June 2015 Alumni Spotlight
June Alumni Spotlight with Anne Dalgish Koestner, MPA ’05
With an MPA in Nonprofit Management, a current campaign to fund a Research and Academic Center, and future projects to support programs in the new Center, Anne’s academic and professional trajectory have successfully merged into one. Anne speaks on the challenges of transitions, the indispensable advantages of learning from classmates, and the $25 million campaign she’s made the focus of her role at Winthrop-University Hospital.
What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced as Director of Major Campaigns at Winthrop-University Hospital?
My role at Winthrop was created to transition the management of the first major campaign the Hospital had undertaken from a consulting firm to a staff member who would be full-time at the Hospital. Coming to the Hospital and taking over the responsibilities and strategy from a firm that had a back-office operation was a challenge, but one that I was able to meet with the support and assistance of colleagues in the Development Office.
How has your MPA in Nonprofit Management at the School of Public Affairs prepared you for them?
My MPA was a great learning tool – apart from the nonprofit budgeting course I took from Lynn Weickert, which has proven to be more than valuable at my previous and current roles, and the mentorship of Fred Lane and Carroll Seron – learning from classmates who are in the nonprofit world was the best part of this program. Unlike many other MPA programs, fellow students are often on the ground in various NYC agencies or nonprofit organizations, and hearing their stories and learning how they dealt with a variety of challenges was great, not to mention making those connections. And of course, like many students in the program, I was working full-time and going to class in the evenings, making it necessary for me to rely on my time management skills.
Can you tell us about the $25 million campaign for the newly constructed, 95,000 square foot Research and Academic Center? How were you involved? What are the next steps?
[As of the time of the interview] We are currently at over $21 million toward our goal, and recently celebrated the opening of the building. We have relied on support from long-time friends and Board members of the Hospital, new and generous donors, foundations, corporations, the medical staff here, as well as the hospital staff. It has been wonderful to see everyone coming together to support this new Center, which is going to link research with patient care primarily in the area of diabetes. I have been responsible for crafting the strategies behind the Campaign, which is reaching out to all of these groups in a variety of ways. We are continuing the Campaign for the building, and starting to focus on support for the research and programs that will be happening in the new building. The new Center is going to be a valuable resource for the community, as well as raising the profile of the Hospital through enhanced research opportunities, so it’s been wonderful to have this initiative as a focus for my role here at Winthrop.
