples of projects in all three categories. Under the service category, you earn points on a sliding scale based on your level of involvement in professional associations and community organizations. For example, serving as an officer in an organization will net you more points than by simply belonging. Finally, for the CFRE exam you must agree to adhere to the Donor Bill of Rights, which mandates ethical practices. You must agree to adhere to both the Donor Bill of Rights and the AHP Statement of Professional Standards and Conduct as part of the Fellow application. If all this sounds difficult, it isn’t. However, it is time consuming and you should probably plan to spend a considerable amount of time dredging through old files. In preparing to write this article, I pulled out a copy of the FAHP application I submitted two and a half years ago. It is 44 pages long! The good thing is that there are a number of pages where all I had to do was check a box. I’ll end on that happy note. Look for information and tips on how to prepare for the exams in the next AHP Pacific regional newsletter. In the meantime, start pulling out those old files! Dena Cochran, FAHP
By Kelly Van Elswyk Special events — golf tournaments, auctions, galas, telethons — they are all part of the development program. The purposes of these events are as varied as the events themselves. The key to any successful happening starts first with planning. Every occurrence must have a purpose — goals that are set and accomplished prior, during, or shortly after the event concludes. It is pertinent and always beneficial to speak about your organization during the event. Share with your audience new programs, services and procedures you are currently offering. Communicate with the attendees your organization’s newest facilities, awards, accomplishments, etc. Most importantly, always thank those in attendance — for their philanthropic support, their attendance at the event, and all that they do on a continuous basis for your hospital. Volunteers are vital components to any organization and can be of great support helping with events. Their leadership and willingness to participate are all qualities that we, as development staff, want from our volunteers. Empower your volunteers with meaningful activities to involve them with your events. Ask for their opinions when choosing a speaker, have them personalize invitations with special notes to guests they know, and ask them to host tables at your events by seating them with key individuals in attendance. There are many ways to involve your volunteers but most importantly, use them meaningfully and strategically. An excellent way to inform your audience about services your hospital provides is to involve departments within your organization at your events. This can be accomplished by setting up tables outside the room your event will take place in and asking departments to bring ample literature about their specific areas and one to two representatives to answer questions. Having department representatives available answering questions and distributing information is a valuable resource not only to those in an attendance but to their friends and acquaintances they will talk to after the event. Special events can be exhausting. Make sure when planning for them that you discuss goals, purposes and outcomes for each event. After each happening, evaluation forms should be mailed to those that attended to include the development staff. Once the evaluation forms have been gathered, the development staff should review the forms to know what worked, what did not work, what changes need to be made, etc. At this time, also discuss if the event is meeting its goals and if the event should continue in the future. Evaluation forms provide valuable information about how an organization is doing in response to their events. Make sure your events have goals and that you are meeting them. The success to any special event is meeting your goals, purposes and outcomes. Relationships in the Balanced Life By Mark McCampbell, AHP Pacific RIC/Communications Chair One of the great riches of our lives in health care philanthropy is the opportunity we have to build relationships with others—our family, circle of friends, coworkers, and our donors and community partners. Relationships play a significant role in a balanced life, which is perhaps the single most important attribute of our lives. If you doubt that, consider a relationship that’s lost and how it poisons your life. Bitterness, anger, pain—these blights can ruin our hearts and minds, a waste of life because of a loss of relationship. Simple keys help us unlock the mysteries of relationship building. Though a subject more complex than this article’s space allows, relationships are established and sustained upon the pillars of kindness, respect and courtesy. Kindness is a grace we often overlook in our busy lives. It involves treating each other as kin, family as it were. Recently a friend’s wife commented that I was more like a brother than a friend to her husband. Humbled and yet gratified, I wondered what life could be like if we were to treat those near us as loving brothers and sisters treat one another. Kindness includes others, initiates a call, sends the occasional note or word of encouragement and offers perspective and feedback in a positive manner. Genuine kindness costs nothing. Making eye contact, smiling and saying “please” and “thank you” are simple kindnesses that may sometimes help begin new relationships and will always help continue them. Respect is a little like oxygen: you don’t think much about it until it’s gone. If you’ve been on the receiving end of disrespect you know that feeling, like you’re swimming underwater and desperately need a breath of air. Respect involves belief in the best another person can be, in spite of the inevitable mistakes that person may make. I’m concerned about the lack of respect we see for others in our everyday world, for the driver who may not be fast enough or the person ahead of you in line who is asking too many questions. Regarding others as important as, or more important than ourselves is a good beginning. We begin showing respect for another person when we ask questions and listen carefully to the answers (it isn’t ALWAYS about us!). Courtesy may seem a natural and important consideration among strangers, but it is even more important with those we know best. Showing common courtesy to our most beloved and closest relationships maintains health and happiness. Arriving on time and affording the luxury of advance planning for social invitations are old fashioned but appreciated courtesies. Consider turning off your cell phone when you’re having lunch with a friend. In your office, turn off your computer screen if your e-mail might interrupt the meeting you’re hosting. Try to let the other person complete a sentence or thought before starting in on your reply. If we practice kindness, respect and courtesy toward others we will enjoy and profit from healthy relationships—and we’ll probably raise more funds as a result. We are most healthy and successful when we’re part of a community. The best communities – meeting our needs and the needs of others – are formed by balanced lives in good relationships. Mark McCampbell
|
||||||||||
