Philanthropy Case Study

Wealth for the Mission - Achieving the Extraordinary

The Alan Ginsburg Family Foundation gave a $20 million legacy gift to help fund construction of the new Ginsburg Tower located at Florida Hospital Orlando.

Key Takeaways
  • Breakthrough performance is achievable by teaming up with well-defined roles embraced.
  • The science of philanthropy is equally important to the art of philanthropy.
  • Generally, philanthropy does not occur until gifts are solicited.
Challenge

Florida Hospital, in Orlando, had a philanthropy ambition that appeared impossible to fulfill. In a period when the hospital Foundation was achieving a net gain of a mere $1 million annually, the administration set forth a worthy vision to raise $100 million in the next five years to celebrate the hospital's centennial anniversary and to meet capital needs for the rapidly growing organization.

Tony and Sonja Nicholson donated $5M to the centennial campaign.

Approach & Solution

It was evident that using the same historic methods would yield the same historic results. Thus, the Foundation leadership, guided by Chief Development Officer, Terry Newmyer and Hospital Executive, Des Cummings, structured a new era methodology for securing major gifts. The new strategy was founded on the principles set forth by the Malcolm Gladwell research, documented in the Gladwell book, The Tipping Point.

The strategy acknowledged that there are "no solo blockbusters," thus requiring a systematic effort for effectively teaming up. Gladwell's study found the best results occur when there are at least three key stakeholders of various personalities guiding performance. His research illustrated that the strongest business models include the presence of a connector, maven, and closer on winning teams.

Each prospective donor was assigned a three person team, including assignments based on the Gladwell methods. The upshot was many dozens of teams deployed to produce value for the Centennial Campaign. The Foundation applied this tactical model to form teams around every major gift prospect - Treating each prospective donor as a distinct venture to be pursued.

Florida Hospital Celebration Health, located in Disney's planned town Celebration, generated over $90 million in sponsorships from Fortune 500 companies.

Lessons Learned
  • In the first four years of the campaign the success was so amazing that the $100 million goal was exceeded and year five was all above goal performance.
  • The total wealth produced in the five year campaign exceeded $130 million.
  • Highlights included gifts at the $5 million, $10 million, and $20 million levels, plus over a dozen other seven figure donations.
  • During the five year campaign, the Foundation was able to increase the net impact of the gifts and contributions by over 2,000%.