Three years after lengthy discussions with community and health system leaders about the future of health care in Northeast Florida, Baptist Health’s Securing Tomorrow Together $100 million campaign is nearly complete – two years ahead of schedule.
“The campaign theme and goal to raise $100 million by 2018 emerged from those discussions and from the strategic priorities they identified,” said Pierre N. Allaire, chief development officer and vice president for Baptist Health Foundation.
The public phase of the campaign kicked off in October 2015, and support for the areas and needs identified as important to community health care has put the campaign at the $92 million mark.
The initiative is designed to anticipate and meet future community health care needs through the strategic development of three core areas: endowment building, capital improvements and program enhancement. Donors with a particular interest in a specific need of a core area or the fight against a particular disease can ensure their donation will be used in that specific area because Baptist Health’s services include four adult hospitals – Baptist Medical Centers Jacksonville, South, Beaches and Nassau – and Wolfson Children’s Hospital, the region’s only children’s hospital.
All three core areas are having strong support, according to Allaire. Several key endowments have been funded to enhance services in pediatric asthma, children with medically complex conditions, adult neurosurgery, nursing education, pastoral care and oncology as well as aid from patients and their families receiving treatment at Baptist MD Anderson Cancer Center.
Program support has also been strong and appeals to donors who want to see their dollars used to help patients immediately, whether in cardiology, oncology, charity care, pediatrics, neurosurgery, orthopedics, medical education and more. Capital support has been given for renovations and construction at the hospitals, and for equipment such as a lifelike neurosurgery training model, which allows neurosurgeons to run through a procedure before operating.
With several thousand supporters, Securing Tomorrow Together is getting close to the finish line. When the campaign concludes in 2018, Baptist Health will produce a Donor Honor Roll sharing a number of stories of donors who have helped to fund strategic campaign priorities. To make a gift online or to learn more Securing Tomorrow Together, visit foundation.baptistjax.com/campaign.
