Donor Recognition for Residential Housing

In Spring 2017, Phoebe Health System opened a convenient and well-appointed housing facility, Flaggstone, for students training at the medical system. The housing complex is close to campus and includes amenities that busy professionals need, such as a fitness center, nearby childcare, attractive social gathering areas, and 24-hour security. Flaggstone is designed to house up to 40 medical and pharmacy students and physician resident who are training at Phoebe. The housing complex will increase the number of students who choose to study at Phoebe, foster an affinity for the area and encourage physicians to stay in the Southwest Georgia region.

Donors motivated to increase the number of healthcare professionals choosing to live in the area helped make the Flaggstone project a reality. The fundraising campaign continues with plans to expand the residential complex in coming years. Heurista has been involved in many aspects of this campaign. We helped create the initial campaign collateral and later designed and installed a flexible donor recognition display.

This display is unique at Phoebe. Rather than relying on a traditional naming opportunities strategy, all donor recognition is grouped in a display in the main lobby. Heurista recommended this approach as a result of our work with other residential housing projects. This strategy puts all donor recognition displays in the most public of the areas in the facility. Likewise, it helps foster a sense of place at the apartment door for each resident, minimizing the signage to only that required for wayfinding and fire safety.

The design of the display supports the “shabby chic” motif of the lobby which is modeled after an upscale coffee-shop. Warm wood tones are partnered with multiple metals, distinctive lighting and comfortable seating in multiple clusters. The display is made of bronze-toned hexagons arranged on a frosted acrylic panel with internal illumination. These plaques are magnetically retained and can be rearranged as needed to accommodate future additions. Likewise, brief storytelling accompanies many of the plaques, in keeping with the Phoebe area naming plaque standards. This unique design supports the goal of creating a network of donors committed to the student experience during their stay in Albany. 

Written By Anne Manner-McLarty

Anne Manner-McLarty is the managing editor of the Journal of Donor Relations and Stewardship. She founded Heurista in 2011, a leading resource for consulting specific to donor relations and stewardship, with particular expertise in the donor recognition program design and implementation.