Children’s new foundation chief looks forward to fundraising challenges
By Bill Zlatos, TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Children’s Hospital of UPMC’s $625 million complex is finished and treating patients, but J. Gregory Barrett soon will be looking for money to add to it.
“This means we’re just getting started,” said Barrett, who starts Feb. 1 as president of the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Foundation, the fundraising arm of the facility. “It’s what’s going to take place inside the building that’s exciting.”
Barrett, 44, replaces Roger Oxendale, who is retiring at the end of the year. In an interview Friday, Barrett discussed some of the challenges he will face nearly a year after the hospital moved from Oakland to Lawrenceville. Among them is convincing donors that the gleaming, rainbow-colored hospital needs cash.
The foundation typically raises about $20 million a year for patient care, teaching, research and faculty recruitment at Children’s. Demand has risen as it helps repay some of the up-front costs the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center has borne for the complex.
The foundation began a $97 million capital foundation for the hospital, and raised $65 million. That leaves Barrett $32 million to raise for equipment, technology and repayments to UPMC.
He acknowledges that he arrives at Children’s during possibly the worst atmosphere for fundraising in generations.
“The one thing that makes this easy is how you feel when you go home every night,” Barrett said. “You look around in the hallways, and you remember why you’re doing this.”
A key area for which Barrett will raise money is free care and care not covered by government programs for needy patients. The foundation contributes $1 million to $2 million a year for that. As the economy tanked, the amount Children’s spent for such care grew from about $30 million in 2008 to $38 million this year.
“There are a lot of people hurting,” Barrett said. “If there’s ever a time when you want to support these people, now’s the time to do it.”
If Congress passes a comprehensive health care bill, the need will shift, predicted Christopher A. Gessner, president of Children’s Hospital.
“Free care may go away,” Gessner said, “but our uncompensated care may go up.”
Barrett is leaving a job as associate vice chancellor for health sciences development at the University of California in San Diego. In that capacity, he raised $53 million, exceeding a goal of $50 million.
He has raised money for Illinois Institute of Technology, Children’s Memorial Foundation in Chicago and the Chicago Historical Society.
Howard W. “Hoddy” Hanna III, chairman of the Children’s foundation board of trustees, said Barrett’s experience as a fundraiser made him stand out among 43 applicants.
“We thought it was important to get someone who can develop people to be fundraisers,” he said.
Barrett said he jumped at the opportunity to work at a hospital that attracts some of its 18,000 patients a year from around the world.
“In my profession,” he said, “this is like getting into the NBA, hitting the big leagues.”
