Rush University Medical Center
In January 2004, Rush University Medical Center embarked on its most ambitious fundraising campaign in the institution’s 175-year history. The $300 million Campaign for Rush University Medical Center aimed to raise critical funds in support of clinical and community programs, health care education, medical research and a $1.8 billion plan to transform Rush’s aging campus on Chicago’s West Side.
Campaign for Rush University Medical Center
Launched as Rush emerged from a period of financial instability, the campaign faced a number of challenges. Initial projections showed that the campaign’s overall goal to raise $300 million — including an initial $180 million capital goal — was a stretch at best, and halfway through the campaign, the recession led to one of the most difficult fundraising environments in memory.
Thanks to the leadership of late Board Chairman Edward A. Brennan, current Board Chairman Richard M. Jaffee and Rush CEO Larry J. Goodman, MD, the Campaign for Rush University Medical Center overcame these challenges and raised more than $380 million, allowing Rush to build a critically important new hospital facility and tackle a number of additional much-needed capital improvements. Even during this difficult financial climate, donors responded enthusiastically to Rush’s vision. Among the more than 21,000 donors were two who gave the largest gifts in Rush history, and, in a great show of confidence, 100 percent of Rush’s medical staff supported the campaign.
The campaign’s effect on Rush’s mission to deliver the highest quality care cannot be overestimated. The cornerstone of the campaign and campus transformation, Rush’s new one-of-a-kind 14-story Tower hospital facility, has transformed the way Rush clinicians deliver patient care. The embodiment of Rush’s vision for patient care, the Tower places caregivers in closer proximity to patients, promotes collaboration among multidisciplinary teams of caregivers, reinforces patient safety and convenience at every turn and facilitates a model of care that is more closely focused on the patient than ever before. None of it would be possible were it not for the success of the Campaign for Rush University Medical Center.
GG+A is proud to serve as Rush University Medical Center’s strategic partner in philanthropic management and in the successful execution of a campaign not only to transform Rush’s campus, but to transform completely the patient experience.
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