NOTE: Please do NOT contact these organizations directly with your questions about the Benevon Model. They, just like all nonprofits, are busy fulfilling their missions, and have generously contributed their stories with the understanding that readers of our Web site will not contact them directly. Instead, please direct any questions about Benevon to info@benevon.com or (206) 709-9400. Thank you for your consideration.

Dear [Benevon],

In July of 2001, Tri-Cities Chaplaincy began an incredible transformation. That was the month and the year that we attended the [Benevon] 101 Workshop in Seattle, Washington. Two of us attended the workshop: David Riddle, the Executive Director who had been with our organization for less than a year, and myself as a newly hired Director of Development, a brand new position for the Chaplaincy. As I think back, I know it had to be something of a miracle that our—shall we say frugal—Board of Directors approved the expenditure of funds for two of us to go to the training. In their hearts, they knew our organization was at a critical juncture and that it was time to move the organization forward.

Tri-Cities Chaplaincy is a multi-service nonprofit serving those experiencing loss. At the center of our organization is Hospice. We have an in-home Hospice program that serves between 40-50 patients and their families on a daily basis and a ten bed Hospice House facility for residential hospice care. In addition to Hospice, we are a nationally accredited training site for Chaplains and have eight “staff” Chaplains in our hospitals, with police and fire departments, in our juvenile justice center, county jails, and at our local cancer treatment center. The third prong of our organization is our Counseling Center, which does traditional counseling and also specializes in art therapy with cancer patients. This year, thanks to the funds raised with the [Benevon] Model, we also opened our Children's Grief Center called Cork's Place.

With these services, there was never a question in our minds of drifting backwards, only how to move forward, and we found our way, with the help of [Benevon]. We went to the workshop, we learned, and we put it in motion. I tell others that this model is the most intricately simple program I have ever seen. It looks beautifully simple, looking in from the outside, but all the nuances you learn from the training and the coaching teach you the intricacies that truly make it work. It gave us a development plan that had form and function, all driven by our mission. We at the Chaplaincy are passionate about our work and passionate about how we do development using the [Benevon] Model.

Tri-Cities Chaplaincy is located in Southeastern Washington. The three cities that comprise the Tri-Cities are Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland. Our total population is about 180,000. Our one-hour breakfast event, Lighting the Path, had 400 people in attendance the first year, the second year it grew to 700, and this year we hit 1,000! What an extraordinary site to see 1,000 people entering the room at 7:30 a.m. on a December morning to learn about and support the work we do in our community. The financial rewards have been extraordinary, but there is so much more. All those who have attended our events these past three years have become advocates for our work in the community. Every program is growing and we have been able to purchase additional property for expansion of our services. I believe much of the growth has come through our efforts to make our donors our lifelong partners in the work we do. They are our best referral sources in the community. They know who we are and what we do, and they tell others.

This year at our Lighting the Path breakfast we had a most amazing surprise. We are beginning the process which will allow us to build a second Hospice House facility. Our ten beds are full and a waiting list in Hospice is simply not acceptable. We talked about this vision last year at our breakfast, and the need is even greater this year. At the close of the breakfast, our speaker, who had just finished asking our guests to consider partnering in the work by making a multiple-year pledge, closed the event by making his own announcement. This gentleman is the CEO of a corporation in our community. He understands firsthand the need for Hospice care because sitting at his table for the breakfast was an employee of his with Lou Gehrig's disease. This company and its employees have really gotten to know us over the past two-and-a-half years. To the amazement of everyone in the room, he announced that his corporation was launching a capital campaign, on our behalf, for our second Hospice House. Not only are they going to raise the funds for the building and furnishing of this Hospice House, they hope to raise enough money to place in an endowment to fund the operation of not only this new facility, but also our current facility forever. That is a commitment to raise somewhere in the range of 15-20 million dollars on our behalf.

How did this happen? It is the building of relationships. You see, that employee who has Lou Gehrig's disease attended our very first breakfast, before he was diagnosed, and fell in love with the work of the Chaplaincy. He became our advocate in his workplace and now his workplace is his advocate, our advocate, and they are committed to making the vision of a second Hospice House a reality. It's an amazing story. It's like all of the stories Terry will tell you about her work at the school; you simply never know what people will want to do for you. It's an amazing journey.

For those of you considering the [Benevon] training, I would tell you it is a small price to pay for what it can do for your organization. It would take me a book to tell you all the ways it has impacted our organization. Because it has done this for us, we are able to do more of the work we feel passionate about, and our community and its residents are the benefactors.

Bette A. Cooper
Associate Executive Director

P.S. That's a new job title for me. We now have a development staff (YEAH), another result of utilizing this model. It's such great news that we have more donors than one person can manage. And by the way...we took another team to the 101 Workshop in Seattle this year. That's how much we believe in its value.