The health care sphere needs the help of generous local champions and donors, and Collingwood stands out from other towns as its citizens donate tirelessly to help support their local hospital, according to local fundraiser Jesse Dees.
For this week’s edition of People of Collingwood we sat down with Dees, 25, a development officer at the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital (CGMH) Foundation who was recently honoured as a winner of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy’s 40 Under 40 award for her work with the foundation. Dees is also a current member of the board of directors of My Friend's House, a local women's shelter.
Q: How long have you lived in Collingwood?
A: I don’t actually live in Collingwood. I live in Angus. I don’t say that very loudly because people in Collingwood are very proud of Collingwood and want you to live here, because it’s great. (laughs) It’s the halfway point for my husband and I (he works in Barrie). I commute in here.
I was born and raised in Barrie.
We are looking to make the move to Collingwood or Wasaga Beach... we’re looking at both.
Q: What is your background?
A: I went to York University, I have my Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences. Then I went to Georgian College for (a post-graduate diploma in) Fundraising and Resource Development.
I got into fundraising basically by accident. I was volunteering for a charity because I didn’t really know where I wanted to go when I was finished university and I wanted some inspiration.
So I started volunteering at Gilda’s Club Simcoe-Muskoka in Barrie. When I had my very first interview with a volunteer co-ordinator, she said within the first five minutes: “You would be a great fundraiser.”
I was like, “Really? I don’t even know what that is.”
She connected me with the fundraiser there who is now one of my dearest friends. Since then, I’ve fallen in love with fundraising and the non-profit world.
I worked with Gilda’s Club while I got my post-grad for a little while. Then I got my job here, and I’ve been here ever since.
Q: What do you think made the volunteer co-ordinator say that? What aspects of your personality lend themselves toward doing work with volunteers and fundraising?
A: My organizational skills. I’m kind of known for that... my friends and family know that I’m the organized one... always on the ball. Everything has to be planned out... I can’t really do anything on a whim. I think she saw that as a positive.
I think also being a friendly face. I get that a lot... that either I look familiar or I have a friendly personality. That really helps too.
Q: Why do you think fundraising is so important, and what drives you to do this type of work?
A: To answer the second part first: What drives me is... when I started, I worked with a cancer charity. Not just myself, but I’m sure everyone has been touched by cancer in some way. Working for those causes is what drives me.
Not a lot of people realize that the government doesn’t fully fund our health care. 90% of the equipment and technology in this building is funded by community support and donations. So to be able to see new equipment arriving... in the emergency department renovations, we put $1 million into it and we put our blood, sweat and tears into fundraising that money.
To know that we have that state-of-the-art equipment here and we can provide the tools to staff is really motivating in our jobs.
Q: What made you want to get involved with CGMH specifically?
A: I really wanted to focus on health care fundraising, because there are different streams, (for example) education. I really think that our health care system is one that needs a lot of support. I really don’t think a lot of people realize how much fundraising goes on in our hospitals and health care systems, and I wanted to be a part of that in a smaller community.
I wanted to make sure we could have just as good health care here as in a big trauma hospital.
Q: How long have you been working here?
A: I’ve been here for about four years now.
Q: Can you explain the 40 Under 40 win, and how did it feel to be acknowledged?
A: 40 Under 40 is recognition from the Association for Health Care Philanthropy (AHP), so it’s an international organization that everyone on staff here belongs to. It’s a membership-based organization that fundraisers across the world are a part of that focuses specifically on health care. We go to conferences to learn about challenges and teachings from other organizations across the world. There’s a Canadian conference that I presented at this past May about a program we were doing here that was successful.
Being able to share with other health-care professionals is what AHP is all about. This is the first year for the 40 Under 40, and it was to recognize the efforts of young leaders in health care philanthropy and their accomplishments.
It meant a lot to be recognized. I work really hard and I like what I do, so it doesn’t really feel like it’s hard work or it’s anything above ordinary. The reason I presented at the conference is because we had a program here that I had researched and did start to finish. It was (sharing information so) other charities could be doing the same thing and raising money for their causes.
To be able to share information with other people feels great.
Q: Do you have any mentors or people you look up to?
A: Definitely Jory (Pritchard-Kerr, executive director of the CGMH Foundation) is someone to look up to. When I first did my interview and told a few people in the fundraising world that I interviewed with Jory, they said I needed to get that job, and that there was no one better to learn from in the fundraising world.
She’s been an amazing mentor. I was one of the youngest people to get my CFRE (certified fundraising executive) designation, and Jory was the one who not only pushed me to do it, but made me believe I could do it. I 100 per cent credit her for that.
Q: What are your long-term goals?
A: I definitely want to stay in health care. I see myself being in health care for the rest of my career. Trying to be a leader in health care and anything I can do to further my career in that way. I’ve been told I’m a good leader and I have those skills.
In Collingwood, I want to be able to see the redevelopment project through. I think that’s a really important project for this community and anything I can do to lend my skills to that.
Possibly down the road being at a larger organization would be a dream as well.
Q: What makes Collingwood special? Do you see CGMH as being something special compared to other hospitals?
A: Absolutely. Collingwood is honestly an anomaly for fundraising. The people in Collingwood are so generous and so passionate about their hospital... it’s really inspiring to see. People are so excited to give here and they really see the impact that they’ve made on the hospital and we connect well with our donors. It’s a great place to work with donors that are so supportive and amazing.
I don’t really think that a lot of other small hospitals see the passion from donors like we do.
The technology we’ve been able to invest in is sometimes even better than in Toronto hospitals.
The donors are always behind the projects that we do 100 per cent. They have the confidence in the hospital and the foundation that we are doing what’s best for the community, and the community always backs that.
This is a really unique place for anyone to live and stay for the health care here. It’s amazing.
For our feature People of Collingwood, we’ll be speaking with interesting people who are either from or are contributing to the Collingwood community in some way. This feature will run on CollingwoodToday every Saturday. If you’d like to nominate or suggest someone to be featured in People of Collingwood, email [email protected].
