After switching to Submittable, WakeMed Foundation adopted a "bring your own foundation" model to reduce fees while growing participation among employees to support outstanding, compassionate care for all in Raleigh, North Carolina.
As the philanthropic partner of WakeMed, the largest and only independent, not-for-profit health system based in Raleigh, N.C., the WakeMed Foundation supports critical work to deliver on its mission of providing outstanding, compassionate care to all. The Foundation funds innovative programs, fosters a healthy community and supports WakeMed’s extraordinary team. The Foundation is currently undertaking its most ambitious philanthropic effort to date: a $50 million capital campaign to build a new mental health & well-being hospital, which is part of a larger, whole-person health campus.
With the ability to fund new programs, services and equipment, the Foundation team can also invest in various initiatives that the health system has interest in but may not yet have a full budget to implement.
“The Foundation can come in and, in many cases, provide seed funding or money for proof of concept. We've done this a number of times with our community-based population health initiatives as well as pediatric weight loss services and rehab programs,” says Brent Troth, donor systems specialist at WakeMed Foundation.
This approach has helped keep WakeMed at the cutting edge of the best health care available today. Donors—whether they be individuals, foundations, corporations, or WakeMed employees—know that when they support the WakeMed Foundation, they are investing in the health, well-being and future of their entire community.
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The challenge: Unreasonable fees
Two years ago, the WakeMed Foundation made a strategic shift to change how they facilitated employee giving, particularly around donations from an employee’s payroll. The change was implemented to simplify the process of giving, sharpen collective impact and increase buy-in among employees. Since many of the programs run by the Foundation directly benefit staff, including educational and professional development opportunities, educational funding opportunities for employees and the children of employees and temporary financial hardship assistance grants, it made tremendous sense for WakeMed and the Foundation.
But it also exposed a surprising weakness in their existing CSR vendor. The health system sent payroll funds to the vendor based on contributions from employees. The vendor then distributed the funds back to their own foundation—minus administrative fees. And the process wasn’t even making the job of the foundation team easier.
“We were spending a lot of staff resources — time, effort, energy — managing a process for transfers to third parties, which we weren’t doing and was really contrary to our mission," Troth says.
The solution: A new foundation structure
When WakeMed went looking for a new CSR software vendor, they found that most employee-giving platforms worked the same way: money out, money back, a fee in between. This makes sense for many giving programs that are structured to allow employees to give to a large number of nonprofits (for instance, Submittable supports employee giving to over 9 million international nonprofits). In such cases, there are substantial distribution services provided, and vendors must cover those costs.
But WakeMed was essentially writing a single check—to themselves. Under these circumstances, the fees covered costs for an unnecessary service and seemed unreasonable.
Submittable's Bright Funds was the only option they found with the flexibility to support a different model, which we’ve termed “Bring Your Own Foundation.” Bright Funds runs the technical side of the giving experience, but the money stays inside WakeMed's own structure the entire time. Plus, single sign-on means employees can log in without managing a separate account, and the foundation stopped running a three-step money transfer for every gift that came in.
1. Recurring giving makes an impact
WakeMed's first year on the new platform brought a marked increase in employee participation, including a number of employees giving for the first time. Recurring payroll gifts now drive a significant portion of the employee campaign. WakeMed had almost 300 active recurring donors enrolled at the start of this year's campaign, and that group's giving "accounted for over half" of total giving over a 12-month period. "We have a lot of employees, especially doctors who are very busy saving people's lives, who really wanted to set up their donation and not have to go through the giving process every year," Troth says.
2. A personal invitation for every new employee
The Foundation also added a new tactic this year: a welcome email sent to every employee after their 90th day, introducing employee giving and the emergency assistance fund early in their tenure. It's already brought in new donors. Building community through philanthropy and inviting new employees to join in the culture of giving, is vital for the Foundation and the system. "We certainly measure total dollars raised, but are equally pleased when our participation number increases because it means more people understand how we support WakeMed," Troth says.
3. Moving to Year-Round Employee giving
In the previous program, employee giving was limited to a two-month period each year and changing or cancelling payroll deduction was not user friendly. Employees had to contact payroll and the Foundation to have those teams make any changes. With Submittable’s Bright Funds, employees are able to contribute to the campaign year-round, have ready access to see their giving, and are able to make changes to their contributions any time they wish.
Cutting unnecessary fees and legwork
WakeMed made the decision to switch to enhance the donor experience, create simpler pathways to giving and reduce administrative overhead and fees. See what a bring-your-own-foundation setup could look like for your program. Learn more in our Demo Center.
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