Foundation Priorities
2021-2022 ANNUAL REPORT
“With Covid 19, this coming year will be the “year of unknowns”. Staff and their teams are looking at new, innovative approaches to ensuring the safety of participants and staff for all events. We will continue to stay connected with our donors. We are determined to keep our commitments to our healthcare partners." (Excerpt from our 2019-2020 Annual Report)
Yes, this past year was definitely the year of uncertainty, requiring flexibility, creativity and a whole lot of perseverance. Covid 19 challenged everyone. The need for dollars to support our healthcare partners did not diminish, and Foundation staff, partners and volunteers stepped up and accepted the challenge. In the end, we did deliver on our promise. We stayed connected with our donors and exceeded our revenue target raising over $1.2 million dollars – our highest amount ever!
The Foundation’s vision is to inspire people to invest in the future of our local healthcare organizations. We are inspired every day by the generosity and passion of our healthcare community and grateful for their ongoing support.
Our work is focussed around three strategies designed to move us towards achieving the Foundation’s vision. In the area of Growing Donor Support:
Our revenue target for 2020-21 was $603K. We raised over $1.2 Million! Programs and events were re-vamped to comply with Covid safety requirements.
- We replaced the lost revenue from cancelling the Butterfly Release with a Direct Mail piece raising over $7,000. Overall $48,000 was raised for the Hospice/Palliative Care Program.
- The Friends of St Francis Golf Tournament was replaced with a Virtual Charity Event and on-line auction. The event raised $34,164 in support of local healthcare including the purchase of evacusleds for the Hospital.
- Our Virtual Tree of Lights event raised $96,000 – the highest amount ever! The pre-recorded video program involving Foundation and hospital staff, and community members had over 4000 views on our Facebook page. Hospital equipment purchased included a VAC Therapy System, an upgrade to the medication dispensing unit, over-bed tables and visitor chairs.
- Our Giving Tuesday match-it program resulted in tripling the amount raised in the one day social media campaign over last year and added new donors to our base.
- Thanks to our vendors, our volunteers and staff, over $392.0K was raised through the Catch the Ace Lottery for the Valley Manor Redevelopment Campaign.
- We wrapped up a very successful fundraising Campaign for Manor Redevelopment with over $1 Million total raised over the past few years. And work is now underway for the ER Redevelopment Fundraising Campaign.
The dollars raised by the Foundation were exceptional this past year, yet we have work to do. Our number of active donors is down by 17%. While we remain above the national donor retention average, we have dropped from 60% last year to 52% this year. The reason in part is directly related to Covid 19. This is concerning and we will be focusing efforts to stabilize and re-build our donor base.
Under Strategic Direction, Build & Develop a High Performing Team, the safety of staff, volunteers and community was a top priority which certainly added additional challenges.
It is amazing that we were able to achieve the above revenue results given that less than three months into her new position, our Executive Director, Erin Gienow and her team were faced with the challenge of packing the office and setting up their home based offices. Our newly hired Donor Relations Coordinator was only in her job for three weeks. Yet business continued. Board Meetings were held on time, appeals to the community for Covid support were crafted with sensitivity, virtual communication platforms were adopted, staff training continued, annual plans and budgets were modified, the financial audit & AGM deadlines were met all while adapting to working in an entirely different way.
Although The Bean did not re-open, we have maintained engaged volunteer teams for Catch the Ace, our Virtual Charity Event, Smile Cookie Week and Tree of Lights mail out. We look forward to reconnecting with all our volunteers in person in the near future.
Our Board is very engaged and as a result, a significant amount of work has been accomplished. By-laws are being reviewed and revised where required, needed policies have been created and others updated. This work will continue over the coming year.
Strategic Direction #3, Maintaining a Positive Reputation and Continue to Raise the Profile of the Organization was another area where we excelled.
- All events were successful thanks to the strong relationships with our healthcare partners and our volunteer and community support
- The Memorandum of Understandings between the healthcare partners and Foundation were renewed for another five years.
- The needs of our partners during this year of Covid were supported through PPE Appeals, staff appreciation initiatives, thank you videos and more.
- Third Party Events including the KAPOA Virtual Poker Run, Smile Cookie Week, and other fundraising activities exceeded their goals and we were happy to be part of their initiatives.
- The Foundation is an active member of the Madawaska Valley Circle of Health
- In person and virtual attendance at Foundation/third party events/cheque presentations, ongoing donor check-in and appreciation calls and enhanced social media presence
This coming year will continue to pose challenges for our Foundation, yet we are inspired every day by the generosity and passion of our collective healthcare community and grateful for their ongoing support. Together we are making a difference.
Thank you!
Karen Tierney, Board Chair Erin Gienow, Executive Director
