The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Development Strategy
The Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a prestigious organization dedicated to providing ôexpert, compassionate care to children and adults with cancer while advancing the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, cure, and prevention of cancer and related diseasesö (ôMission and Valuesö). One of the organizationÆs primary activities is developing funding for cancer research, and it finds many fund-raising avenues open to it (Bell, 2). Paradoxically, though, it runs a deficit every year that must be met with unrestricted funds by the Development Office, and says that it has trouble determining which avenues to pursue and which ones to turn down (Bell, 4).
The InstituteÆs primary problem is a lack of unrestricted funding. This occurs in spite of the fact that its biggest calling cardùthe Jimmy Fund, which is ôone of the most beloved charities in New Englandöùhas 96% name recognition (Bell, 9). Although the Institute has a Development Office with 20 personnel in itùmost of whom are directorsùit has imposed a number of constraints on its funding development activities (Bell, 16). One of these is its perceived view of its missionùto promote cancer research. It turned down a donor who wanted to build a cancer care center for children with cancer because this was not directly related to cancer research (Bell, 13). Another constraint is its concern about its prestigious image. It primarily solicits funds from wealthy patients of the polo and investment banking set through a long process of interaction with them and strives to protect its elite image, concentrating on fund-raising efforts that display ôgood tasteö (Bell, 4). As one of its trustees commented:
The Jimmy Fund and Dana-Farber Institute are some of the best known and most prestigious charities in New England. We get several calls each year from companies that would like to create programs with us. Whi...