When a Donor Comes to You, Be Ready When a patron called the Montage Health CEO to say she’d be making a transformational gift, the Foundation had to get to work to come back with an idea she’d love. By Kevin Causey
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our years ago, a patron of our healthcare system told our CEO she wanted to make a gift to our hospital that would be transformational. Soon after, she did, giving Montage Health $106 million. It is a phenomenal gift, especially for an institution of our size. And it illustrates what I have found to be true in my 25 years in this field: philanthropists maximize their giving when their inspiration and confidence are in perfect alignment with the organization they are supporting. Sometimes, this alignment can develop relatively quickly. More often, and particularly for transformational gifts, it takes years. In either case, it is incumbent upon us to drive the
process––to identify, inform, inspire, involve, ask, or, as in this case, accept, and then to include the donor in executing, as much or as little as they desire. Our relationship with this patron goes back decades. Bertie Bialek Elliott and her first husband have been involved with Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula (the keystone asset of the Montage Health system) almost since its inception. The couple moved to Monterey, California the year the hospital opened, and she remembered being dazzled by its modern design. Her husband was one of the first physicians on the medical staff. Bertie was engaged from the outset, as a philanthropist and volunteer, serving on the Board of Trustees and leading more than one of AHP Healthcare Philanthropy Journal|Winter 2021| 39
