Wednesday, July 05, 2017
Beaumont Health, Michigan’s largest health system, now has one fundraising foundation with its own board of directors, organized as a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. The new foundation was launched July 1.
When Beaumont Health was formed through a merger of Beaumont Health System, Botsford Hospital and Oakwood Healthcare in September 2014, each of the founding entities maintained its own fundraising foundation and foundation board.
John Fox, president and CEO, and Margaret Cooney Casey, chief development officer, Beaumont Health, began working with the leadership of the three foundation boards in the fall of 2015 to envision the future of philanthropy and how they could be most impactful in promoting and encouraging philanthropy at the new Beaumont Health.
“In creating one foundation, our process was to evolve to a new fundraising organization, to involve as many stakeholders as possible and reach a consensus,” said Cooney Casey.
Members of the three foundation boards owned the process, working closely together over several months, building relationships and trust along the way. The result was a unanimous decision to centralize fundraising into a coordinated effort, combining resources and talent. Under the new operational structure, there is a central Beaumont Health Foundation board of directors, two regional councils and site committees for each of the eight Beaumont hospitals.
Beaumont Health’s board of directors approved the organizational structure of the new Beaumont Health Foundation in fall 2016 and confirmed the appointment of Margaret Cooney Casey as Foundation president.
Months of legal and regulatory steps followed, including filing articles of incorporation with the state; applying for federal tax exemption with the Internal Revenue Service; filing documents with the Michigan Attorney General and state licensing department; and completion of asset transfers.
“The merging of the three foundations strengthens fundraising across Beaumont Health,” said Cooney Casey. “It brings together our fundraising talent, centralizing special events, research, and grant and proposal writing, to support the needs of each of our hospital sites. Local community connections are maintained through major gift officers assigned to support each site. Giving always has and always will be local. Our new structure addresses the needs of local communities and respects the desires of donors to give to their local Beaumont hospital.”
On June 22, a new Beaumont Health Foundation board with representation from all three of the original foundations was appointed. There are 14 foundation board members with Geoffrey Hockman of Bloomfield Hills as chair; and Neelam Kumar, M.D., of Ann Arbor, and Edward Loniewski, D.O., of Plymouth, as vice-chairs. Cooney Casey and Beaumont Health President and CEO John Fox are ex-officio members. Additional board members will be added in the future.
The new Beaumont Health Foundation has a staff of about 60 fundraising professionals. Over the past two years, Foundation staff collectively raised more than $90 million, up from prior years, with a cost to raise a dollar of just 21 cents, representing a four to one return on investment.