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BOB PLUNK Director of Development Methodist Healthcare Foundation TEXT HALLIE McKAY
At Home Tennessee: Tell us a little about your role as the Director of Development for Methodist Healthcare Foundation. Bob Plunk: As Corporate Director of Development, I am responsible primarily for the annual fundraising efforts of Methodist Healthcare Foundation, the non-profit arm of Methodist Healthcare. Areas I deal with include corporate and vendor relations, special events, direct mail and our internal fund-raising efforts with over 10,000 associates at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare. Having been “around” for 16 years at the foundation, I’ve had numerous tasks to carry out as you can imagine. I’ve loved every minute of it, too! AHT: How did you become involved with the Methodist Healthcare Foundation? BP: Now this is a story I find ironic. When I served the U of M Alumni Association, I hired a talented young man named Kevin Roper to serve as one of our Field Service Coordinators, working with various alumni chapters and the Student Ambassador Board. He eventually left to join Methodist as Director of Development. When I left the University some years after that, I eventually heard from Kevin, who asked if I would be interested in his position at Methodist. He was being promoted to Executive Director of the Foundation. After the official process, I was hired and I worked with Kevin once again! He has since moved back to the University in the role of Executive Assistant to the President for 54 | At Home Tennessee • October 2011
Photography by john terry
Government Relations. I find it interesting that we BOTH hired each other at different stages in our careers! We still stay in touch, in fact. AHT: What would you consider to be your or the foundation’s biggest accomplishments in the time you’ve worked there? BP: Our role in carrying out the Christian mission of healing at Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare has been greatly enhanced. We have had tremendous success in helping fill the funding gap between what we can actually afford as a system and what we hope to do for the communities we serve. The foundation has forged strong ties with our associate constituency within the system and also stronger ties with the many communities we serve in the Mid-South through our signature events and outreach. I think we’ve helped create an intensely loyal and supportive donor base among physicians, staff, boards, volunteers and community leaders in the past 16 years. AHT: What distinguishes Methodist hospitals from the other 25 hospitals in the area? BP: Obviously, all the local hospitals have certain strengths and serve the area in a much
needed way. Memphis and the Mid-South are blessed to have the medical community we possess! I think Methodist Le Bonheur is distinguished by its emphasis on patient- and family-centered care, where families are allowed and encouraged to play a proactive role in the healing process of their loved ones and also our reliance on faith-based initiatives such as our new Center of Excellence in Faith and Health at Methodist University Hospital, which better allows us to reach out in a loving way to improve health in all of our city’s neighborhoods and its suburbs. AHT: Has the downturn in the economy influenced the foundation’s fundraising abilities? BP: Of course, philanthropy is a more challenging area right now than we’ve seen in many years. I won’t say that it is “harder” to raise funds but we have had to create new methods and utilize new approaches to what we are called to do. I think fundraising professionals have had to become better at what we do and how we articulate our needs. We have great accountability to our donors and they want to see a difference made by their giving. As far as