April 26, 2018
Hello,
As you know, our medical school is a large and complex school, with remarkable faculty and staff working hard to excel at all missions—education, research, clinical care, and advocacy. It should come as no surprise that to meet these goals, we have endless financial needs. I recently attended the annual meeting of the AAMC Council of Deans. One discussion focused on adding another core mission to academic health systems—the mission of mentoring trainees and young faculty. If done well, mentoring also requires funding. Every dean in the room agreed that to grow and sustain our programs, we all need to be engaged in fundraising.
We could never do all the things we do—or hope to do—without the help of philanthropy. We are fortunate to live in a very generous community and to have many friends of McGovern Medical School. Moreover, UTHealth has a wonderful group of dedicated development professionals to help us create long-term connections with our donors through education, stewardship, and at the right time—solicitation. That said, we are each potential fundraisers, with compelling stories to tell about the work we do every day—developing novel training programs to best educate students, residents, and postdoctoral fellows; conducting important research; and of course, caring for patients and families.
Some physicians and researchers are uncomfortable asking for resources for their work. After all, it’s our job to care for patients, to educate learners, and to develop innovative new programs—not to ask for money. That said, patients often want to learn more about your work, in part because they want to give back.
Fundraising is a learned skill, and we are fortunate to have professionals to guide us. Our Office of Development is ready to help. They will start a conversation, allowing patients, families, and interested community members to express areas of interest and, of course, to direct where a potential gift might be used. A faculty member won’t be put in a position to ask for a gift from a donor without help.
Avenues used to solicit gifts include annual giving, estate and gift planning, grateful patients, corporate engagement, foundation relations, crowdfunding, in-kind donations, and matching gifts. The Office of Development pairs donors’ interests with the people and programs that best resonate with them. Several of our physicians, along with their generous donors, are profiled in the Office of Development’s 2017 Philanthropy Journal.
McGovern Medical School faculty work closely with the Office of Development and have raised significant funding to support the programs and missions of this school. A few recent examples of how our faculty have helped in the development process are:
• Dr. Adelaide Hebert, professor of dermatology and director of pediatric dermatology, received two $100,000 endowments from grateful patients to support research.
• A grateful patient of Dr. Tom Murphy, assistant dean for community affairs and health policy and assistant professor of family medicine, generously gave a gift of $2 million to endow a new chair in family medicine.
• Dr. Charles Cox, professor of pediatric surgery; Dr. Sean Savitz, professor of neurology; and Dr. Scott Olson, assistant professor of pediatric surgery, were instrumental in making connections with donors by sharing their passion for their work in the lab and the hospital. These generous friends of the university gave $650,000 to support groundbreaking stem cell research.
• Dr. Kevin Lally, chair of the department of pediatric surgery, and Dr. Charles Cox, professor of pediatric surgery, were key in receiving an incredibly generous $10 million gift from a community leader that will transform pediatric regenerative medicine research by bringing stem cell treatments to pediatric patients.
• Dr. Susan Landry, director and founder of the Children’s Learning Institute, recently received a $10 million gift in support of the Dan L. Duncan Children’s Neurodevelopmental Clinic, which provides comprehensive assessments of children thought to have developmental, behavioral, and learning disabilities.
Through efforts like these, donations to the medical school have grown substantially. Our Office of Development has secured over $40 million in commitments so far this fiscal year.
The Office of Development recently debuted a crowdfunding campaign at the medical school with a program to raise money for white coats for our entering students. I am delighted to let you know the campaign exceeded its original $2,000 goal and now stands at $7,085 with 22 days to go. There’s still time to contribute! The office is developing a new grateful patient program. Cathy White, the program’s new director, explains that patients often want to give back to the care team as part of their healing process.
So, if the Office of Development comes knocking at your door, please help! Their expertise is invaluable as we continue to excel in our missions of education, research, and patient care. Please thank them for what they do.
AND REMEMBER, WE ALL HAVE WONDERFUL STORIES TO SHARE, AND WE ARE ALL FUNDRAISERS!
Warm regards,
Barbara
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