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Expansion of Bethesda North Hospital’s Center for Breast Care called for a $2-plus- million capital campaign. As the first campaign for a hospital project in decades, The Bethesda Foundation turned to Smith Beers Yunker for professional guidance and counsel. A particular challenge in this campaign was the lack of formal architectural plans for the project, which would create a new facility triple in size to the existing center, with all new equipment.
Major Gifts Officer Mary Fischer recalls that the key to success was good communication and planning. “Without formal plans, it was not easy to describe to donors what we intended to do,” she said. “The Smith Beers Yunker team helped us structure our campaign materials to make the strongest appeal and it paid off. They also were very helpful in strategizing our face-to-face approach with key donors.”
Bethesda Foundation President and CEO Ed Osofsky says he especially appreciated the accessibility of Jim Yunker. “You need someone you can count on to be there when you call and we found Jim to be exceptionally responsive. Even when he was out of town, he responded quickly with the advice we needed and kept us going in the right direction.”
Mary Fischer adds that two very helpful aspects of counsel were the pre-campaign planning phase and the campaign timeline provided by Smith Beers Yunker. “The advice of outside counsel provided a ‘safety net’ that gave the board more confidence in approving the campaign. Also the unbiased viewpoint of consultants added credibility to staff presentations that consequently ‘packed a bigger punch’ with board members.”
This was not the first project for which The Bethesda Foundation had engaged Smith Beers Yunker, and Ed Osofsky states it will not be the last. “We have engaged Smith Beer Yunker for yet another project and I would absolutely recommend them to any nonprofit needing fundraising counsel. They perform in a very professional manner and I have found that they have the ability to work well with people at all levels, both our staff and our campaign committee.”
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