Tips on Nominating
Thank you for expressing interest in nominating. We’ve created these seven tips to help you
maximize the impact of your nomination application for the Hospital Charitable Services Awards.
Tip #1: Pick the Right Program(s) to Nominate
Have you watched an episode of Shark Tank?
There are two kinds of pitches that send the “sharks” into a feeding frenzy:
1. The product or service is selling well. The company has revenue. All it needs is
additional capital to keep up with growth.
— OR —
2. The product or service is too new to have sales, but it solves a real problem and the
entrepreneur has a clear plan for cash flowing.
In other words, a growing, sustainable product/service/program with a strong leader
makes a safe, smart investment. Everything else is too risky.
A similar dynamic happens within the Hospital Charitable Services Awards.
As the judges (who are a mix of former and active health system CEOs) deliberate on each
of the 100+ nominations, they ask key questions:
• Is this program solving a real problem?
• Is it getting results? Are people’s lives improving in some measurable way?
• Are there other programs “out there” like this?
• Is this program doing something unique from which others could learn?
• Is the sponsoring hospital’s primary motive for investing in this program to serve
others or save money?
• Does this program stand out among all the other nominees?
As you would expect, those programs earning the most “yes” responses to these questions
rise to the top and become finalists.
Your goal is like contestants on Shark Tank: Present a program that 1) has a track record of
measurable results or 2) shows promise in solving a unique community health problem.
Past nominees tend to fall into one of five categories:
• Personal crisis intervention programs that solve problems like abuse, neglect,
abandonment, infection transmission, etc.
• Community crisis response to natural disasters, attacks, pandemics, major accidents, etc.
• Chronic disease management of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, etc.
• General community health management through community wellness, clinics, mobile
units, etc.
• Care access to targeted geographic/demographic/psychographic groups like school
children, underserved neighborhoods, ethnic or religious groups, etc.
Before completing your program’s nomination application, research how your program is unique
from those in other communities that offer similar services or serve the same population.
Focus on those programs in your health system making a real difference and impacting
lives. Or those programs showing the most promise in achieving lasting impact.
Many nominees essentially nominate the same programs using the same information year
after year. Don’t make this mistake.
Tip #2: Prove you improve lives
Causality, or what we refer to as cause and effect, is the study of the relationship between
an event and its consequences. We do something (cause). Then something happens
because of what we did (effect).
In the Awards program, we refer to this cause and effect relationship as outputs and outcomes.
• Outputs are the program elements that “touch” the client or patient population served —
examples are health screenings, educational events, preventive care services and the like
• Outcomes are the changes these clients/patients experience because of the outputs
The biggest mistake programs make when nominating a hospital program for the Hospital
Charitable Services Awards is reporting outputs (i.e. causes) without outcomes (i.e. effects).
Does this mean newer programs are at a disadvantage, since they won’t have a history of
data from which to draw and report?
No, because there are two ways a program can approach this section of the nomination.
1. Report true impact.
Rady Children’s Hospital’s award-winning Developmental Screening and Enhancement Program
(DSEP) offers a great case study in how to report impact. This program works with caregivers and
children in the foster care system to help them with developmental and behavior needs.
Here is an example of how Rady communicated one of many components of its
program’s impact:
Outcome Goal: Decrease caregiver stress through developmental and behavioral
intervention. (They measure this using the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form.)
Outcome Metric: Nearly half of caregivers scored in the “borderline” or “clinical” range
for parental stress when they began services with DSEP. Following their completion of the
program’s behavioral or developmental intervention, only 15% of the caregivers reported
elevated (borderline or clinical) stress. This means that almost two-thirds of caregivers
who initially reported high levels of stress show a marked decrease by the time they
completed services.
Rady made it very clear to the judging panel what DSEP exists to do, what success looks like
and how well the program is fulfilling its mission.
2. Report planned impact.
Newer programs (typically those in operation for less than two years), will not have enough
history or data to fully connect outputs with outcomes, or cause with effect. In this case, we
encourage programs to define the impact they plan to achieve, through established outcomes.
In 2012, University Medical Center at Princeton’s Partnerships for PIECE program offered
a great example of a program too new to report deep outcomes data. They clearly
communicated six outcomes they plan to achieve to improve the patient care of frail elders,
with a specific goal of reducing unnecessary hospital re-admissions. It was this clarity that
earned them recognition as a Program of Promise.
We have prepared a deep-dive resource to help you better measure and communicate
impact. It’s a free eBook titled, Leveraging Your Story: Applying Business Acumen to
Hospital Charitable Services. Click here to download a PDF version.
Nomination Tip #3: Demonstrate True Collaboration
Hospitals are intimately tied to the communities they serve. From public health to politics, from
nonprofits to schools, hospitals partner with and invest in community programs that improve lives.
In the Awards program, we seek specific ways your hospital community outreach program
collaborates with other community organizations and groups in responding to the specific
underserved need your program addresses, not the hospital as a whole.
How One Program Collaborates to Keep People Out of Jail
In Lee County, Florida, individuals experiencing a behavioral health crisis and at risk of
being charged with a minor or non-violent offense no longer have to face incarceration or an
emergency room.
The Bob Janes Triage Center/Low Demand Shelter is a multi-agency collaboration that
serves as a voluntary pre-arrest program. It offers assessments, shelter and service access
to at-risk residents with the goal of reducing the likelihood they will reappear in the justice
system or inappropriately use area emergency rooms.
Partners in the program include the Lee Memorial Health System hospitals, local law
enforcement and the Veteran’s Administration.
Through this collaboration, at-risk residents have access to affordable housing, job training,
job opportunities, access to healthcare, medication monitoring, supportive therapy,
support groups and life skills training.
And because of this collaborative approach, in addition to being able to demonstrate
a measurable impact, the Bob Janes Triage Center/Low Demand Shelter was named a
Program of Excellence for the 2013-2014 season.
Collaboration Extends & Sustains Your Program’s Impact
In your nomination application, don’t list all the community entities your hospital touches.
Instead, list only those organizations and groups your community outreach program
partners with in fulfilling its mission and vision.
Nomination Tip #4: Change the Game
A lot has been written about innovation—what is it, how to do it, etc. So much so, it seems
the word has lost its original power.
The etymology of the word ties to the words “restore,” “renew” and “change”.
The Familiar in Unfamiliar Ways
What the Hospital Charitable Services Awards’ judges look at, with regard to innovation,
is how your program is either a) approaching a common problem (like obesity) in a new
way or b) approaching a new problem (like refugee access to medical care) using triedand-true practices.
In other words, innovation demands we see the familiar in unfamiliar ways or, in some
cases, see the unfamiliar in familiar ways.
How does your program innovate? How is it changing the game?
Innovation invites interest. When Apple was on fire a few years back, everyone wanted to
know how Apple did what it did—what’s the secret sauce? Was it their leadership acumen?
Their processes? Their philosophy? Their talent? Their design? Their timing?
And therein lies a key metric for innovation: Innovators attract attention.
How has your community outreach program attracted inside and outside interest, inquiries
and investment? Is it an industry or regional go-to for a specific area?
How has your program explored and used new models and approaches to serve others?
The Quality, Access, Cost Equation
For established programs — typically those in operation more than two years — the judges
look for credible areas of innovation. For newer programs, the judging panel seeks a clear
understanding of how the program plans to innovate.
And, in most cases, innovation lies within healthcare’s triple aim:
• Increase patient quality
• Increase population health
• Decrease healthcare costs
In your nomination, make sure you clearly explain how your hospital’s community outreach
program is an innovator in achieving these industry goals.
Nomination Tip #5: Help Others Solve the Same Problem
Could a hospital in another community adopt your program model and achieve the same
(or similar) results?
Is your program solving an access, quality or care problem in a way others need?
Could you author a guide teaching others how to solve the same problem your program addresses?
A key element in the Awards Program is how programs address community healthcare
needs in ways others could replicate. In other words, what’s the recipe you use and how
can others follow it?
Here are two examples of how winning programs demonstrated transferability...
LA+USC Breathmobile Program Spreads Across Nation
The Breathmobile Program was created November 5, 1995 at LAC+USC Medical Center by
Craig Jones, MD. Nearly 15 years later, the Breathmobile Program has evolved to a more
comprehensive and integrated Pediatric Asthma Disease Management Program (PADMAP),
which now includes 14 mobile clinics throughout the nation. Eleven operate in California.
Three other units operate in Arizona, Maryland and Alabama.
The Breathmobile was named a 2011 Program of Excellence. It continues to bring its
solution to communities throughout the U.S. seeking to bring needed medical care and
education to children with asthma.
Ridgeview Medical Center’s WeCAB Points the Way
WeCAB, which stands for Western Communities Area Busing, is a volunteer-based, low-cost
ride program in which volunteers in the community offer rides to those who have no other
transportation, especially rides to healthcare clinics and services.
WeCAB was named a 2012 Program of Promise, in large part for its ability to be replicated
by any other community in the nation seeking to solve a medical access challenge rooted in
patient transportation.
What If Your Program Has Not Been Replicated In Another Community?
If your program model has yet to be adopted in another community, for whatever reason,
show the judging panel how it could be replicated by others. Explain the recipe.
Through the Awards Program, we seek programs we believe should be models for hospitals
and communities across the nation. The key story you should tell throughout your
nomination application is how your program can be a model for others to follow.
Nomination Tip #6: Inspire Us
There’s a root word in the English language — “spir” — that packs an awesome punch.
It means, “breath.”
Words with “spir” as their root are powerful words: inspire, perspire, aspire, conspire,
expire. Once you understand the meaning of “spir” it really breathes new life into these
words, doesn’t it? Even the word, “spirit” is built on this root.
We receive a lot of nominations each year that are packed full of information. But they lack
inspiration. We also receive a number of nominations each year that are full of inspiration.
But they lack information.
Your goal should be to lead with inspiration, but back it up with information.
Storytelling (And Your Storyteller) Matters
One nominee in the Awards program was named a finalist two years in a row. And, both
years, they barely missed being named a Program of Excellence by the judging board.
Each year we have programs give up after a year or two of trying. But this program was
unique. For their third year’s nomination, they changed the storyteller.
This person was able to inject inspiration, through storytelling, into their nomination
application that brought all their terrific information to life. Their persistence and dedication
certainly played a key role in earning them the Program of Excellence title. But what separated
their third year nomination from the other years was the way they inspired the judges with
their story.
They breathed life into their information. And that breathed life into the judges.
Don’t Think of Your Program’s Nomination as a Grant
Think of it as an opportunity to tell your story and inspire others. And treat it as an opportunity
to demonstrate how your program is positively impacting the lives of those you serve.
Click here to stream a short, free audio program providing tips on how to best tell your
program’s story.
Nomination Tip #7: Remember the Spirit of the Awards
These tips were designed to give interested hospital outreach and charitable programs an
edge in preparing their nomination for the Hospital Charitable Services Awards.
Why? Because when hospitals can share how they impact lives, they attract grants, donors
and leadership interest. Which allows these programs to expand their reach and impact.
Pick the right program or programs. It’s a competitive field, so it’s critical your nomination
stands out by sharing a story of sacrifice and changed lives.
• Prove you improve lives. We seek programs that go above and beyond the services they
provide by measuring how they impact lives.
• Demonstrate true collaboration. We seek programs that rally their community around
an unmet need.
• Change the game. We seek programs that see the familiar in unfamiliar ways and
break down barriers that prevent human beings from accessing needed medical care
and/or information.
• Help others solve an unmet need. We seek programs that can teach other hospitals and
communities how to solve an unmet healthcare need.
• Inspire us. We seek programs that breathe life into all who hear their story.
The Awards Program isn’t about winning — it is about impacting lives
The Hospital Charitable Services Awards program was established in 2010 around two goals:
• Reward and recognize hospital programs having a measurable impact on the underserved
• Enable hospital community program leaders through education and peer-to-peer communication
We look forward to your hospital’s nomination. But more importantly, we look forward to
getting to know you and your program and helping share its story with a broader audience.
Bonus Tip: We receive the vast majority of hospitals’ nominations the day of or the day
before the deadline. Those who submit their nomination application early tend to receive
more in-depth review and attention.
Good Luck!