Bill Conway didn’t want to have a major impact on the nursing profession.
In 2011, the financier announced that he would hand out $1 billion to create jobs for the poor, and asked the public to send him ideas. There were about 2,500 proposals. Most were SOB stories, but some people had good ideas, he said, and some suggested supporting the bachelor’s nursing program.
“If it helps potential students to earn a nursing degree, they will always be able to take care of themselves, their families and us,” Conway recalls. Masu. “My wife and I thought it was pretty good.”
Currently, private donations to nursing professionals account for only one cent of all dollars given for health care. Report From the Foundation Division of the American Nurse Association. And giving to nursing is not a common cause among most wealthy donors.
However, there are exceptions. Leonard Lauder gave nursing school $177 million University of Pennsylvania and Hunter College, and Mark and Robin Jones He donated $100 million to expand Montana State University’s nursing program. However, other wealthy donors have dedicated much to a wide range of nursing programs, including Conway, the 75-year-old co-founder of Private Equity Giant The Carlyle Group and his late wife, Joanne Barkett Conway. January 2024.
These efforts are destined to grow, with Conway only about a third towards his goal of giving nursing a billion dollars. So far, he has donated $325.6 million to support student aid, new buildings and efforts to recruit and maintain faculty. He also supports pediatric nursing programs at Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC.
Over the past decade, that money has helped produce more than 7,000 nurses. Now, he says he wants to receive support from nursing programs nationwide.
“I think most of the money you leave to the charity will continue on this mission,” says Conway, a net worth that Forbes estimates at $4 billion. “I think we’re beginning to make a difference in some places, and I want to make more difference over time.”
Teacher shortage
Linda Aiken, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania nursing school, says the lack of nursing in America is misunderstood. The public has heard about the nursing shortage and believes that no one or people want to be nurses or nurses, but the problem is more complicated than that, she says.
Nurses are the largest group of health professionals and the backbone of healthcare, but their contributions are often underestimated by the healthcare system, many of which are low-paid and burned out more than other healthcare professionals. I have experienced a syndrome. .
There are not enough nursing professors, so more people want to become nurses than there are spots available in nursing schools. As a result, nursing schools can accept most of the students applying.
In 2022, approximately 78,000 qualified applicants were not accepted to US nursing schools due to insufficient teachers, classrooms and lab space. American College of Nursing Association. There are also vacancies in the U.S. nursing schools also have full-time nursing school vacancy, says Katie Fioravanti, director of the American Nursing Association’s foundation department.
“Entreating people to teach nursing is challenging because they can actually earn a rather high salary in practice,” says Fioravanti. “By the time they complete their PhD, and back to being a member or dean of the nursing department, they are already in their 50s, which means they will retire sooner.”
Philanthropy through learning
Conways didn’t know much about nursing when they decided to donate to the field. With the help of a colleague whose wife was a nurse, the couple began learning about their occupation and university nursing programs.
They initially gave money to support tuition fees at nursing schools. This is primarily because of the request of former scholar Joanne Conway, and because she wanted to ensure that her husband graduated from the student without college debt.
“I wanted to be the nurses they wanted to be,” he says. “If they want to work in a clinic in the inner city, if they don’t make much money, or if they want to work in a place where they make a lot of money, I wanted them to do what they wanted.”
Gradually, Conway supported architecture projects that expanded classroom and laboratory space, hiring additional faculty members, and scholarships for nurses seeking advanced degrees to teach.
His giving process remained much the same. As Conway considers his first gift, he and his Bedford Falls Foundation head Elizabeth Carrott Minnig visit the nursing school and meet with the dean, and get a graduation rate and nursing license. Find relevant data.
“We are looking at whether it will be a partnership that can fund a reasonably large number of students who will actually reach the finish line without the debt that will cripple them with career choices and opportunities.” says Carrott Minnigh.
Conway and Carrott Minnigh visit schools regularly and speak to the dean, faculty and students about any challenges they may face. These conversations are often translated into more targeted grants.
“We don’t have a grantmaking process for all sizes,” says Carrotmin. “It’s all customized to what we hear about what they want and need at school.”
For example, in 2013, Conways gave the Catholic University nursing school $4 million. Since then, their gifts to institutions – now named Conway School of Nursing – have grown to over $64 million, expanding full scholarships, and are primarily new nursing school buildings and graduate nursing programs I paid the payment. Conway also supports mentoring efforts and review courses to prepare students for the National Council of Registered Nurses License Examination.
“It’s not enough to call his contributions transformatively,” says Marie Nolan, dean of the Catholic school of nursing.
Over the past decade, Conway has also provided significant funding to the University of Virginia School of Nursing. In 2013, he provided $5 million for nursing scholarships, and over time he donated nearly $50 million to expand scholarships for undergraduate and graduate nursing programs, and nurses who want to become professors. and helped people participate in nursing.
Marianne Baernholdt, dean of UVA’s Nursing School, says widespread donations to Conway’s nursing programme, particularly his efforts to support nursing students early in education, are rare among wealthy donors. Masu.
“There are some nursing schools that have earned a lot of money to increase advanced practical nursing programs,” says Baernholdt. “But we rarely invest in advance licensing. This is what Conway did.”
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Maria di Mento A senior reporter at the charity, you can read Complete article. This article was provided to the Associated Press by the Charity Chronicle as part of a partnership that covers charity and nonprofits supported by the Lily Fund. Chronicle is solely responsible for the content. Visit us for all AP charity matters https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
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