Dear Dar a Luz Community,
Happy New Year Dar a Luz community! Welcome to the first newsletter of 2024. We ended last year’s fundraising campaign having raised $220K from Dar a Luz community members, individual donors, local foundations, board & staff. We are so grateful to everyone who contributed to this campaign, which helped us cover the $189K deficit created by a gap between insurance reimbursement and cost of care (exciting new developments around this at the end of the newsletter!). Your contributions also allowed us to start the process of finding the right candidate for our new Development Director position.
You saved the birth center! Now, we are starting this year in a growth mindset by hiring a Development Director who will be able to support #DaraLuz2.0, the next phase of our expansion and our long-term vision of sustainability. The Development Director will guide our Capital Campaign that will last from 2024-2026 with the goal of raising 2 million dollars that will go towards providing services to even more New Mexicans, purchasing our Dar a Luz building and property, and adding a building on our property that will house diversified services such as ultrasound, perinatal mental health, lactation care, and community events/groups.
The Dar a Luz Development Director will play a crucial role in creating and maintaining development strategies, establishing strong relationships in the community, and leading our fundraising initiatives. Responsibilities of the position include community outreach and partnership building, fundraising initiatives, sponsorship development, corporate and private fundraising, capital campaigns, grant writing, as well as hosting events that support and enhance the objectives of the Dar a Luz mission. The ideal candidate will have a background in nonprofit fundraising, excellent communication skills, and a deep commitment to advancing women’s health and the well-being of diverse families.
We need your help in spreading the word! We know how rich our Dar a Luz community is in terms of connections, skills, and passion for the healthcare of parents and newborns. We feel confident that one of you knows someone who is a good fit for this new position. See the job description and steps for applying HERE. Please send this link to your wider community network, post on your social media, forward our newsletter!
In addition, we want to update you on the other ways in which our staff has worked hard to increase our income streams in 2024. We have successfully renegotiated a contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield commercial plan, effective 12/1/2023, and are already seeing increased payments come through. We are currently in negotiations with all other national insurance companies regarding our contracts to make sure that we are being compensated fairly for our services. If we are able to secure these new contracts across the board, we should no longer be at risk for developing a financial deficit in the future due to the difference between cost of care and provider reimbursement.
Look out for more news from us in the coming weeks about our next fundraising goals and opportunities to contribute!
Sincerely, Dar a Luz Board and Staff
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