In 2011 the Office of Rural Health began hosting training opportunities targeted at rural hospital foundations. An effective hospital foundation can bring many benefits to a rural hospital: raise and sustain its profile and standing in the community, provide and leverage funding for community health projects and provide invaluable support in carrying out large capital or building plans. Among rural hospitals that have an established foundation, many are single-person operations with few resources or little time to seek out training opportunities. WORH sought to fill this gap with appropriate workshops, with topics on engaging physicians and staff in philanthropy efforts, building board engagement, planned giving and designing appropriate metrics to measure success.
