Chapter 03: The Development Office: Expansion under John Mendelsohn and an MD Anderson Way of Fundraising

Chapter 03: The Development Office: Expansion under John Mendelsohn and an MD Anderson Way of Fundraising

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Description

Mr. Mulvey explains the dramatic expansion of the Development Office when John Mendelsohn, MD [Oral History Interview] came to MD Anderson as third president of the institution in 1996.

He explains the increased resources directed to the Development Office. He also describes how Dr. Mendelsohn made himself available to travel with a development team when they needed him to fundraise.

Mr. Mulvey then explains that the Making Cancer History Campaign arose from Dr. Mendelsohn’s concept of the Cancer Care Cycle. He talks about how this bold campaign, which raised one billion dollars, differentiated MD Anderson from other institutions on a national stage.

He also explains how the dramatic success of this campaign transformed the Development Office. Each team member is now seen as a major gifts fundraiser. Mr. Mulvey comments on how difficult it is to recruit good fundraisers and that the Office is considering a program of in-house training.

Identifier

MulveyP_01_20150511_C03

Publication Date

5-11-2015

City

Houston, Texas

Topics Covered

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center - Building the Institution; On Philanthropy and Volunteerism; Donations, Gifts, Contributions; Professional Practice; MD Anderson History; Portraits; Building/Transforming the Institution; Growth and/or Change; Discovery and Success; The Business of MD Anderson; The MD Anderson Brand, Reputation

Transcript

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Tell me about changes in the Development Office when John Mendelsohn came in to take over as president in 1996.

Patrick Mulvey:

John Mendelsohn, too, was a super fundraising CEO, and he would admit to you that he came in not knowing very much about fundraising, coming from the Division—the head of the Division of Medicine at Memorial Sloan Kettering. But he was eager to learn. He understood the value of philanthropy. And he understood that if his vision was gonna be accomplished, then clearly—that philanthropy would have to play a role. And so, he even went above and beyond the great resources that Dr. LeMaistre provided the Development Office, to grow it. And that’s where the real growth began in the Development Office. And you see the increase in giving over the years that he—that he was here.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Tell me about those resources, and what happened to the Development Office with them. How did it expand?

Patrick Mulvey:

Well, it expanded in all ways. Personnel—support as well as professional personnel. Capital, allowing us more office space and the capital resources necessary for computers and this and that and the other. Money, to be able to build a program and to travel and do the things we needed to do to nationalize this institution as it relates to philanthropy. And then, his own time. He would—he would give us, in the early days, three full days a month to take him anywhere that we need to take him. And we added these up from time to time, and in any one year, he would give us all or a part of perhaps as many as 130 days.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Wow.

Patrick Mulvey:

So he, clearly, was a fundraising president, and showed it with the time that he gave us there. So—

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Now, what—how would you work with John Mendelsohn on these trips? What would—what were the kinds of activities that you involved him in?

Patrick Mulvey:

Well, in all different kinds, from end—we would—we would—normally, if you took a president out on a day-or-two trip, clearly the day was full, with four or five meetings with individuals or foundations or corporations—usually a mixture of those. So, you know, five meetings in a day is a lot. And then, usually that would end with either a reception at night or a dinner at night. And we would—we, the Development Office, would develop that whole trip. And we would certainly brief him deeply on each one of these visits, and together we could build strategies of approach to individuals as to what we would ask them for, how we would ask them, and things of that sort like that. So, we’d build a whole trip out in that regard, like that.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Mm-hmm. Now, when I interviewed Dr. Mendelsohn, he talked about his concept of the cancer-care cycle, you know, and the system of institutes that he wanted to put together, which I think went on a little later on in his presidency. And I was really struck, in that conversation, about, you know, how it really took a lot of work to put together [laughs] the communications strategy. Because this was a fairly complex idea—

Patrick Mulvey:

Mm-hmm, it was.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

—to communicate to people. So I’m wondering, you know, did you, in the Development Office, kind of partner with him? You know, I guess I’m trying to get a sense of how you worked together to figure out a way to communicate what this new MD Anderson vision was gonna be about.

Patrick Mulvey:

Well, he actually drew the picture. I’m sure you’ve seen it.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Oh, yeah, I have it in his transcript. [laughs]

Patrick Mulvey:

Yeah, yeah.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Yeah.

Patrick Mulvey:

So—and then it was our job to try to figure out what it meant and how to communicate it.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Yeah.

Patrick Mulvey:

And he did a very good job of that. I’m kidding you. But it was the Development Office’s job, the Public Affairs Office’s job, and the Communications Office’s job, to come together around that principle, and be able to describe it verbally as well as in writing. And out of that idea came the billion-dollar campaign, Making Cancer History. Out of that idea came significant brochures and cases for support. And out of that concept came a significant volunteer force headed by Harry Longwell, as chairman—volunteer chairman for our campaign—to actually go out and raise over a billion dollars in less than five years—

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Wow.

Patrick Mulvey:

—for that. So, it wasn’t any one office. It was a group of offices that came together and worked very closely to make this happen.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Yeah, it’s just kind of an incredibly marshalling of resources. Now were there—was this kind of a new MD Anderson that was being presented to people? You know, I was—I was really struck by sort of the innovative—it was a very—it seemed like a very innovative way to present the identity of an institution. And I’m—you know, I’m wondering how that dovetailed with any changes in MD Anderson’s reputation nationally, you know, with sort of different positioning of the institution as it—one cancer center among others. Was that part of Dr. Mendelsohn’s strategic plan, as well?

Patrick Mulvey:

Hm. What did he tell you?

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

I actually didn’t ask him that question, [laughter] because we were really focused on—

Patrick Mulvey:

You know, that’s probably a question for him.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Yeah.

Patrick Mulvey:

But it—you know, any time one has a bold vision—which this was—that could be articulated well, it differentiates you. And I think it did differentiate us from, clearly, any institution or any, quote, unquote, “cancer center” in this area. And I think it clearly differentiated us in most all comprehensive cancer centers in the nation. And, you know, MD Anderson always remained number one or number two—mostly always number one—during his tenure. And I think it clearly outpaced Memorial Sloan Kettering at that time, clearly to be the largest center in the country. You know, by the numbers, you could tell in that regard. But it also allowed us to truly go about making this a national resource. And I think that type of message resonated well, not only with our local stakeholders, but also from our national and international stakeholders. And I think that’s where the real difference is.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

And how did that show itself? I mean, simply in a change in demographic of the individuals who wanted to have a giving relationship with MD Anderson? Or were there kind of other tonalities there, as well?

Patrick Mulvey:

You know, from a philanthropic point of view, it’s where their dollars come from, you know? And then, of course, the demographics would be where your patients come from. In that regard, from an academics point of view, I think you need to leave that to the academicians to tell you that, regard—that there. But it was a story that could be told across the country, that presented no boundaries. And, to me, that’s what changes the demographic in that regard. It’s not a local story any longer.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

I wanted to ask you a little bit about, then, what happened after the Making Cancer History campaign. You know, did that—the experience of running that campaign change the way—what were your lessons learned for development? You know, how did the office change any practices after that campaign?

Patrick Mulvey:

Well, it—I think that is the time that it truly became a major-gift shop. And, you know, it clearly showed—and we’ve always shown this—but the magnitude of—to be able to have an institution like MD Anderson run a billion-dollar campaign successfully sets you off in a class different than most institutions. Now, of course, we’re talking a number of years ago, and now you see six-billion-dollar campaigns and eight-billion-dollar campaigns and all these crazy numbers. But there were very few institutions at that time that had the prowess or the fortitude to run a—to announce a billion-dollar campaign. And so, it sets you apart. And so, that it also—that also, then, speaks well about the development operation, that you could actually pull something like this off. And to do that, it created a tight organi—it required a tight organization. It required all hands on deck. And it required people to think bigger, you know, than anyone had ever thought about before. Or you just don’t ever get to those kind of numbers, without that. And so, I think—and the attitude changes. And I think the view, you know, that people have of the place changes. And so, the office, necessarily, changes. And we’re gonna continue to run a major direct-mail program. We’re gonna continue to do major special events and things of that sort. But major-gifts fundraising and planned giving is where the rubber really hits the road. And I think that that campaign helped prove that.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Hm. Okay. So, with major gifts and planned giving—excuse me [coughs]—that became where your center of gravity of focus began to rest. And was that kind of a new learning from that campaign?

Patrick Mulvey:

It wasn’t so much new, but it certainly became the focus.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Okay, okay.

Patrick Mulvey:

Certainly became the focus.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

So how did that change your business? I’m not—you know, I’m not sure, as a person who doesn’t do development kind of work, how that would translate into a different way of spending your time, and the individuals in your office spending their time.

Patrick Mulvey:

Well, you—again, the basics are always gonna be the same, you’re always gonna have to identify people that can make major contributions to the institution. But the focus of your work changes, and your organization changes, so that you have a nucleus of individuals who do just that. You’re not all over like you—we may have been in the past. And it raises the sights of everyone to where you can say that each person here that’s a fundraiser is a major-gifts fundraiser. So it just—it’s—you know, it’s kind of like a—I don’t know. It’s kind of like a professional football team or something, that finally starts winning a division. It—all things change. Or a college program, when you finally get to that certain pinnacle, recruiting is different, you know? Commercialization is—it just—it changes the dynamic, just as the institution changes its dynamic when it becomes as big as it has become, you know? And as formidable a force as it has become, it’s in a different league.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Yeah, yeah. How has recruiting changed? What do you look for now?

Patrick Mulvey:

The—one of the biggest issues for any development office, no matter what institution it is, is finding good fundraisers. It’s very difficult to do. So that dynamic remains constant—

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Hm. Why is it—

Patrick Mulvey:

—in that regard.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Why is it so difficult to find good fundraisers?

Patrick Mulvey:

[inaudible] great question. That’s a great question. You know, it—this is not an easy business. People see you out with your tux on and having a cocktail with Mr. Jones and things. So that—that’s probably about two percent of what we do. The rest is a lot of trench work, so it’s a tough business. And most people find it uncomfortable asking somebody for money. And so, it takes a—it takes a certain personality. It takes a certain breed of people to be good at this business, to be sensitive to people’s needs, but to also be focused on the needs of the institution, and marrying the two like that. And so, it’s a—it’s politics and diplomacy and many other things all put into one. So it’s a—it’s a unique personality that can do this kind of job.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Hm. Where do you tend to find individuals who are skilled in those areas?

Patrick Mulvey:

Oh, goodness. You know, it used to be that we would try to find people in other shops that were good, that already had the experience to come in. But I think things are changing now to where we’re gonna have to start growing our own.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Oh, really?

Patrick Mulvey:

So, finding people that come right out of college with the personality that you can, then, teach them the art and the science of fundraising. So I think that’s another change that you were asking about, that’s coming in this profession. And it truly is a profession now. There’s no question about it. But I think that we’re gonna see a whole lot more of our growing our own than trying to recruit somebody from across the street or across the nation or things of that sort.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Now, is that because—I shouldn’t put words in your mouth. Why is that? Why grow your own?

Patrick Mulvey:

Well, because of the things I’ve just said. I mean, it’s tough to find good fundraisers at good—to put into good programs. And so, perhaps the best way to do that is, then, to not try to change people who may not be able to be changed to the way you do it, and to locate and find the right personalities and then train them to your program.

Tacey A. Rosolowski, PhD:

Hm. Because it’s sounding like there’s an MD Anderson way of doing this work?

Patrick Mulvey:

Well, we like to think so. We like to think that we’re different. We like to think that we are an aggressive, in the good sense of the word, development shop. And that we have high expectations of our development officers, as there’s high expectations for all 20,000 employees of this institution. We’re no different in that sense. But I think that we are focused, and we are driven. And I think that does differentiate us from a number of other shops. And so, that’s why just not anybody should come to work here, in this office.

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Chapter 03: The Development Office: Expansion under John Mendelsohn and an MD Anderson Way of Fundraising

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