Beacon Health Foundation Wins AHP’s 2024 Innovation in Philanthropy Award
Olivia Hairfield
Published: 08/14/2024
Congratulations to Beacon Health Foundation
Launched in 2023, the AHP Innovation in Philanthropy Award recognizes those organizations who have created innovative ways to advance their missions and achieve greater impact for the populations they serve. Beacon Health Foundation's transformative physician engagement program, the Physician Philanthropy Council (PPC), demonstrates true innovation in building impactful partnerships with clinicians. Launched in 2019, the PPC is an annual giving program with a unique approach: physicians who join with a $10,000, five-year commitment actively participate in the grant-making process. They listen to grant pitches from different departments, allocate funding, and monitor the implementation and outcomes of each grant. This hands-on involvement has made physicians more open to giving back, fostering a culture of philanthropy within the organization.
In just five years, the PPC has seen 47 physicians make the $10,000 commitment. Remarkably, prior to the PPC, only two of these physicians had ever made a gift of $10,000 or more, and 24 had never given at all. The program has not only engaged physicians in philanthropy in a new way but also helped the Foundation build trust and new relationships across the system. The PPC has expanded the donor base, identified physician champions for philanthropy, helped improve physician well-being, and funded over 70 vital projects, including those that support at-risk and vulnerable populations
Read more about the Physician Philanthropy Council in this article from the fall 2023 AHP journal.
We look forward to celebrating Beacon Health Foundation at the awards dinner at AHP's International Conference in November. The team will also present a session about their innovative program at the conference.
The team at Beacon Health Foundation
Back row, L to R: Rachel Ferguson, Ashley Teeters, Connie Williams
Front row, L to R: Ryann DeMoss, Jessica Benko, Mary Beth Deitch, Priscilla Brown, Susan King
Meet the Honorable Mentions for the 2024 Award:
These organizations have made a remarkable impact in their communities, and we want to recognize their achievements.
Cannonball Kids cancer Foundation
Winter Park, FL
At Cannonball Kids’ cancer Foundation, which funds innovative and accessible research for pediatric cancer, staff sought to inspire current donors and draw in new ones by turning raising money into a game. The result was a “secret society” initiative called the League of Unstoppable Donors. The organization produced 300 tokens, each with a QR code. Recipients were encouraged to scan the QR code to donate, then pass the token on while keeping everything secret–the campaign, their gift amount, and their participation. Throughout the year, donors received updates about both the amount donated through their specific token and the collective amount raised through the program.
In its first seven-month test, the program raised more than $20,000 from 230 supporters, representing 28% of the organization’s new donor base for 2023. The initiative raised half of what their annual year-end campaign brings in, meaning that in the first year of the game, new supporters donated nearly as much as those already familiar with their mission.
City of Hope
Duarte, CA
City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the US, created a Discovery Team, a team whose sole focus is on increasing and improving the individual giving prospect pipeline. A team of six diverse Discovery Officers engages newly referred prospects, assessing their capacity and areas of interest. Their goal is to either hand off a qualified prospect to a gift officer or to disqualify the prospect.
Two years after the Discovery Team’s creation, City of Hope has built the team to six, exceeded the goal of 50% churn by more than 25%, and handed off 112 warm prospects to gift officers. Of those prospects, 76 have already made gifts. The program has also helped City of Hope expand its fundraising talent pool, as Discovery Officer positions are tailored to early-career professionals and those who are new to nonprofit work.
MLK Community Health Foundation
Los Angeles, CA
When COVID-19 threatened to shut down the MLK Community Health Foundation’s annual donor luncheon, foundation staff re-imagined the event as a television special, the Dream Show, that told uplifting stories from the hospital and the surrounding South LA community. When the first show was successful, drawing 30,000 viewers compared to the 500 who usually attended the in-person luncheon, the foundation doubled down, committing to build and expand the Dream Show, including the creation in 2023 of an in-person component: a VIP film screening and reception.
In 2024, the program reached a broadcast audience of 185,000 and generated more than $9 million in philanthropic value. The vignettes produced for each year’s program have turned into a robust asset library that has been used to secure additional gifts and even in state-level advocacy campaigns that advance the hospital’s priorities. And the tolerance for risk that allowed the staff to question existing frameworks, think creatively, and execute on something unfamiliar has helped build and validate a culture of innovation within the foundation.
Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health
Palo Alto, CA
Leaders at the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health envisioned a community of engaged physician-fundraisers. In June 2022, the Foundation piloted a training program to demystify the physician’s role in fundraising strategy and help physicians advance their research and clinical care. Now in its third year, the program has evolved into a full year-long program with short, pre-recorded training videos, six 90-minute interactive live sessions, and a capstone project–a real-world, donor facing experience that advances fundraising strategy–such as speaking at foundation events, filming stewardship videos, and leading lab tours for donors.
So far, 15 physicians have graduated from the program, with a cohort of eight more participating in 2024. In addition to these physicians, the program engages hospital leadership, who choose physicians for the program, and board members, who provide live feedback to program participants. All program participants have reported increased comfort in partnering with the Foundation and an increased knowledge of philanthropy.