VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation With Liza Jerome, Senior Vice President, Community Giving And Engagement & Samantha Rogers, Director, Community Giving

What does it take to lead meaningful change in healthcare philanthropy? In this episode, we go behind the scenes of one of BC’s premier healthcare foundations with two powerhouse leaders shaping the future of giving at VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation.

Join us as we speak with Liza Jerome, Senior Vice President of Community Giving and Engagement, and Samantha Rogers, Director of Community Giving. Together, they offer a compelling look at the foundation’s culture of collaboration, innovation, and impact—and introduce a pivotal new role: the Associate Director of Legacy Giving.

You’ll hear how this opportunity isn’t just about fundraising—it’s about shaping donor journeys, building deep community connections, and becoming a strategic voice in legacy and planned giving. Whether you’re a seasoned development professional or curious about working at the intersection of philanthropy and healthcare, this conversation offers a rare peek inside a mission-driven team with heart and vision. Tune in to discover how you could be the next chapter in this legacy.

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Listen to the podcast here

 

VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation With Liza Jerome, Senior Vice President, Community Giving And Engagement & Samantha Rogers, Director, Community Giving

Welcome to another Opportunity Spotlight episode. I have the distinct pleasure of talking about the Associate Director Legacy Giving Role at the VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation. I’m speaking with two leaders at the foundation. I’m speaking with Liza Jerome, who is the Senior Vice President, Community Giving and Engagement, and Samantha Rogers, who is the Director Community Giving at the foundation. Welcome to you both. I am delighted to be speaking with you.

Thank you.

Thank you for having us.

Maybe we can start off with a few words of introduction. I’ve shared your titles, but what exactly do you do at the foundation? Samantha, let’s start with you. Tell me a little bit about your role and background.

Thank you. My role is the director of community giving. Within the Community Giving Space at Vancouver General Hospital Foundation, we have a fundraising and events team, Asian strategy, and annual leadership giving. We’re excited to be going down this path of welcoming legacy onto our team as well. My background has been in various nonprofits and national healthcare charities, such as The Arthritis Society, Canadian Cancer Society, as well as conservation charities such as Ocean Wise. For the last couple of years, I’ve been the executive director at a smaller environmental education nonprofit. Through that time, I’ve had the opportunity to explore a variety of different giving methods. With this new associate director position, I’m excited to dive a little bit more into legacy.

Excellent. That’s great. Liza?

Thanks. My position is community giving and engagement. Community giving is the community giving that Samantha spoke about. The engagement side is the marketing and brand engagement. The organization’s overall marketing, as well as the various programs within the foundation, is the marketing that we do. There’s great integration between the marketing and all of the other departments or teams and divisions within the foundation.

In terms of my background, I’ve been in healthcare fundraising for close to three decades. Coming from major hospitals and specialty hospitals in Toronto, I moved to Vancouver in January 2024. I’ve been here for over a year and am experiencing the Vancouver marketplace, which is very different from the Toronto one, for sure. It’s an amazing organization that we have here.

That’s great. I bet the differences between Toronto and Vancouver can be a discussion in and of itself. We’ll park that for the moment. It’s great to hear the depth and breadth of experience you have and what you’re both bringing to your roles. Liza, maybe you can continue with the marketing hat on, I suppose, for lack of a better term. Tell me a bit more about the foundation. Let’s assume the readers don’t necessarily know about it or have particular assumptions about what the foundation does. Can you tell me a bit more about it?

Overview Of The Foundation & Its Reach

Yeah. The foundation is one of the premier healthcare foundations within the Vancouver marketplace. That’s certainly one of those things since I have been here that has become very clear. It is a large team. It is a sophisticated and growing team raising money for specialized adult healthcare, leading in charity and innovation for healthcare in BC.

 

A lot of what we do is local to the Vancouver area, but over 50% of our patients come from outside of the Lower Mainland. That’s a significant piece that people don’t understand. We are a specialty hospital for the adult population. Some of the other areas of specialty, like cancer, surgery, diagnostics, and all of those things, a lot of it comes through VGH. They might get their services elsewhere at their local hospital or at some of the other hospitals within Vancouver. For a lot of the more serious issues, people will come through Vancouver General Hospital.

I was going to say people might think of you synonymously with that building and VGH specifically, but through community health facilities, G. F. Strong, and the wonderful research initiatives you have. There are so many things being done. It’s a sophisticated fundraising shop, but it’s serving a very sophisticated healthcare complex and system. Samantha, let’s pivot to you. Let’s get a bit more into the specifics of working at the foundation. The associate director is going to be reporting to you and your team. What is the culture that you’re trying to build within your team in terms of a working dynamic?

Unique Team Culture & Vision For Growth

As we explored before, there are many different giving types that are represented within the community giving team here. What’s important is that we’re making sure we’re all working together collaboratively and productively so that we can be efficient, supporting donors in the way that they need us to show up, and making sure that we are reflective of the community that we are serving as well. What you’ll find here is a team that’s collaborative but also wants to support each other to be very successful. It is a wonderful environment.

We strive to work collaboratively and productively to support donors in the ways they need, while also reflecting the community we serve. Share on X

Liza, anything you want to add about the broader context or the collaboration that happens between areas of the foundation staff and teams?

Yeah. We have a very unique culture here. I’ve worked in various organizations over the years, and I have to say it is one of the places where there is such dedication and passion for not only the work we do, but for each other. We’re all in this to support each other and make ourselves better in everything that we do. It is quite unique, I have to say. I don’t know. Samantha, you’re new, so maybe you have a different perspective on this. It’s pretty special.

Everybody sees the vision of where we’re going. I’m very new. It’s been a month. Coming in fresh, it seems like everybody is on board for what I’m calling the level up. There’s so much opportunity and potential within community giving and other teams within the organization. Seeing that everybody has that vision forward and is on board to try new and exciting things together is something I’m excited to be a part of, and I’m excited to welcome somebody to join us in that.

That’s great. It’s so compelling. We talk a lot about people being mission aligned from an organizational perspective, but being so personally aligned, dedicated, and passionate for each other is truly rare. That’s something wonderful to grasp onto and try to encourage and keep going for. That’s fantastic. I’m not going to put you on the spot, Samantha, for this one since you’ve been there a month. Liza, maybe think about the genesis or the origin of this associate director legacy giving role. It’s a new role. It represents a bit of a change, but also an expansion of the great work you’re doing on legacy giving and plan giving. Tell me a bit more about the impetus for it. Why was it created?

Purpose & Vision Behind The New Associate Director Role

The legacy and gift planning team has been very well-established within the foundation and has a long history of success. There was a big recognition that a lot of the legacy donors are coming from our community’s annual base of donors. With the work that we need to do within that program, the community giving program, we need to be more integrated, thinking about what that donor experience is.

Bringing it under the community giving team allows us to focus and say, “What are those different donor journeys? What are those touch points, the information, or those experiences we want to create for our donors?” and look at it more holistically rather than in silos, like, “This program, that program, etc.” We can look at it as a whole to say, “What is the best experience that we want to create?” That was probably the main thing that made us look to say, “Let’s make this better. How can we do things differently?”

You’re doing so much and have such a great reputation and such a history of success in effective legacy gift fundraising, but there’s so much more potential for the program. You’ve got thousands of prospects and people that have indicated, “I want to know more,” or they’ve attended a seminar with one of your professional advisors, so there’s a great opportunity for this person to get out the door fundamentally. That’s great. Samantha, let’s pivot to the background for this associate director. What do you think we’re looking for in this person? As we’re speaking to candidates, what are some of the hallmarks of either background or competencies you think are going to resonate?

We are looking for somebody who is a subject matter expert because this is a role that has the potential to grow significantly within the organization. It’s an area of significant potential. There’s a lot of potential to work with the community giving team in a way that we haven’t necessarily before. Nothing’s too prescribed. We’re looking for somebody who is a subject matter expert and has the ability to come in and set a pathway forward, the vision and ideas to build off of the wonderful work that the legendary Charlene has done, and experiment with new ways of traditional giving. Somebody who’s motivated, a self-starter, and who has the expertise already.

I like that theme. In the past few answers, we’ve talked about being donor-driven and both responsive and proactive about what donor interest and donor needs are. The donor vision coming through strongly is such a key piece, isn’t it? I’m glad you mentioned Charlene. You’re right. Charlene has done such an amazing job. She is such a fixture in the institution in the best possible way in legacy giving here in the Lower Mainland. The opportunity to work with her in many ways is also certainly appealing. Liza, anything you wanted to add in that respect, and things we might be looking for in candidates, or what candidates might bring?

The other aspect of it is a people leader, someone who has had experience in working with growing teams and establishing programs. This is such a growing opportunity for us. We have a lot of prospects we haven’t necessarily been able to get to, so someone who can help build the team and expand it as we grow as an organization. People leadership would be one thing that we are looking for as well.

 

What would you want this person to have achieved in the first few months or even a few years from now? How do they earn a gold star to be successful in your team? Liza, do you want to start?

Yeah, I can start that. Someone who can quickly come into the organization, understand the culture, fit within that, see what the opportunities are, take that, run with setting that vision, and operationalize it. Since it is a new position, we need someone with some creativity who can come in and establish that pretty quickly, integrate within our existing structures and programs, and have an understanding of a complex environment and what it’s going to take to move this forward. A gold star, if you could quickly understand that. Put together a plan of action. Rally the troops in order to do the work and bring everyone along for the journey.

Samantha, anything you want to add to that?

That was pretty comprehensive. You nailed it.

Fair enough. Maybe I’ll ask you this as the newer of the two of you, Samantha. Why would someone want to leave their job or leave where they are and come join you? What do you think are the most compelling reasons for someone to come join you at the foundation?

Somebody who has been looking for that opportunity to start something and build that team that Liza mentioned. This is going to be a role for somebody who likes working in a team with other people and growing it. The compelling thing there is that this is the opportunity to build off of what has been done, start some new practices, establish a new base, and grow with the organization. 6,000 prospects are a lot to work with. There are endless opportunities here. That’s enticing.

Somebody with that real appetite to help manifest those donor dreams and donor visions and who wants to get in front of people is going to be excited about this.

I’m going to add to that. They want to have fun. We are a great group of people here. We’re experts in what we do, but we take the time to get to know each other. That helps us be successful. We’re driven by the purpose, but we are a team and we work together.

We're a strong team of experts, and taking the time to know each other is key to our success. Share on X

I love it. I’ve heard from so many people what a great place to work it is. I’m so glad you’ve highlighted that fun and humor. It’s so important to have some levity in our days. It’s challenging work. It’s difficult work. It’s important to work. If you can’t enjoy it, then it’s not redeeming, ultimately. Any final messages or closing comments for any potential candidates? I’m certainly going to invite people to be in touch with me at [email protected]. We’ve got the posting out. We’ll look more into your bios and backgrounds for that matter, too. Anything else you wanted to add?

You’ve captured everything well. Thank you for giving us the time to share a little bit more about this role.

Thanks to you both. I appreciate the opportunity. I’m looking forward to sitting down with you and some candidates to have some fun, learn about each other, and take it from there.

Thank you.

Thanks.

 

Important Links

• VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation
• VGH & UBC Hospital Foundation on LinkedIn
• [email protected]