The Delaware General Health District in Delaware, Ohio, is charged with promoting the health of citizens in one of the fastest growing counties in Ohio. Most of their funding comes from a tax levy decided every ten years, so the staff at Delaware General had very little experience in fundraising and even less faith in finding a successful system for raising private funding.

Dear [Benevon],

I now believe in the model without question. That has not always been the case, however. The Delaware General Health District has over sixty programs and services, including: Nursing and Personal Health Services, Nutrition, Environmental Health, Vital Statistics/Data Management, Emergency Response, Health Promotion, and Epidemiology. So there's not one single focus to raise awareness and emotion for our organization. We didn't know how [Benevon] was going to help us tell people what we do—one person at a time. To say the least, we were skeptical.

A few years ago, after I had retired from working at the health district, a friend of mine took me to one of your Introductory Sessions. I felt right away this would work for the health department. Actually, the Introductory Session is what convinced me to return after retiring. I wanted to let others in our community know what wonderful, dedicated employees we have and what they do every day to help so many people in the community. No one knew what we did, even though we had tried news stories, fliers, brochures, health fairs, community events, etc. Now, I saw a better way.

With the lessons of the Introductory Session fresh in mind, we attended the [Benevon] 101 Workshop in Columbus, Ohio, in September, 2002. At first, we were overwhelmed with trying to find a single Essential Story^™ that we could use. Our programs are so varied that we did not know how to narrow it down. On the back of our business cards, it says: "I am dedicated to fostering, protecting and improving the health and the environment of our residents and our communities." The public does not realize how we do this for them every day, and from there the workshop helped us find our story.

Admittedly, even after the workshop, we were still skeptical of how the model could possibly work for us. We had never done fundraising before. We had no donor base to work from nor did we know how to ask for any donations, and the amounts of money [Benevon] suggested we ask for seemed too high. We had always depended on our tax levy for the majority of our funding. We were not sure how this new approach would be received.

Our tax levy dependence was the main reason for our inexperience in fundraising. In this system, the voters decide our funding for each of the next ten years through voting on a tax levy. Our levy was scheduled to be on the ballot in March, 2004, and we could not risk doing something different for funding near the election time. We felt we had to wait for an appropriate time after our tax levy vote before asking for money at an Ask Event^™. We were worried about how the public would respond to passing a levy and then being asked to give donations for our programs and services.

However, we did start holding Point of Entry^® Events twice a month, usually one at 11:00 a.m. and another at 7:00 p.m., sometimes on the same day and sometimes on different days. At first, deciding on a message and how to deliver it was very challenging, but with practice, we gained more and more confidence in telling our story.

Our Point of Entry Events begin with cookies, coffee, and tea while guests fill out the information cards. Meanwhile, we have notes from children on the table they can look at before we begin the program. We then give a brief history of public health (very interesting!) and tell our three facts as well as our goals. We give several short stories to connect people to our mission, and then we take a short tour of our building. During the tour, we meet several of our wonderful, passionate staff who also tell short stories or give useful information and fliers the guests can take with them. These events have been the most heartwarming experiences I have ever had.

Afterward, I get to call each attendee and listen to them say what a wonderful hour they had. They all say they had no idea about all of the things we do and what a great job we are doing. I try to relay this to our staff; however, hearing it firsthand is such a privilege. Everyone cannot say enough good things about us.

Because of our concerns around the levy vote, we didn't hold our first Ask Event until October, 2004. Instead, we focused on our Point of Entry Events and cultivation, and I am happy to say that we passed our levy by 65%, which is unheard of for us! By using the [Benevon] Model to reach one person at a time, we could feel the entire climate for the election change. We had public support from people who had opposed us in the past. They had either come to one of our Point of Entry Events or had friends who had attended and told them about us and all of the wonderful things we do. Our statement on our Point of Entry cards and fliers is, "This is a friend raiser not a fundraiser." The support for our organization has been unbelievable.

As I mentioned, we held our first Ask Event in October, 2004. As the guests came in, we had music with slides of staff providing services. Our Board of Health President was our Master of Ceremonies, and our Visionary Leader^™ was the Health Commissioner, who gave personal, emotional experiences. We had our State Legislator appear in our video on behalf of his daughter, who had received services from us; he also hosted one of our tables. People were very moved by our video, which highlighted three different programs using three types of community members. Our Pitch Person was also a Board of Health Member. Each of the guests left with another inspirational song and more slides of staff working to help others. We were able to follow the model and stayed within the one-hour time limit.

We raised $43,000 in gifts and pledges from our seventy guests and have more money still coming in. As I said earlier, we were originally very skeptical of the giving levels [Benevon] recommended that we ask for. We are not used to asking for any donations, and the amounts suggested were huge for us. [Benevon] kept telling us not to go with lesser amounts, but our better judgment kept telling us that it was too high. I am glad they kept stressing to keep the recommended amounts. We had five pledges of $1,000 per year for the next five years. If we had not asked for this amount, I am sure we would not have received anything close. We can now plan on spending over the next several years, knowing what we will receive in the future.

As I stated earlier, the community views us entirely differently now. Our staff is getting the respect for their training and dedication they had not received before (when you have to tell people no, they sometimes do not like you), and our staff feels better about themselves and what they do. I know the community is much more informed of what we do and how much we do for them. They are positive when talking about us and see us in a better light. It has been a total turnaround.

For other groups considering the [Benevon] Model, go to the workshop. The help and encouragement they give is invaluable. I know it is a leap of faith, but follow the model and JUST DO IT! It is a winning situation for your organization and your community.

Linda Diamond
Director of Development
Delaware General Health District Friends for Life Fund