Temple, Texas
“I needed somebody I could call upon and hit ideas off, direct mail ideas as well as brochure ideas and seminar ideas,” says Glen Cosper, director of development operations and planned giving for Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas. “And I found that with my Stelter representative.”
Scott & White has worked with The Stelter Company since 2001. Glen, who has worked in fundraising for 28 years, has a good sense of what he needs for a planned giving program. What he doesn’t have is a schedule that allows him to do it himself: “I don’t have time to hire an individual just for planned giving. Stelter is the extension of my right hand.”
Scott & White is a private, multi-specialty hospital with 17 satellite clinics, two main facilities, more than 6,000 staff and one million patient visitors a year. They have a large base of donors and physicians. Glen initially used Stelter-produced donor newsletters, as well as tax-based mailings for physicians. He then switched to a custom donor newsletter called Willpower.
“Planned giving can be a little on the technical side,” Glen says. “I know the information that Stelter provides to our public is up-to-date and very, very readable for the public.” Glen likes that the process is made so easy for him. He provides a donor profile for the cover, approves the copy Stelter sends to him and the mailing is good to go. The hospital has consistently sent newsletters several times a year, as well as a variety of Stelter brochures and postcards, and has offered several seminars. It was also one of the first Stelter clients to sign up for Web content and continues using it today.
The combination of all these components has proven to be ideal for Glen’s needs and has produced the results he was hoping for. “I could quote you many gifts that have been a result of the newsletter and Web page and seminars—from all facets of the chain of Stelter materials,” he says. “We usually close six or seven gifts per year directly related to Willpower.”
He appreciates the success the program has achieved, but for Glen it is the relationship he has with Stelter and his representative that is the real benefit. “We really do have a great partnership,” Glen says. “They set themselves up to work with me and I appreciate that. I just can’t say enough about them, all the way from Larry Stelter to the people who answer the front office phones.”
Though Glen is always open to new ideas and products and will upgrade as needed, the hospital has continued with pretty much the same balance of materials year after year—and the program keeps garnering the great response they hope for. As Glen says, “Why change what’s working?”
