New Directions, Same Goal
Dear Friends,
ith new leadership at the helm, 2007 was bound to be a year of
transitions for the Foundation. While we made some changes
and anticipate more, our guiding principle continues to be
advancing the health and well being of children.
In May, we made a major commitment by launching the $300 million Breaking New Ground fundraising campaign for Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and the pediatric programs of the Stanford School of Medicine. Packard has become one of the nation's top children’s hospitals in recent years, thanks to the generosity of our donors. Due to this success, an expansion is needed so that the hospital will be able to care for increasing numbers of children while continuing to make advances in research and training. These advances can best be made by recruiting outstanding post-doctoral fellows and faculty in the early stages of their career. Toward that end, the campaign is seeking a number of endowed post-doctoral fellowships and faculty scholar awards that will provide salary and research support. By the end of 2007, the campaign had reached $198 million toward its $300 million goal.
The Foundation’s fundraising total for 2007 was $46 million, and a record 8,691 individuals, foundations and corporations made gifts. Among the efforts these funds helped support were a newly opened Packard South Bay Specialty Center in Los Gatos, and an interactive, bilingual website for children ages 5 to 12 to help prepare them for their hospital visit.
Our Grantmaking Program underwent a transition, as the board decided to phase out our support of community programs to prevent abuse and neglect of children ages 0 to 5. While this is, of course, a vitally important area of child health, the board recognized that other funders have entered this field over the past several years, and that our Foundation historically has received many more requests to support work with preteens.
After a careful assessment, the board chose to make the change beginning in 2008. This decision opened up new opportunities for investment in children’s health, and we have begun a strategic planning process, involving board, staff and the community, to explore news ideas. These may include taking a stronger advocacy role, and addressing children’s health issues that are in closer alignment with our partners at Packard Hospital and the Stanford School of Medicine.
During 2007, the Grantmaking Program invested $2.5 million in 27 local agencies that offered a variety of programs. In the 0-5 area, for example, one notable grant helped develop workshop leaders for a culturally appropriate child abuse prevention program for Vietnamese families. The curriculum proved so popular that requests came in from all over the United States, from Vietnam, and from other counties with large numbers of Vietnamese immigrants.
One of our preteen grants supported a project to develop trained, qualified entry-level workers for after-school programs, work that can have statewide applicability.
Our Information Program took a leap by expanding our www.kidsdata.org site to encompass six Bay Area counties.
While this extension of our data and information broadens the reach and influence of the Foundation, we also retained our original focus on Santa Clara and San Mateo counties by producing county-specific reports that track indicators of the health and well being of children.
We look forward to embarking on new endeavors to improve the health of children, and we thank you for your interest and support.
Sincerely,
Matt James
Chairman, Board of DirectorsDavid Alexander, MD
President and CEO