What's New Serendipity Becomes Success
By Elizabeth A. Doty, CEO
 Sometimes
something occurs and, depending upon your world view, it could
be variously described as fate, good
luck, or simply a fluke. My word for Gwen’s emergence in
the field of philanthropy is serendipity (described by the venerable
Mr. Webster as “making fortunate discoveries accidentally”).
It all started out so innocuously. Barb Prochaska,
who had been incredibly successful in leading the hospital’s
Foundation through the renovation and remodeling early in the 1990s,
was
ready to give up the reins and return to her business and family.
In conversation after conversation, she made it clear she would
only be comfortable doing this if we found the right person
to replace her. I had no clue what right person meant, and neither
did Barb!
One day in December, it came to me, so suddenly
and so certainly that I can only believe either temporary dementia
had been resident
in my brain or that I had been completely blind to the obvious.
Gwen Kirchhof had been active in the hospital’s Auxiliary
as a volunteer leader. She had enjoyed a kind of meteoric rise
in credibility, and seemed to be something of a pied piper in
attracting new volunteers to hospital activity. She had never
expressed to me an interest in going to work, and I hadn’t
a clue if she would even consider leading the Foundation.
I will never forget my conversation with her in
my old office, at that time located in the Community Health Services
building.
We sat across the table in the late afternoon, with my struggling
to find the words that would neither offend her nor put her on
the spot. “Is there any chance you’d consider....” was
as far as I got. She had been thinking about coming back to work,
had no idea where she might fit in (in another life, she was
a Laboratory Technician at Mayo Clinics in Rochester), and she
was overjoyed at the prospect of a new challenge. I offered her
a part-time position as Foundation Director, and thus it began.
That was five years ago. Today Gwen is a full-time employee,
responsible for all volunteer and Foundation activities. She
has been phenomenally successful on all counts. Under her direction,
the Auxiliary was identified as the most active hospitals (under
50 beds) in Iowa (Iowa Hospital Association 2002 Annual Survey).
It is recognized for its extensive membership (young, middle-aged,
and older), its number of volunteer hours, and its impressive
fund-raising activities.
The Foundation, under her guidance, has developed
into an organized philanthropy with a reputation of devoting every
dollar raised
to the project for which it is intended (the hospital pays
Ms. Kirchhof’s salary). She has wooed and recruited the best
talent for her Board. She identifies and courts their individual
talents and interests. She sells the hospital staff on her
projects and enlists their support. She has introduced the Annual
Gala,
a dressy affair held every year in February at the Cresco Country
Club. She is called at least a couple of times a month by other
hospitals looking to start a Foundation, and having not a clue
where to begin.
I preach the importance of managers’ hiring
people for talent and strength, and then putting them in a position
that
allows them to use those strengths. Never have I had a better
example of that than Gwen Kirchhof. My administrative intern
this past summer, in researching his first project for me,
came to me and said he had figured out that anything he needed
to
know, Gwen was probably the first person to ask! Her gift lies
in her ability to cultivate relationships, and to intuitively
know what will meet the need of that individual in helping
out with Foundation activities. |
