To Your Health:

Strength in Numbers – The Vital Role of Philanthropic Development

Dr. Knight, in this series you’ve talked about the state of American health care, the state of health care at Scott & White and your growth projections for the future. You made the point that some of your plans will require Scott & White to raise a considerable amount of money to augment its own investments. As we conclude this series of interviews, let’s focus on the role that philanthropy plays at Scott & White.

Are you confident that Scott & White can attract significant gifts?
Knight: Every gift to Scott & White is a significant contribution to our future. Indeed, some individuals and families have the capacity for very large gifts. Our challenge is to demonstrate that our vision and our strength merit broad support. Scott & White provides a myriad of opportunities for people to give at virtually any level. Though the big gifts make the news, the small gifts collectively create a tremendous opportunity for us to realize our mission.

There is enormous competition today for private philanthropic dollars—from the churches to the arts, from social concerns to global issues and on and on. Why does Scott & White deserve such philanthropic consideration?
Knight: Certainly, there are many worthy organizations that deserve philanthropic assistance. At no time in history is that more true than now, for the social issues and the arts as well as international needs. But this is also the time in the world’s history that offers the greatest opportunity. There are more individuals and families with discretionary income than ever before—people of means who want to make a difference.

Our goal is to offer strategic opportunities to these donors. The incredible work that goes on here at Scott & White is not quickly or easily explained. It cannot accurately be reduced to a bumper sticker or a sound bite. So we must be vigilant not only in our educational, research and treatment responsibilities but also in effectively communicating our many stories to our friends.

The best donor is an informed donor. That person has taken the time to get to know us and has become convinced that Scott & White’s strengths are worthy of support. Why do we deserve it? Because we are committed not only to world-class diagnosis and treatment but also to pioneering research and education. And that huge mission merits private support.

Are there any major initiatives on the horizon that will require private giving?
Knight: Scott & White is in the midst of many initiatives. This year we will open nearly a million square feet of new clinical space, including the Center for Diagnostic Medicine, which just opened, the new hospital on the Temple Campus, the new Continuing Care Hospital on the Scott & White West Campus, and the new hospital and medical office building at the Scott & White University Medical Campus in Round Rock.

There is more. Another major initiative, a new cancer treatment center, will occupy roughly 50,000 square feet on the first floor of the north building on the Temple Campus. The Bone and Joint Institute will be developed in the area on the southeast corner of the main building. Our operating rooms will be configured to reflect the advanced technologies that our surgeons have not only developed, but now use. We also have initiatives for The Children’s Hospital and The Women’s Center.

On top of those are needs for academic office spaces for the developing faculty to support our College of Medicine. One of the important aspects in our future is the four-year A&M College of Medicine medical campus in Temple. We anticipate the initial class of first-year students to be in Temple in the fall of 2007, and development around faculty, facilities and programs is already underway. Scott & White is at a time of wonderful, diverse growth and interests as it evolves into an academic medical center focused on personalized patient care. There are many opportunities for philanthropy.

Take any one item I’ve just listed and I could provide an impassioned defense for each one. Each serves vitally important medical issues. For me, trying to decide which is most important is like asking which child is loved best. It’s impossible to decide and fruitless to try.

How does Scott & White go about obtaining large gifts?
Knight: Large gifts generally, though not always, come from a development process. Again, they tend to come from people who know us in various ways. Perhaps they were or someone in their family was a patient. Perhaps they have an interest in fighting specific medical problems. Perhaps they simply want to help in the effort to find answers. We try to discern specific donor interests, and if we have strengths that match those interests, we propose an idea that they might like. We make a big deal out of it because to us it is, in fact, a big deal.

You mentioned that there are a large number of attractive giving opportunities at Scott & White: education, research, facilities and equipment, endowments. How is a donor to decide?
Knight: The scope of Scott & White’s commitment to the broad-based mission of patient care, education and research opens many avenues for giving. No doubt about it. Donors may direct a gift to an area of choice. Or it may be designated for the area of greatest need. This may include support of education, which covers nurses, physicians and technicians, support of research, which includes basic science, clinical trials, Phase I trials of new medications and new devices, or support of facilities to upgrade our 50-year-old physical plant to a truly enviable, efficient, private environment. Each area represents an enterprise worthy of private support.

Today’s donors are tracking their gifts much like investments in the stock markets. Who manages these monies for Scott & White? How is Scott & White as an organization accountable for reporting to their philanthropic constituents?
Knight: All monies contributed to Scott & White are dedicated to the purpose outlined by the donor. If we don’t believe in that purpose, we will not accept the gift. We rigidly adhere to the guidelines established by the donor. All monies are invested in a conservative way to maintain the base value of the donation, particularly endowments, which are meant to be maintained in perpetuity as investments to ensure that annual allocation of resources from the endowment will not deplete its principal. We use outside experts to maintain our portfolios and provide the greatest flexibility and strength for the purposeful use of resources.

How do private monies come in? Do people simply send in contributions?
Knight: Donations come to us in a multitude of ways. Certainly, a significant number of gifts come in an unsolicited fashion, and it is a wonderful boost to any day when these gifts arrive. But by and large, people give when we ask them. Scott & White has never been hesitant historically to ask for personal or corporate contributions or even grants from foundations. Since the total number of nonprofit organizations has quadrupled in the past five years, we know and understand the competitive nature of seeking philanthropic dollars. This competition has enabled Scott & White to amplify its passionate cause for support. We are very grateful for our donors who see and understand our vision for unsurpassed health care. We realize that donors want to contribute to philanthropic initiatives of their choice. We will provide those opportunities in health care at Scott & White.

May we assume that Scott & White prefers cash gifts?
Knight: Cash or gifts of securities are straightforward ways of giving that immediately can be put to use. However, gifts also come to us as real estate, bequests and gifts-in-kind. We certainly appreciate all forms of giving, and we use every part of each gift as the individual has requested. We simply would not accept a gift if we could not meet the donor’s expectations. We also want the donor to be able to garner whatever tax benefit may be most helpful. We’re pleased when cash can accomplish that goal, but we also appreciate deferred and charitable-trust gifts.

Does Scott & White have an annual fund drive?
Knight: Yes, we have a program that allows individuals on an annual basis to contribute to Scott & White. It’s a part of ongoing Development Office initiatives to provide the opportunities in whatever fashion donors wish to take advantage of in the timing of gifts. We all need reminders. Our hearts—our minds—go a thousand different ways every day, and being able to focus requires reminders and opportunities. An annual fund drive provides that.

Are direct-mail solicitations part of Scott & White’s philanthropic efforts?
Knight: We are working to develop consistent and regular ways to inform and educate our current donors on a consistent basis and also provide ways for nondonors to learn about the latest advancements both in therapies and in research. As I have said, it’s much easier to raise money from informed friends than from uninformed strangers. Someone once said that to love something, you first must know it. We’re hoping that as people get to know us, they will grow to love what we stand for and, perhaps, respond positively to our invitations for support.

Do all Scott & White’s constituents receive every solicitation?
Knight: Our direct-mail solicitations attempt to focus on areas of interest for individuals. For those interested in cancer, the new breakthroughs in cancer research are what we highlight. Those interested in cardiovascular disease or children’s health receive those targeted solicitations. On occasion we will solicit all of our donors and interested patients.

Why does Scott & White insert an envelope for gifts in every issue of this magazine?
Knight: It’s a simple, convenient opportunity for someone to make a gift. Philanthropy is all about pairing opportunity with interest. We try to connect the two. All of us give many times every year to the charities of our choice. If Scott & White makes it convenient to give, the donor is happy. The envelope makes impulsive gifts (usually modest), convenient to make, that’s all. We certainly don’t expect our readers to make a gift with every issue. But we do care about creating and cultivating new relationships.

Are contributions to Scott & White tax deductible?
Knight: To the fullest extent of the law, absolutely they are. But in reality, for most givers a tax deduction is a secondary consideration. We all give because we want to advance the day when health care cures diseases, provides rehabilitation for injuries, creates the opportunity for every baby to be born healthy and moves our society to an entirely different level. We want to do what we can today so maybe our kids won’t have to deal with it tomorrow.

Could you summarize, or characterize, the reasons to support Scott & White?
Knight: If hastening the day when we find a cure for cancer or heart disease, if hastening the day when we have drugs that save lives and relieve suffering, if pioneering efforts here in Central Texas motivate a person to support us, then our cause has been heard.

History recorded great patrons of the arts long before science was developed. But science certainly has its share of patrons today, many of them also patrons of the arts. Our task is to serve humanity without regard to circumstance or ideology. When we succeed, patrons emerge. They recognize that the practice of medicine will always be both a science and an art, each worthy of support in its own right.

We understand the competitive nature for today’s philanthropic dollar. Private support has always informed and enabled breakthroughs. That’s the reason to step forward.

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