In early 2006, while the new hospital was still in the early planning stages, Princeton HealthCare System (PHCS) received its first gift from an organization in the form of a $5 million grant from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). At this point, the decision to relocate had been made, but the new site had yet to be chosen. Still, RWJF understood the importance of having a state-of-the-art hospital to serve the needs of its local community and invested in our plans.
The following year, while securing approvals for the Plainsboro campus and developing designs with architects, PHCS received the largest corporate gift in its history: a $6 million commitment from the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation to underwrite a new clinic.
Over the next six years, as the hospital was built and opened, corporations and foundations throughout central New Jersey and beyond came forth to support the Design for Healing campaign. All told, 983 organizations donated more than $34 million, or 20% of the campaign total, to support the new University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro. Of these, 15 organizations made gifts of $1 million or more toward this historic effort, including Church & Dwight, PSE&G, Novo Nordisk, and Princeton University, to name a few. In addition, RWJF made a second grant to enable PHCS to conduct a research study on patient room design and then incorporate its findings into the new hospital. PHCS is truly fortunate to have so many generous and caring corporate and foundation neighbors!
Article as seen in Foundation News Fall 2013.