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The ValleyCare Charitable Foundation Board of Trustees has announced that the nonprofit fundraising arm of the Tri-Valley hospital will dissolve and merge with Stanford, pending approval of the foundation’s corporate members.
The move, which comes five years after the ValleyCare health system merger with Stanford Health, would see VCCF’s mission and its current fund balance transition to the Stanford University Office of Medical Center Development, with a specific team to be dedicated to Stanford Health Care-ValleyCare hospital priorities, the board said in a statement last Friday.
“We are very proud of all that VCCF has accomplished over the years,” VCCF president and executive director Shaké Sulikyan told the Weekly on Monday.
“After careful consideration and deliberation, VCCF’s board decided to move in this direction because this merger will help our community raise even more money to bring vital programs and services to our region. The merger is well-timed and aligns with the hospital’s strategic vision,” she added.
VCCF corporate members will vote on the proposed nonprofit merger later in this quarter, according to the board. The foundation is hiring a third-party firm to manage the balloting, and virtual town halls about the process are scheduled during the next two weeks.
The trustees said they were proud of all of the foundation’s accomplishments over the years, particularly funding the effort for Stanford-ValleyCare to become a primary stroke center in 2019 and providing ongoing support for modern equipment, technology and services.
They noted that the proposed merger will continue to encourage a direct focus on achieving Stanford-ValleyCare strategic priorities into the future, while under the Stanford brand and vision in line with the goals of the hospital’s recently completed five-year strategic plan.
“SHC-VC will be defined as locally Stanford, regionally connected, and intentionally integrated with Stanford Health Care. The priorities of the strategic plan include Stanford brand alignment and transformation, as well as alignment of clinical, operational, development, and support services,” the board said.
Another aspect of the timing of the merger is that, as of the end of 2020, the foundation had fulfilled all obligations related to conditions imposed by the California Attorney General’s Office as part of approving the Stanford-ValleyCare affiliation in 2015, which included requiring Stanford to consult with VCCF prior to certain decisions and reports for a period of time.
The nonprofit merger will allow the Tri-Valley hospital to benefit from Stanford’s “highly trained team of experienced fundraising professionals and partner teams” to accomplish local fundraising goals, according to the board.
“As part of the merger, SHC-VC will receive the funds currently held by VCCF and VCCF will no longer exist as a separate entity,” the board said. “Most importantly, all funds, endowed or expendable, will be transferred and stewarded according to the donor’s original intent. Future funds will be managed in compliance with Stanford University’s current funds accounting policies.”
With the merger, Stanford-ValleyCare would create a new Community Advisory and Relations Board composed of 10 to 20 community members to provide input and perspective, serve as local ambassadors and “participate when feasible in the planning, execution, and evaluation of SHC-VC’s community strategy.”
Sulikyan said she will be leaving the organization on June 26 and could not comment at this time on the status of other VCCF employees and volunteers.
For more information and updates on the process, visit givevalleycare.org/merger.
Could go either way. Perhaps they use Stanford’s resources to create a higher level of trauma care here, so that Eden trips aren’t necessary. Or perhaps Stanford shuts the whole thing down a few years out. Loss of local control means a shutdown would require doing it all over again, and possibly make it beyond our reach.