St. Mary Foundation Receives Philly Award


San Francisco, CA (February 8, 2018) – The seventh annual Dignity Health Philanthropy Education Summit was held in Newport Beach, Calif., on February 8 and 9. The summit brought over 160 participants from all 31 Dignity Health foundations.

The summit is an opportunity for all foundation staff to develop skills in areas that will enhance their support of our local hospitals. Sessions at the event covered a wide range of professional development topics, including clinician engagement, creating a culture of gratitude, the possibilities of planned giving, and peer to peer fundraising.

Lloyd Dean, president and CEO of Dignity Health, delivered an organizational update and a message of kindness and the importance of philanthropy to summit attendees as a keynote speaker. A highlight of the summit each year is the Phillies Awards, a celebration that recognizes the efforts and accomplishments the foundations have done in the prior year.

“The Phillies Awards is a time to celebrate the amazing work of our foundations while also coming together as a group of passionate mission-driven individuals,” says Fred Najjar, senior vice president of philanthropy at Dignity Health.

The awards were presented in the categories of: Largest Philanthropic Gift, Quality Improvement, Top Performing Service Area, McTernan Spirit Award, and Foundation of the Year.

The nominees for the Largest Philanthropic Gift were Barrow Neurological Foundation, French Hospital Medical Center Foundation, and St. Rose Dominican Health Foundation. The winner was French Hospital Medical Center Foundation with a $5.5 million gift from the Oppenheimer family in support of the expansion and modernization of emergency services.

The nominees for Quality Improvement were Arroyo Grande Community Hospital Foundation, Friends of Mercy Foundation, and St. Mary’s Medical Center Foundation. The winner was Arroyo Grande Community Hospital Foundation with an 87 percent improvement in revenue, 49 percent improvement in cost per dollar raised, and a 12 percent improvement in transfers over the previous fiscal year.

The Top Performing Service Area criteria is based on combined service area results. The nominees were Central Coast, Nevada, and Southern California. The winner was the Central Coast service area comprised of Arroyo Grande Community Hospital Foundation, French Hospital Medical Center Foundation, Marian Regional Medical Center Foundation, and St. John’s Healthcare Foundation. This service area had a fundraising revenue of $15.9 million, a 20 percent increase from fiscal year 2016, $0.23 cost per dollar raised, $11.4 million in transfers to their hospitals, and a fundraising revenue per full-time employee of $864,000.

The McTernan Spirit Award was created to honor one foundation employee each year who embodies dignity, collaboration, excellence, justice, and stewardship. The awardee was nominated by their peers and selected based off of those nominations by a committee. This year, Michelle Martin Streeby, from Mercy Foundation North in Redding, Calif., was honored for her kindness towards an elderly neighbor who was admitted into the hospital.

The Foundation of the Year award is presented to the foundation that met its cost per dollar raised metric, transferred at least two times its operating expense to its hospital, and had a well-balanced fundraising program. The nominees were French Hospital Medical Center Foundation, Marian Regional Medical Center Foundation, and St. Mary Medical Center Foundation. The winner was St. Mary Medical Center Foundation of Long Beach, Calif.

Dignity Health Philanthropy announced the 2019 Education Summit will be held in February 2019 in Las Vegas or San Diego.