Teri Nicholas, president and CEO of the BC Children's Hospital Foundation, is photographed outside the BC children's Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, Wednesday, December 16, 2015. She helps to organize fundraising for the hospital.Rafal Gerszak/The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is examining the increasingly important role private donations play in funding health care, arts and culture, universities and other institutions in British Columbia. In the last instalment, we take a look at how fundraising galas get organized.
At BC Children's Hospital, an MRI procedure could soon resemble a trip to outer space.
That was the goal of the BC Children's Hospital Foundation's 29th annual Crystal Ball on Nov. 20, for which $1.4-million was raised. When the funds – gathered through a silent and live auction at the ball – are utilized in 2017, portions of the hospital will seem other-worldly.
That's because having a child undergo procedures, such as an MRI, can be "a screaming, horrible experience," said Teri Nicholas, the foundation's president and CEO.
"One of the things we showed the night of the Crystal Ball is that [we plan to] wrap an MRI machine to make it look like you're entering a space ship and going into space. What we've realized with children is that they can lay still and have the MRI without sedation. That's an immediate benefit for the child."
The Crystal Ball is one of the larger of the 13 fundraisers organized by the foundation throughout the year, and one of thousands of fundraisers organized by charities and non-profits across the province, as part of a broader effort to secure more support for B.C. institutions in the wake of decreased government resources, rising expenses and dwindling support from donors and sponsors because of a weakened Canadian economy.
And for patients at BC Children's Hospital – the only specialized pediatric hospital in the province – the funds raised through the ball are increasingly vital, Ms. Nicholas noted. With medical technology evolving more rapidly than before, the hospital needs four times the amount of equipment to keep up with service demands.
"With pediatric care we have to look after the tiniest of babies to teenagers that are six-foot tall and everything in between," she said. "It's costly."
It's what motivates the event's committee – 23 dedicated volunteers each charged with a specific task – to plan the event with rigour, down to the colour and make of the napkins on the table, she noted. While monthly planning meetings start in January, ten months before the event date, Ms. Nicholas, who oversees its management, said it never really stops.
"When I talk to our person who manages the live auction the night of the Crystal Ball, she says she has 50 per cent of her live auctions ready for next year," she said, owing to prearranged multiyear agreements with sponsors.
"These volunteers are very, very active."
In spring, hospital representatives present the committee with a series of initiatives it wants supported. The committee then whittles it down to one or two options, based on urgency.
By that time, they've already begun formulating ideas for the event's theme, which have ranged from circus-oriented in the past to Persian-inspired this year, she said, complete with billowy red, orange and pink drapes, Persian rugs and red and pink rose table bouquets adorned with pomegranates and red grapes.
"They bring their suggestions to every committee meeting. They may bring four options. They'll have a table set they want to pitch. It's down to that level of details. Which is why, without volunteers, it would be very difficult to do this," she said. Most services for graphic design, lighting and equipment, are either contracted out to various companies, usually at a discount rate, or sponsored over the coming months. The Four Seasons, where the event is held annually, sponsors the china and glassware.
The foundation spent roughly $28-million on fundraising this year, or about 32 per cent of its overall expense budget, although Ms. Nicholas said the foundation aims to keep it around 20 per cent. In turn, the foundation receives roughly $66-million in donations a year, about 70 per cent of its total revenue.
More than 50 volunteers, equipped with two-way radios, manage proceedings on the day of the event. Each table has an iPad to aid in the bidding process, along with a volunteer to assist attendees with questions and concerns.
Other foundations with fewer financial resources stress the impact of a strong volunteer base to achieve fundraising targets.
The Pemberton and District Health Care Foundation, for example, raises on average $25,000 a year – 90 per cent of its revenue – through donations and proceeds from its annual charity golf tournament. The course is rented to the foundation at a discount rate and includes golf carts and a dinner for those attending. Eighteen sponsors participated in the tournament this year, which helped purchase new equipment for hospital facilities in the Sea-to-Sky Corridor.
The tournament is a joint effort between six volunteers, without which significantly less money would be raised, said Karen Ross, the foundation's treasurer.
"It takes determination," she said. "We're all living our lives and trying to pay our own bills and stuff, so to be able to take the time out to do something like [this] is probably everybody's biggest challenge."