University Hospitals Reaches $1 Billion Campaign Goal

CLEVELAND, Dec. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- University Hospitals (UH) announced it has achieved its Discover the Difference Campaign goal of $1 billion one year earlier than expected with a $32.5 million gift from the Rainbow Babies & Children's Foundation. As a result, the health system is expanding the fundraising campaign to $1.5 billion – the largest campaign in the history of Northeast Ohio.

The Rainbow Foundation, an independent foundation formed in 1887 to advocate for UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, made the monumental gift in honor of the nationally renowned children's hospital's 125^th anniversary.

UH Chief Executive Officer Thomas F. Zenty III made the historic announcement to nearly 700 community leaders, UH physicians, employees, board members, benefactors and volunteers. "The Rainbow Foundation's extraordinary gift to Rainbow marks a pivotal moment in our history and their generosity will have a lasting legacy for generations of children and their families," said Mr. Zenty. "We are additionally pleased to announce that their gift enables University Hospitals to reach our Discover the Difference campaign goal of $1 billion in support of our health system earlier than anticipated."

Following a thorough analysis of the community's growing need for increased and expanded health care services, UH has made the decision to continue its campaign and move forward with a new goal of $1.5 billion. UH is now one of only two major health systems in the nation engaged in a campaign of this magnitude. Discover the Difference: The Campaign for University Hospitals, publicly announced in November 2010, has received unprecedented support including more than 100,000 gifts.

"The reason we have chosen this new goal is singular: Our community needs us," said Mr. Zenty.  "Health care has entered an exciting and challenging new age. As we have prepared for change over the past few years, we have engaged in a very thorough, deliberate analysis of Northeast Ohio's growing demand for complex health care services. The additional $500 million we seek will help University Hospitals respond to great opportunities to meet the growing health care needs of our communities and to create a more vigorous, prosperous Northeast Ohio."

Discover the Difference: The Campaign for University Hospitals

UH's Discover the Difference campaign has received support from more than 60,000 individuals, foundations and corporations. Over 90 donors have given gifts of $1 million or more and 13 visionary benefactors have made transformational gifts of more than $10 million. The Rainbow Foundation's new gift, coupled with a $50 million gift earlier this year from the Harrington family to create the Harrington Discovery Institute, brings 2012 giving to UH to a record $150 million.

"These two leadership gifts have made 2012 the most successful fundraising year in our health system's history," said Mr. Zenty. "The extraordinary achievement of the Discover the Difference campaign and its attainment of our $1 billion goal one year earlier than anticipated is a tribute to the enduring philanthropic spirit upon which University Hospitals was founded."

The campaign has been led by Co-Chairs Monte Ahuja and Jack Breen. "The breadth of support is a remarkable testament to University Hospitals and this Northeast Ohio community," said Mr. Breen. "It's a reflection of our community's enduring generosity, and its trust in our health system. UH's innovation in education, research and community development is improving life for all of us in Northeast Ohio."

The generous support of the philanthropic community has been used to enhance and expand UH clinical and supportive care programs, grow and establish new endowed funds and complete vital capital projects.

• 878 unique funds have received philanthropic support, benefiting every department and institute in the health system
• More than $230 million raised in the campaign has been allocated for use by UH Rainbow
• 90 new endowed funds and 42 new endowed chair or master clinician positions were established in support of UH physicians
• 26 construction/renovation projects were supported, including:
  • UH Seidman Cancer Center
    UH Ahuja Medical Center
  • Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute
  • Quentin & Elisabeth Alexander Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
  • Center for Emergency Medicine and Marcy R. Horvitz Pediatric Emergency Center

"The community's abiding support of University Hospitals has enabled us to become one of the finest health care organizations in the country and the world," said Mr. Ahuja. "This ambitious campaign, Discover the Difference, has made an enormous impact on the lives of everyone touched by UH."

UH's 125-year history of pediatric care

For 125 years, UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital has been at the forefront of research and treatment for children, and its physician-scientists have contributed major clinical and scientific discoveries to advance the field of pediatric care.

The Rainbow Foundation has been raising money and supporting UH Rainbow since the hospital's earliest days, when nine young women formed the Rainbow Circle of King's Daughters. When Rainbow Hospital merged with Babies and Children's Hospital in 1974, the Rainbow Babies & Children's Foundation was established.

The Rainbow Foundation today remains an independent collaboration of civic-minded women who promote and support UH Rainbow. With 36 current board of trustees members and 102 past trustees, the Rainbow Foundation advocates for children and generates financial, corporate and community support for the mission of UH Rainbow.

"Through their remarkable vision, the Rainbow Foundation members have demonstrated their passion for our beloved children's hospital and our region's children," said Patti DePompei, the newly appointed President of UH Rainbow Babies & Children's and UH MacDonald Women's Hospital.  "This transformational gift – the largest in Rainbow's history - represents an unprecedented investment, which will help us continue to serve our nation's children as one of the top pediatric hospitals in the country."

With this latest gift, the Rainbow Foundation's support for UH Rainbow now totals $118 million. Almost half of that total – $53 million – has come in support of Discover the Difference. The Rainbow Foundation's leadership gift will enable the achievement of the following critical strategic priorities:

• Four key projects, with the support of matching grants, including UH's nationally renowned maternal fetal medicine center, the pediatric heart center and a pediatric specialty center as well as the Angie Fowler Adolescent & Young Adult Cancer Institute.
• Support the recruitment of key nationally recognized pediatric specialists and further advance the work of Rainbow physicians. 
• Innovative clinical and supportive care programs that will improve the quality of life of pediatric patients, including UH Rainbow's child life program.
• This gift is structured in a manner that encourages others in the philanthropic community to give at a comparable level.  Matching grants included in the gift are expected to inspire an additional $17.5 million in support.  This will bring the total impact of the gift to $50 million.
  
  

"We at the Rainbow Foundation are very proud to be University Hospitals' longest-standing partner," said Dinah Kolesar, Chair of the Rainbow Foundation. "Our investment in the Discover the Difference campaign is a resounding endorsement of the leadership and the vision of UH. We believe in this team and in the future of UH and Rainbow. This catalytic gift is a reflection of our faith and ultimately is a gift to the children and families of this great region. This gift will help to achieve critical strategic priorities that our children and families need."

$1.5 Billion Campaign

The extended campaign will run in parallel with the lead up to and celebration of University Hospitals' 150^th anniversary in 2016. It will solidify UH as a pillar of this community, and as a national leader in innovation, care quality and value. And it will enable UH with an even greater ability to innovate and lead as the health system pursues its mission: To Heal. To Teach. To Discover.

The additional $500 million in support will be used to achieve the following:

• Strengthen UH's investment in innovation, discovery and quality to find tomorrow's cures and therapies and bring them more rapidly to patients here and around the world:
  • Harrington Discovery Institute
  • Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute
  • Institute for Health Care Quality & Innovation
• Expand UH institutes and centers of excellence that link patients all over Northeast Ohio to the special resources of the health system's renowned academic medical center – UH Case Medical Center.
• Build strategically important new facilities to give patients better access to UH's high-quality, high-value services.
• Further position UH as a leader in delivering community health programs and services that support the well-being of patients of all ages by providing innovative, coordinated, patient-centered care.

"This community has demonstrated such amazing support of University Hospitals and our rich history of caring for patients in Northeast Ohio and beyond," said Achilles Demetriou, MD, PhD, Chief Operating Officer, UH. "The remarkable generosity of individuals and organizations, like the Rainbow Foundation, has helped our health system continue our nearly 150-year tradition of providing the most compassionate patient care while advancing medicine in Northeast Ohio and around the world."

SOURCE University Hospitals Case Medical Center