|
This month Give & Take talks with
Chris Broughton-Spruill, president
of Children’s Hospital Foundation
in Richmond, Virginia. A development
officer with over 30 years of
experience, Mrs. Broughton-Spruill
discusses the challenges and rewards
of creating a development program
from the ground up, as well as fund
raising during tough economic times.
G&T: Tell me a bit about Children’s
Hospital.
Broughton-Spruill: Children’s
Hospital is a pediatric specialty facility
serving children from birth to
age 21. The Hospital was founded in
1920 and provides care to children in
five specific core services: inpatient
skilled nursing care, therapy services
(physical therapy, occupational
therapy, speech and psychology),
dentistry, Children’s Feeding Program,
and physician clinics including
rehabilitation, spina bifida, muscular
dystrophy, cerebral palsy, and spasticity.
Children’s Hospital Foundation
provides the philanthropic support
needed by the Hospital.
G&T: How did you come to be at the
Foundation?
Broughton-Spruill: I started my
career as a planned giving officer and
then worked as development director
at Peace College in North Carolina.
When I moved to Richmond, I came
to Children’s Hospital as director of
development. Children’s Hospital
Foundation became actively engaged
as a fund-raising entity in April 2006
and I was named president last year.
When I first came to Children’s
Hospital, the Board of Trustees
challenged me to establish a development
office. That was appealing to
me because that kind of opportunity
rarely happens in a career. It was a
chance to build something from the
ground up.
G&T: Where did you begin?
Broughton-Spruill: In the first
year, I focused on building an annual
gifts program. We built the base for
that program and have been adding
components to improve it each year.
During the second year, I wanted
to focus on building a planned giving
program. I know that planned giving
can enable people to make large gifts
that can have a big impact on the
organization, so I knew it would be
critical to focus on that area of giving.
We began with a newsletter
called The Legacy. It featured
planned giving ideas and ways in
which to make gifts through a variety
of vehicles. We also created the
Dooley Society (named in honor of our
first benefactor) to recognize those
who have included the Foundation
in their will, trust, or life insurance
policy. Currently we have 150-160
members in this legacy society.
During the third year, we began
our capital program to enhance
giving to projects like hospital equipment,
construction, and program
development. From then on we have
continued to refine and grow these
three primary areas of development.
G&T: What have been the most successful
ways that you have educated donors about planned giving?
Broughton-Spruill: We had limited
resources at first, so in order to
accomplish the goals we had set for
ourselves, I knew that we should
seek professional advice, especially
when it came to being able to publish
a planned giving newsletter on
a regular basis. Tax law changes
can affect planned giving almost
annually, so it is very important
to stay current with information.
We decided to work with Sharpe
to provide the information for our
newsletter and other related publications.
We’ve now been working
together for 18 years.
I believe that The Legacy
newsletter has been critical to our
success. We mail it two times per
year to individuals who have already
expressed some interest in the Foundation.
Because of its consistent
message and frequency, I find that
we are able to engage several people
in making a planned giving commitment
with each mailing.
As an example, after our most
recent newsletter, I received two
commitments from individuals who
will include us as a beneficiary in
their wills. They indicated that
the newsletter was the catalyst for
them to make the commitment.
Knowing that an average bequest
could range from $100,000 to
$500,000, I am convinced that’s a
pretty good return on the financial
investment in the newsletter.
In addition, we have also used
the Planning Perspectives gift
planning Web services provided by
Sharpe to make information available
on our Web site for those who
would like to learn more.
The philosophy of our development
office is to create relationships with donors that provide funding
on an annual basis and to provide
opportunities for the long term. That
is what the planned giving program
helps us achieve. We may not realize
gifts from our Dooley Society members
for several years, but we know
that over the long term those gifts
enable us to grow our Foundation so
that we can provide needed resources
to Children’s Hospital for patient
care.
G&T: Why is it so important that
you find out about planned gift
expectancies?
Broughton-Spruill: It helps us
plan for the future. We know that we
have donors who have made a commitment
and while we may not know
when the gifts will be realized, we
know that their support will be there
at some point in the future.
Knowing about these gifts also
helps us to recognize individuals
for their generosity and keep them
informed about Foundation and Hospital
activities. If we know that they
are planning to remember our Foundation
in their wills, we also know
that we need to keep in contact with
them. We want them to receive all
of our communications and to completely
understand how their future
gifts will be used.
G&T: Do you think bequests will
continue to be a viable source of
funding in this current economic
climate?
Broughton-Spruill: Yes. Bequests
remain one way for donors to make
a significant commitment while still
maintaining their current lifestyle.
Bequests enable donors to make a
gift in the future that might not be
possible for them at this particular
time.
G&T: What is the mood among your
donors right now?
Broughton-Spruill: We have seen
that people still want to give, but
some are just not able to give at
the same level as they have in the
past. We have reached out and communicated
with our donors that we
are very optimistic about our future
and our ability to continue to grow
services and serve more children.
At this point in time, our donors
continue to be very generous and to
show their support through gifts that
are commensurate with their ability
to give. We are very fortunate to have
such loyal and supportive donors.
G&T: What kind of advice could
you give to those who may be just
starting out in fund raising who
have never experienced an economic
downturn before?
Broughton-Spruill: I would advise
them to evaluate their program and
focus on what has been successful for
them in the past. Keep moving forward
even if you have to take small
steps. Continue to concentrate on
growth and what you can accomplish
in the future.
Instill in your donors a sense of
the optimism you have for your organization.
If you feel positive about
your organization, then your donors
will feel much of the same. Because
of current economic conditions, they
may not be able to give at the same
level as in the past, but if you can
keep people believing in what you
do, giving will improve when the
economy rebounds.
G&T: What attributes does a successful
fundraiser need to have?
Broughton-Spruill: I believe a
development officer needs to be
a very focused and goal-oriented person. In the daily activities of a
development office, there are many
distractions that can divert you from
accomplishing your goals, but the
key is to keep focused on the mission
of your organization and share that
mission daily with your constituency.
In addition, I believe that a
development officer should be optimistic.
You should believe in what
you’re doing and believe in your
organization. If you are sincere, your
optimism is going to be contagious.
Working with organizations like
Sharpe helps me to stay current on
the technicalities of planned giving.
I have learned that in the final
analysis development is all about
relationships. If you can communicate
your mission with potential and
current donors and get them excited
about your organization, all the technical
requirements of a planned gift
can fall into place later on.
G&T: What do you enjoy most about
your job?
Broughton-Spruill: It is truly an
honor for me to work at Children’s
Hospital Foundation. This organization
and the children we provide for
has become much more than a job for
me—
it is my vocation. To see the difference
we can make in the lives of
children and their families is a personally
rewarding experience.
We have a mantra that we live
by everyday in our organization
and that is to create transforming
moments in the lives of the children
we serve. Every day I see a transforming
moment at the Hospital. It
can be something of great magnitude
or it can be something small, but
each moment makes a difference in
people’s lives and that’s what makes
me really happy.
|
