The Portage District General Hospital Foundation is preparing to launch a new e-newsletter aimed at strengthening its connection with the local community and keeping donors informed on hospital-related initiatives.
Tara Pettinger, executive director of the foundation, says the idea grew out of their strategic planning process.
“One of our key strategic priorities was strengthening leadership and community engagement,” notes Pettinger. “So part of that is just finding ways to connect with the community, get more information out about events that we might have or purchases that we're making, obviously with the new hospital, updates around that.”
Pettinger says the first edition of the newsletter is expected to go out before the end of the month. The plan is to release it regularly, though the exact schedule will be flexible based on feedback and capacity.
“We’ve got kind of our database from donors of email addresses we have, and we’re doing some engagement through social media,” she says. “If people want to jump on and join the email list for the newsletter, then let us know. We can attach them to that and they can receive regular updates.”
Over 200 subscribers and growing
Pettinger says the list already includes more than 200 subscribers.
“That’s a great start for us as we go through the trial period with our first one and get a little bit of feedback,” adds Pettinger. “It’s really exciting to connect with the community. With the new hospital, there’s obviously lots going on. We’re making lots of purchases, there are lots of updates with that.”
She says the newsletter will include donor spotlights, feature stories on equipment purchases, and updates on popular campaigns such as the payroll 50/50.
“We also want to let everybody know who’s winning those, because that generates lots of excitement,” says Pettinger. “And then any events we have coming up—this one will showcase our gala in the fall. It’s just a nice way to keep people up to speed and connect.”
How to subscribe
Pettinger encourages anyone not currently on the list to reach out.
“You can absolutely jump on and send me an email at info@portagehospitalfoundation.ca,” says Pettinger. “If you follow us on any of our social media—Instagram or Facebook—by all means, just shoot me a DM on there and I can add you to the list. Really quick and easy.”
Each issue will feature a highlighted equipment purchase, impact stories, and community voices.
“We want to do one equipment piece each newsletter and just really highlight it and talk about the impact it’s going to have on the hospital,” she says. “It’ll be really cool to just let people connect that way with the work that’s happening at the foundation.”
While a title hasn’t been finalized yet, Pettinger is open to suggestions.
“Maybe that’s some of the great feedback we’ll get from people—if they think of something better than just our name and ‘newsletter,’ for sure.”
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