Making a Difference by Aligning Your Career with Philanthropic Endeavors
Using your leadership to make a difference in the lives of others is one of the most important things you can do in your career. Through the years, I have found that giving back to the community is a natural extension of my healthcare M&A industry focus. Leveraging your professional relationships to advance your charitable interests can create a virtuous circle that benefits both.
Several years ago, while advising on several transactions involving radiation oncology treatment facilities, I saw how staggering the cost of cancer treatment was and how little priority was given to the psychological needs of the patients and their families. I wondered if I could use my experiences to increase access to care and supportive psycho-social services. I sought out philanthropic cancer programs that might benefit from the relationships I had cultivated during my career and was thrilled when I was asked to join the Board of Directors of the LA chapter of The Cancer Support Community.
BY LEVERAGING THE EXPERIENCES YOU HAVE ACQUIRED IN YOUR CAREER, YOU CAN ENABLE NONPROFIT EXECUTIVES TO SHORTEN THEIR LEARNING CURVE AND AVOID MISTAKES THEY MIGHT OTHERWISE MAKE.
As an international nonprofit organization, CSC provides free-of-charge psycho-social care programs for anyone impacted by cancer—more than 1 million patients and families annually. CSC LA is the founding chapter and has been partnering with cancer care providers across Southern California since 1982 to provide patients and their families with complementary services such as group support, counseling, healthy lifestyle classes, education, family programs, and various social activities. These services, which help to ameliorate the stressors faced by those with cancer, are now considered by the medical community to be an integral part of quality cancer care.
“A quality Board of Directors is the backbone of an effective nonprofit,” says Julia Forth, Executive Director of CSC LA. “I am grateful every day for the men and women on our Board who take the time from their busy schedules to make a difference in the lives of cancer patients and families. From those in the fields of finance, legal, marketing, human resources, and many others, I know that CSC LA could not provide its life-saving services without our Board’s guidance and connections.”
I recognized an opportunity to introduce CSC’s services to executives of freestanding and hospital-based cancer care programs throughout Southern California that I had become acquainted with through my “day job” advising on mergers and acquisitions. And, since joining the CSC Board last year, I have facilitated meetings involving cancer programs whose patients might benefit from participating in CSC’s free services. This is just one of many examples in which C-suite executives and M&A professionals are utilizing the experiences gained on the job to enrich public service and volunteering activities.