Hospital board discusses foundation
By Steve Herring
Published in News on May 17, 2016 1:46 PM
The Wayne Memorial Hospital board is discussing the possibility of creating a foundation that would be a fundraising arm of the hospital.
It would also be able to make contributions to other health-care related needs in the community.
No action has been taken to create such a foundation.
Interim President Bob Enders had suggested that the foundation be used only for the benefit of the hospital. But the board said it wanted a broader-based foundation that also would be able to provide funding for other health-related organizations.
"To me there are two primary questions that we need to answer so that (attorney) Bob (Wilson) can bring together the right bylaws for us," Enders said during the board's Wednesday evening meeting. "One is, do we want the proceeds of the foundation to be for the exclusive benefit of the hospital, or do we want a more far-reaching foundation that can give money for other organizations outside the hospital, maybe tied to health care, but not for the exclusive use of the hospital?
"The second question is, do we want to control who's on the foundation board or do we want the foundation board to able to select its own members outside of our control?"
Wilson said that a foundation to strictly to support the hospital would be limited in the amount of public donations that it could accept.
Normally those type of foundations are created when a major gift is received, he said.
In the other type of foundation, there are no restrictions on public support, he said.
"It is essentially a fundraising foundation that does not have any limitation on public gifts and those sorts of things," Wilson said. "It's purpose, as Bob indicated, is a little bit broader than just supporting the hospital.
"It could be supporting the hospital and access to health care in Wayne County as an example."
Along with suggesting that such a foundation be for the exclusive support of the hospital, Enders also suggested that the hospital board retain some control over the foundation board appointments.
However, hospital board member Charlotte Weaver said she thought the foundation should be bigger and include possible for support for other health care organizations.
"Do it that way, and if in practice it doesn't work that way, you have the raw definition to do that," she said.
"So if the foundation board decides it wants to give money to some other purpose that you all don't want them to give it to, the only way to stop it would be to fire the whole board, and find replacements," Enders said.
"Then we did a lousy job picking them," Mrs. Weaver said.
Board member Jack Best said he did not think the hospital would want to use the model in which donations were restricted.
"I wouldn't recommend it necessarily," Wilson said.
"If somebody left you $100,000 in a will, you certainly wouldn't want to restrict it," Best said.
Wilson said the foundation could be designed so that the hospital board appoints the foundation board.
Enders asked if the bylaws could be written to require a supermajority vote to spend the money outside the hospital. Wilson said it could.
Hospital board Chairman Jim Parker told Wilson to draw that up and "we can vote on that."