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Interview with Helen Sernett, CFRE

Director of Annual Giving at Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation

Cole Reese

Introduction to Fundraising and Philanthropy

13 February 2013



Introduction

For this project I interviewed Helen Sernett, CFRE. Helen is the Director of Annual Giving at

Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation and is on the board of the Washington AFP chapter.

Because Helen answered all of the required questions in an email prior to the interview (see

Appendix 1) our time was spent focusing on:

1. Seattle Children's use of social media as a fundraising tool

2. The use of Google Analytics on the Seattle Children's Foundation webpage

3. The strategic fundraising plan of the organization

4. A budget break-down of the Annual Fund

Seattle Children's use of social media as a fundraising tool

For the better part of two years I have been following Seattle Children's on Facebook, Twitter,

and YouTube. Consistently I have been impressed with how the organization has seamlessly

integrated their fundraising into their overall marketing and communications strategy in a way

that is compelling, concise, and dignified. I was surprised to discover that their beautiful delivery

has not resulted in more substantial results.

Helen explained to me that because Seattle Children's is in a strong financial position, and

because the Foundation president is somewhat of a visionary, they are not afraid to try new

things. Originally, when they had starting using their social media presence for fundraising, they

had hired an outside consultant to work with them. After analyzing the results from the first

campaign, they concluded that it would be more cost effective if they handled the social media

fundraising management in-house.



What I thought to be most impressive was even though their first attempt at using social media as

a fundraising tool was not overly successful, the organization has not opted to write it off as a

method of fundraising, but rather they want to invest more energy into so they can develop a

cohesive and effective strategy.

Recently there was a video done by one of the older long-term-care patients in Children's

hemoncology floor. While at Children's , the patient had been communicating with members of

his hockey team via YouTube, and he wanted to send them a video that was powerful, but had an

upbeat message. What resulted was various patients and the nurses in his ward performing a lip-

sync to Kelley Clarkson's song Stronger. The video (double click on Figure 1, then click on play

icon to view) went viral shortly after being posted. Whereas this was a great opportunity for

Children's to put out a call to action for donations, the organization did not have the systems in

place to respond in time. From this they learned that when responding to something going viral

on social media, one only has about a week and a half to respond before the opportunity is lost.

This incident has lead to an increase in communication between the fundraising, and marketing

and communications teams.



Figure 1

The use of Google Analytics on the Seattle Children's Foundation webpage

Whereas Google Analytics has been used on the hospital's main page for years, it was only

recently added onto the foundation's Give To Seattle Children's site. This late adoption is

because up until a year and a half ago, the Give To site was hosted on an external server, so there

was little that could be done with analytics.

Since converting to a site that is maintained internally, the Foundation has applied Google

Analytics to the page and is looking at what it can do to make elements of the sight more

effective.

The strategic fundraising plan of the organization

When I asked her about the strategic fundraising plan of the organization, Helen jokingly said,

"to raise more money!" but realistically, she stated, that is the end and the strategic plan is the



mean. The strategic plan of the foundation is about larger visibility, higher levels of collaboration

and having a greater reach.

Helen made sure to emphasize that there is a difference between the strategic plan of the hospital

and the strategic plan of the foundation. The strategic plan of the hospital more closely resembles

a case study that can be presented to donors to illustrate the areas in which the hospital is looking

to expand. It is the strategic plan of the foundation, and the resulting philanthropy that allows

them to accomplish these expansions.

One of the remarkable things about philanthropy at Seattle Children's is that it really is

transformative giving. The Ben Towne Center for Childhood Cancer Research is one example of

this. The investment of the Seattle philanthropic community, coupled with key researchers, and

the work of the hospital has lead to a synergistic apex where the Hospital is about to begin

clinical trials on a cure for a specific type of cancer. Helen admits that this is a medical milestone

that was bound to occur sooner or later, but it was the driving interest of this specific synergistic

blend that allowed this incredible event to come to fruition so rapidly.

A budget break-down of the Annual Fund

Overall, the Seattle Children's Hospital Foundation is responsible for raising $47 million

annually (see Figure 2). Helen's division, the annual fund, is responsible for $3.6 million of this

budget. The $3.6 million comes in from various sources; roughly $700,000 comes from online

donations, $300-$400,000 comes from employee matching, et cetera. The interesting thing is

roughly 1/3 of the annual fund comes from "white envelope donations." These are donations that

they don't necessarily know why they came in, or what campaign they gave to, it is simply a

check in a white envelope.



Figure 2-

My Recommendations for Seattle Children's Annual Fund

I struggeled to come up with recommendations for Seattle Children's Annual Fund. In addition to

be a brilliant strategic fundraiser, Helen is very comfortable with her organiation's missing and

knows how to market it effectively. The only recomendation I could come up with was adding a

grassroots element to the new donor recruitment plan.

When I asked her about the current new donor recruitment strategy, Helen said Children's

focuses on the following areas:

1) Guild formation and recruitment

AnnualFund$3.6

Corporate Giving$4.7

Major Gifts$20.5

Planned Giving$8

Guild Associations$10.5

Amount Raise by Seattle Children's

Foundation Annually

in millions



2) Commemorative Givers (in honor, in memory gifts)

3) Physician or Care Team Referral

4) Employee Giving Campaign

5) Radiothon & Telethon events

6) Guild Events

After taking another look at the Foundation's strategic plan, I feel it would make sense to add

either a seasonal door or street canvass element to their fundraising efforts. From my years

working with The Fund For Public Interest Research and from regional studies, I know that

Seattle is one of the most canvass-receptive cites in the country (Lewis, 2012). By hiring an

outside organization to do a seasonal canvass, Seattle Childern's would increase their visibility

by being out in neighborhoods doorbelling and in high foot-traffic areas. By introducing a

canvass, Children's would also increase their reach and sphere of influence (Temple, Seiler, &

Aldrich, 2011) by interacting with more community members, moving them from the outer

realm of the sphere into the closer donor sections. Both of these results align with the

Foundation's strategic goal.

Hiring an outside canvass organization on a seasonal basis is a cost effective was to speak with

thousands of people over the course of a summer about the work your organization is

accomplishing. This would acquire a large number of new donors that the organization's annual

fund manager or direct marketing manager could cultivate and steward into become a reliable

base for the organization. Whereas this might not reduce the size of the "White Envelope" budget

it would increase the direct mail and web donation sectors of the budget, thus allowing the

Annual fund to grow and become less dependent on the "White Envelope" budget over time.



References

Lewis, C. (2012). Trends in Northwest Giving. Seattle: Philanthropy Northwest.

Temple, E. R., Seiler, T. L., & Aldrich, E. E. (2011). Achieving Excellence in Fundraising. SanFrancisco: Jossey-Bass.

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