76. Crash Course on Building a Strategic Development Plan + Raising $100M+! - Bill Littlejohn, CFRE

Bill Littlejohn, CFRE / We Are For Good Podcast

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Overview

Meet Bill. The self-professed evangelist for strategic philanthropy just may be the godfather of healthcare philanthropy. With more than 30 years under his belt in the development sector, this CEO of San Diego's Sharp HealthCare Foundation wants us to stop talking about being costly and start talking about being profitable. We're talking about the intentionality behind syncing development and strategic plans and celebrating frontline healthcare heroes.

Today’s Guest

Bill Littlejohn, CFRE, Senior Vice President, SHARP HealthCare / Chief Executive Officer, SHARP HealthCare Foundation

“Development is the development of relationships over time. That is a major aspect of strategic philanthropy.”

— Bill Littlejohn, CFRE, Chief Executive Officer, SHARP HealthCare Foundation

Episode Highlights

The power of philanthropy throughout the COVID-19 pandemic (4:00)
Bill’s story and career journey at SHARP HealthCare (6:15)
The intentionality of syncing your development plans with the strategic plans of your organizations (10:31)
Inspiration is the essence of philanthropy (14:15)
Always start with a story of inspired giving. Our organizations have large, complex strategic plans, but get it down to a powerful 5 minute story that will inspire (16:05)
Building strategy: Focus on vision. What is it that you see that you need to do? What are the investments that are required to achieve that? (20:00)
There are only three ways you raise money: you acquire, you retain, and you grow (20:55)
SHARP’s $100 Million Inspire Campaign (23:07)
SHARP’s Guardian Angel program and their acquisition strategy and a powerful patient story (30:00)
Bill’s One Good Thing: have people skills, a work ethic, and attention to detail. Be an officer for philanthropy.

Powerful Quotes:

“We saw incredible response to COVID-19, but this is what we do every day, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, no matter the crisis. When this is over people we will still be working 24 hours a day and people will continue to be cared for.” -Bill

“This is an unprecedented year, but for this past year, every hospital in America was the same.” -Bill

“This brought a new perspective to the incredible importance of community healthcare, hospitals, the people who work there, and philanthropy has an important element for allowing people to do great things.” -Bill

“I’m in the fundraising business, but I work at Sharp HealthCare, a valuable community asset. At the end of the day, Sharp HealthCare has a mission to improve the health of the community. The only way to do that is to make investments. We aren’t just a fundraising arm, we are an investment tool.” -Bill

“Development is the development of relationships over time. That is a major aspect of strategic philanthropy.” -Bill

“Inspiration is the essence of philanthropy. People are inspired to do great things. A plan and vision from institutional leadership helps, but philanthropy provides that investment and inspires others to join.” -Bill

“Start with a story of inspired giving.” -Bill

“Our job is to share stories of inspired giving that will inspire others. We have large, complex plans, but we can get it down to a 5 minute story that inspires those when they leave.” -Bill

“Everybody that is in a nonprofit has “grateful patients”. If people have benefited from your services, why would you not give them a microphone and ask what their experience meant.” -Becky

“There is a big difference between philanthropy and fundraising. Fundraising is the function, but I am an officer for philanthropy.” -Bill