How Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation Memorials are Utilized
by Beth Shafer, Growth and Development Coordinator
Have you ever wondered what happens to your memorial donations after the Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation receives them? Here’s an overview of how those gifts are managed and used to support local healthcare.
To begin with, each donation is entered into Little Green Light, a donor management software program. This allows the Foundation to accurately track donations made by individuals over time and maintain complete donor records. Memorial funds are also established for individuals who have passed away, enabling the Foundation to provide families with a list of donors and their addresses, when available.
In many cases, families have a special wish for how memorial donations should be used. They may designate a specific department, service, or project, or they may ask about current fundraising priorities at Veterans Memorial Hospital. When this occurs, donations are placed into a designated fund and used according to the family's wishes.
A recent example occurred last year when the Foundation was raising funds to purchase a new LIFEPAK 35 cardiac monitor/defibrillator for one of the hospital's ambulances. Many families chose to direct memorial donations toward the project because their loved one had relied on ambulance services at some point in their life. Their gifts helped purchase this lifesaving equipment while creating a lasting tribute to those they were honoring.
Other families prefer that memorial gifts be used wherever the need is greatest. In these cases, donations are directed to a fund with fewer restrictions, allowing the Foundation to address emerging needs across the hospital and EMS department. In 2025, memorial donations helped purchase several important pieces of equipment, including a podiatry treatment chair and an ambulance binder lift.
In the coming months, we will highlight items the Foundation, with the help of donor support, has purchased over the past several years so you can see firsthand how your donations really do make a difference.
Every memorial gift, regardless of size or designation, helps strengthen local healthcare services and ensures Veterans Memorial Hospital can continue providing high-quality care to patients throughout northeast Iowa. The Veterans Memorial Health Care Foundation is grateful for the generosity of donors who choose to honor the memory of loved ones through these meaningful gifts.
