CommonSpirit Health Philanthropy’s Greater Sacramento Division Witnesses Impressive Performance Growth

Chicago, Ill. (May 17, 2021) – Within CommonSpirit Health® philanthropy’s Greater Sacramento Division, a commitment to high-performance fundraising and an environment of collaboration among geographically-aligned foundations has yielded impressive results.

In fiscal year 2020, California’s Greater Sacramento Division, which includes Mercy Foundation, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation, and Woodland Healthcare Foundation increased their collective fundraising revenue by more than 60 percent and improved their cost-to-raise-a-dollar by 42 percent – moving from 35 cents to 20 cents. With a 50 percent increase over the prior year, they raised an astonishing $729,000 per full-time employee equivalent.

“The support and generosity of our donors throughout our division during these challenging times has been truly inspiring,” says Kevin Duggan, Mercy Foundation’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “Our foundations, individually and collectively, are performing at an exceptional level, and together we serve to amplify the impact for all of those we serve across our region.”

The keys to the division’s impressive performance can be found in each foundation’s programs and campaigns. Mercy Foundation, which supports Sacramento’s Mercy General Hospital, Mercy Hospital of Folsom, Mercy San Juan Medical Center, Methodist Hospital of Sacramento and local Dignity Health Medical Foundation clinics in addition to several community programs, was the recipient of an anonymous $6 million gift, as well as a $600,000 gift from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation for the Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Achievement Center. Additionally, two longstanding donors’ estate gifts added another $1.5 million to an already impressive year. Fundraising results like these fueled transfers to the hospitals such as $1.3 million for Mercy San Juan Medical Center’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit expansion and more than $500,000 in funding for the MS Achievement Center and Anti-Human Trafficking programs.

Woodland Healthcare Foundation, which supports Woodland Memorial Hospital and Woodland Clinic, received their largest gift from the doctors of the clinic’s medical group to support the Yolo County Street Medicine Program. The two-year $166,668 commitment, matched by Woodland Memorial Hospital, provides funding for programs to bring health care to the homeless and those in need of services who cannot come to the clinic. Significant transfers to the hospital supported the purchase of ultrasound equipment for the emergency department, labor beds for the Family Birth Center and a new specialized operating room table.

Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital Foundation in Grass Valley most notably completed a campaign to raise $2 million to help renovate the hospital’s emergency department. Elsewhere a $750,000 Health Resources and Services Administration grant enabled the hospital to begin to develop a Family Practice Rural Residency Program to train family physicians in the specialized needs of a rural community. Additionally, during this year, the foundation’s fundraising team focused considerable energy on cultivating deeper relationships with current donors and expanding their donor footprint beyond those currently giving.

In recognition of their combined efforts, the foundations of the Greater Sacramento Division were honored with the Top Performing Division Award at CommonSpirit Health’s Philanthropy Education Summit 2021. This recognition distinguishes the division’s foundations among CommonSpirit’s 80+ fundraising offices across the ministry.

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