By Jane Mackey, Vice President
Kansas City

Have you ever struggled with how to describe your project in words that can effectively create the true sense of need? Imagine a hospital trying to describe a much-needed Neonatal Intensive Care Unit upgrade: Crowded conditions, lack of privacy, small babies. What hospital doesn’t face similar conditions somewhere? And, aren’t all babies small?

At Stormont-Vail HealthCare an important step in “telling the story” about the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit was making sure the volunteers and potential donors had the opportunity to visit the existing NICU and see first hand exactly why the project was so critical. In establishing an opportunity to “tour” a project, there are some important points to keep in mind.

Work around the availability of the people who work there. Make sure you schedule the visits at a time that will be least disruptive to the people providing the service and also the families using the service. It may be at less than ideal times, like at 7:00 am, but remember that you are in their “territory”, not yours, and imposing too much at the wrong time will lose any spirit of cooperation that you have already established. The visitors will understand and it adds yet another element to the project.

Plan the tours and what you will say. Think about the critical points that you want to share with the visitors and put together at least two versions of your tour; a short version for those with limited time and a longer version for those who are truly engaged in the project. Post any construction plans close by so you can show the visitor the current (before) and the plans (after). At the NICU, we tried to give the tour participants a “preemie” diaper to take away to reinforce the special needs of a tiny baby. These small tokens were the topic of many conversations to follow and were kept as a reminder of the need by many of the tour participants.

Make a tour an expectation of your campaign leadership. The volunteers will often come away from the visit with a story that has impacted them and it will make it easier for them to solicit others for gifts. What a difference it makes when they can say that they not only made a gift but have seen for themselves the critical need! We began the campaign with offering small group breakfasts prior to even establishing all the campaign leadership. You can quickly judge the interest of a volunteer in a project by their willingness to meet for an early morning breakfast and tour.

Expect the unexpected. The tours of the NICU evoked powerful emotions from the visitors. It prompted personal stories about how their family needed similar services in another community, tears, disbelief at the size of a one-pound baby, lightheadedness, and, an immediate commitment for support. The day following a tour it was not unusual to receive a phone call from the visitor pledging support to help these tiny babies. Gifts exceeding $100,000 came in without a volunteer ever having to do a solicitation.

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit project was a huge success thanks to the cooperation of the Stormont-Vail HealthCare NICU employees and the volunteers. Everyone is looking forward to the opening of the new unit this summer. They also realize that the tours were truly a “once in a lifetime” opportunity.