The Nevada Cancer Institute puts Las Vegas’ newfpound philanthropic nature to the test — and patients around the region come up winners.

By Nicole Rollender

TAKE-AWAY RECAP

Following is a review of some actionable insights offered by Shelley Gitomer, Nevada Cancer Institute’s vice president for development.

1. Dazzle your donors with a “grand” vision, and then deliver on it. NVCI’s development team was challenged to sell donors on the idea of giving $1 million toward a facility that didn’t exist yet. Gitomer notes that from its inception, NVCI wanted to achieve the prestigious national cancer institute designation. Such an ambitious vision, she says, bolstered her team’s confidence in approaching donors for the large gifts they were soliciting — and it worked.

2. Know how to talk to your donors, especially those you’re asking to lead the pack. Part of Gitomer’s early strategy was telling prospective donors, “We need a leader ... if someone goes first, others will follow.”

Even before NVCI’s facility had a location, the first five gifts came in “on our dream and our vision, and nothing more,” she adds.

Besides a vision, though, Gitomer and her team had a lot of robust statistics and information to substantiate the need for a cancer center in Las Vegas — they were prepared to answer all the questions potential donors asked.

3. Don’t let your capital campaign stall when donors see your facility going up. Donors might perceive your organization has all the funds it needs once they see construction starting.

To avoid losing momentum as construction on NVCI’s facility continued, Gitomer says, the way her team talked to donors carefully shifted from the building itself to what would be happening inside — the programs and the people.

4. Don’t forget about the little guys. In order to jump-start building its facility, NVCI’s development team concentrated most of its fundraising efforts on major gifts of $1 million and up. During that process, Gitomer says, they didn’t focus on the smaller-gifts donors. Now, NVCI’s development team is working to ensure all donors have the opportunity to give.

5. Proceed with caution when part of your donor base is individuals who have, or have had, an illness. Reach out to current and former patients very delicately, as medical fundraising faces the unique challenge of privacy laws such as the Health Insurance Accountability and Portability Act.

Las Vegas: known for its high rollers, Elvis impersonators, and Siegfried and Roy. But now the glitzy city also is attracting attention for a major philanthropic success.

When the Nevada Cancer Institute rooted down in Las Vegas more than four years ago, its development staff did something unheard of in the city: They asked potential donors for unprecedented $1 million gifts to fund the comprehensive cancer research and care facility. To date, the NVCI has raised in excess of $60 million — $40 million of which has been in individual million-dollar gifts.

Until recently, there had been a near-total lack of research-linked care for Nevadans, who often have to travel out of state for specialized treatment. In 1998, Heather and Jim Murren — both former Wall Streeters with a history of cancer in their families — relocated to Las Vegas and began working with community leaders to build a cancer center for statewide use. Heather Murren is the NVCI’s president and chief executive, while her husband is president of MGM Mirage.

Shortly after her family relocated to Nevada, Heather Murren volunteered at a Las Vegas medical clinic and saw that uninsured cancer patients were sent to emergency rooms, and those who could afford to travel left the state for treatment. Recognizing the need for a cancer institute in the state, Murren quit her job as Merrill Lynch’s lead consumer-products analyst to spearhead the launching of the institute.

“The need for a [cancer institute] has been a recognized need everywhere in the state, in every segment of the community,” says Shelley Gitomer, the NVCI’s vice president for development. “The Murrens did their homework very early on, and the need was confirmed by not only all facets of the government but by people at the University of Nevada, people in the private sector, and by cancer patients and their families. There hasn’t been one segment of the population that has not rallied around this.”

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