A stagnant annual-giving program prompted changes to how City of Hope approaches donor cultivation and acquisition that, in many ways, defy conventional fundraising wisdom.

By Abny Santicola

“If it reads truthfully, then I feel it’s the wrong copy for my institution, because no other institution should be able to say exactly the same things that City of Hope is saying,” Keim says.

She saw that the message the organization was using in the annual-giving appeals overlooked the very things that had awed her about the hospital and made her want to work there in the first place.