For the past five years, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has
seen double-digit growth in its funding, most of which comes from
public donations. In 2008, for example, financial support for St. Jude
grew by 12 percent.
One year and a recession later, funding to the internationally
acclaimed hospital is still up, but it has slowed to just over 3
percent. Because of the drop, St. Jude has slowed hiring and is
trimming costs.
“Like every company, and as an organization that spends money people
donate, it behooves us to tighten our belts,” says David McKee, COO and
interim CEO of ALSAC, the fund-raising arm of St. Jude.
Of St. Jude’s almost $507 million operating budget, 71 percent comes
from public donations. For the past three years, about 84 cents of each
dollar donated goes to research treatments. The daily cost to run the
hospital is $1.4 million.
“We have been through hard times before,” McKee says. “We invest in
programs that add donors to our files. When things turn around, we will
be in a stronger position.”
Despite McKee’s optimism, the hospital’s current plans include
cutting hiring and travel and placing a hold on building projects.
Mary Anna Quinn, senior vice president of human resources, says the
hospital is not under a hiring freeze, but hiring has slowed.
“We’re not growing quite as fast as we have in the past,” Quinn
says. “In spite of the economy, we still want to maintain the
high-quality employees we have.”
One cost-cutting move was to outsource work in the hospital’s
warehouse, a change Quinn says won’t affect patient care.
“[St. Jude] wanted to do the right thing for our donors, employees,
and patients when it came to the budget cuts,” Quinn says.
