Pittsburgh-based nonprofit announces capital fundraising campaign, lead gift of $7.5 million from UPMC
PITTSBURGH, PA (May 23, 2022) – After years of strategic planning, followed by months of design, demolition, and renovation, Family House, Inc., the region’s preferred lodging facility for patients and families who travel to Pittsburgh for medical care, is about to open the doors to its future.
Next month, the new Family House will welcome its first guests into its safe, comfortable, and affordable “home away from home.” For the first time since the organization was founded nearly 39 years ago, Family House guests, volunteers, and staff will all be together under one roof.
“The opportunity for Family House to consolidate operations, services, and all of our dedicated team of volunteers and staff into one location has long been a dream of the Board and leadership team,” said Executive Director Jennifer March, adding that the campaign’s theme is Under One Roof. “To see that dream fulfilled and know that Family House’s essential role as a partner to all Pittsburgh healthcare systems will continue long into the future is truly amazing.”
The move to a single location enables the organization to responsively meet the changing needs of its hospital partners as part of a shared endeavor to support the whole healthcare journey of patients and caregivers. In addition to strengthening its long-term financial position and ensuring affordable room rates, the building’s design will accommodate private rooms with kitchens to serve long-term immunosuppressed patients, offer programmatic space to benefit caregivers and patients, as well as its healthcare and community partners, and support new and enhanced programming for the thousands of guests Family House hosts each year.
G. Reynolds Clark, Chair of the Family House Board of Directors, said that Family House received a $7.5 million grant from UPMC to support the organization’s capital campaign. The $16 million fundraising campaign has been in the “quiet phase” since the Family House Board voted unanimously in June 2021 to purchase, renovate, and move into the former Shadyside Courtyard by Marriott hotel.
“We are excited and most grateful to share the news of this incredible gift from our longstanding partner UPMC and to publicly announce Under One Roof, The Campaign for Family House,” Clark said. “UPMC has long supported Family House and our important mission to provide safe, comfortable, and affordable lodging for patients and their families who travel to Pittsburgh for medical care. Their lead gift to the campaign will help to ensure that the service we provide to all patients and caregivers who stay at Family House will continue long into the future.”
“Family House is an essential partner in our region’s healthcare delivery,” said Leslie Davis, President and CEO of UPMC. “We are proud to continue to support our partnership with Family House, particularly knowing that this campaign will help to ensure the organization’s long-term sustainability.”
Among the leadership gift commitments that Family House also received was a $2 million grant from DSF Charitable Foundation.
“DSF has long been a generous benefactor and friend to Family House,” said Glen Feinberg, Chair of the campaign’s fundraising Cabinet and a member of the Family House Board of Directors. “We are very grateful to David and Sara Scaife, Nick Beldecos, and the Foundation’s entire Board of Trustees for their ongoing commitment to Family House. Their gift further emboldened us to move forward with a campaign of this magnitude.”
According to Feinberg, the campaign has thus far secured commitments of $12 million, bringing the total raised to date to 75% of goal. In addition to the grants from UPMC and DSF Charitable Foundation, he noted that the campaign has received major gifts from the Hawk Ridgeview Foundation, Allegheny Foundation, and the Hillman Foundation.
“It is so gratifying to share with the Pittsburgh community the news of the support we’ve received thus far for this historic campaign,” Feinberg said. “Over the past 15 months, we have met and spoken with dozens of Family House friends, partners, and donors who are thrilled with the Board’s decision and are excited about the future of the organization. Their generous investment in Family House’s future clearly reflects the importance of Family House to the community.”
“We are delighted with the community response to this call to action,” added March. “The rallying together within Pittsburgh’s devoted foundation community is both humbling and motivating. Each of these gifts—along with dozens of contributions from corporate partners and individuals—is a testament to the level of importance placed upon Family House’s role in the continuum of healthcare delivery, and the organization’s long-term sustainability.
“I’d also like to give special thanks to our friends in the community who, because of their reverence for Family House, helped us navigate this complex process.”
The Family House Board Chair praised his colleagues for their support as well.
“I want to add my deepest appreciation to my colleagues on the Board for all of the work they did to help bring this project to where we are today,” Clark said. “Not only did they spend countless hours in committee meetings and with members of the Family House leadership team to plan and execute the consolidation of the operations and services into this one location, each member of the Board made a personal gift to the campaign.”
The move-in date for the new Family House Liberty Avenue location will take place in June, at which time a ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held.
