Mission Healthcare Foundation

Approaching a Milestone in Giving

The Mission Healthcare Foundation will celebrate its 25th anniversary next year, but it is also approaching another major milestone: $100 million in philanthropic funds raised for Mission. From its founding in 1985 through the end of 2008, the Foundation has raised $93 million from generous donors to help keep Mission's quality at the highest level. In 2008, the Foundation continued to channel the community's generosity into tangible improvements that help patients and address community needs.

• Fundraising success - The Foundation received $8.2 million in new gifts, grants and pledges to benefit programs and projects at Mission Hospital. More than $3 million in estate gifts were received for endowments and programs at Mission. The Foundation also conducted several successful special events including the Chakales-Patton Golf Tournament, Faces of Hope: Evening of Whimsy and Big Tom Classic Charity Golf Tournament.
• Helping Mission stay on the leading edge - Foundation grants supported a wide variety of clinical improvements at Mission that benefit patients. More than $1.2 million was provided to strengthen Mission's conversion to electronic medical records and physician order entry - technological advances that will increase patient safety. Through a gift-in-kind of property, the Foundation provided critically needed new space to house Mission's Infusion Therapy Service. Mission Children's Hospital was able to expand its autism program and staff thanks to $300,000 in grant support. The Foundation secured a national grant to help Mission's geriatric programs protect and care for older residents of the region with a goal of preventing hip fractures.
• Supporting community health - The Foundation provided funds for the "Ladies Night Out" program that gave free mammograms to 382 women in the community who could not afford this vital screening test. Mission's Trauma Center, which serves the entire Western North Carolina region, received over $1.9 million in disaster preparedness funding for equipment, supplies and personnel. Nearly $650,000 was given to the Fullerton Genetics Center at Mission to establish key outreach positions for perinatal and neonatal care to newborns and their families.
• Reaching out, engaging the community - One of the ways the Foundation makes a real impact is by providing emergency grants to Mission employees coping with unforeseen crises in their lives. These special grants totaled $80,000 in 2008. Another Foundation initiative that touches lives in the community is the Ambassador Program. Two Ambassador classes graduated in 2008, bringing the total number of Mission Ambassadors to 179. These individuals take an in-depth 15-hour course over four months to learn about Mission and then carry that message out into the community.

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