When the wife of a successful surgeon came into a sizable inheritance, her first thought was to consider how she could make a gift to honor her husband.

Through conversations with the chief development officer of the hospital foundation where her husband served, they sought to find just the right cause to support—one that was meaningful for her husband and one that truly changed lives for the better. Through one-on-one donor engagement, she was encouraged to give strategically not just generously.

Over many weeks, they came to the right choice: an overseas medical mission. The couple had been on surgical missions around the world, and her husband always found them to be effective venues for serving the people of that locale. This was a cause that was important to his faith tradition as well as personally fulfilling.

Ultimately, she decided to establish an endowment to fund scholarships for nurses who would serve in these missions. Nurses were essential, but rarely could they afford the cost of travel. Her gift would create a $1-million endowment that would live on, long after them.

The first missions supported by the endowment were launched into the Amazon region of Peru where many individuals desperately needed surgery to correct scars from severe burns, cleft lips and palates in children, and many other grave maladies. The impact of this nonprofit’s intentional donor engagement was immediate and life-changing for many.

Now in its eighth year, these ongoing missions have positively impacted hundreds of lives.

Without the generous philanthropy, and the guidance of a skilled fundraising professional, this would likely have never happened. This is the power of philanthropy in maximizing donor engagement: tangibly expressing one’s values and interests in a way that brings about lasting change.