A Health Clinic Opens Its Doors to All and Sheds Unneeded Programs

Whitman-Walker Health, a Washington health-care center, had for decades been one of the biggest providers of care for people with HIV and AIDS. With 90 percent of the budget coming from private sources, it grew harder to find support once the economy tanked, says Don Blanchon, Whitman-Walker’s executive director. But even before the recession hit, the center faced other financial-management challenges and barely made payroll in 2006.

From 2007 through 2009, the organization faced more than $8.9-million in losses resulting from plummeting donations and grants, and the loss of patients who were increasingly finding themselves without jobs and health insurance to pay for care. As the losses mounted, the center faced angry public criticism, especially when it began to implement cost-saving changes.

To survive, the organization laid off 115 employees, shrinking the number of staff members from 255 to 140 in 15 months. It also dropped programs it had operated since the 1970s. It eliminated its food bank, housing, and some other programs to help people with HIV/AIDS, both to save money and because other local nonprofits had also started providing those services.

Meanwhile, the organization completed a plan to change its mission from focusing mainly on gays, lesbians, and HIV-positive people to serving everyone. That change helped it get more reimbursements from Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance companies while also bringing other financial benefits.

The center has been debt-free since 2010, and it increased revenue by 8 percent last year. Today, more than 52 percent of Whitman-Walker’s revenue comes from Medicare and Medicaid, health insurance, and a pharmacy the center operates, while private donations account for roughly 47 percent of its budget.

The nonprofit’s new structure has helped with fundraising, says Mr. Blanchon, because the center can show donors, including those who left during the tough times, that it now has stable sources of money.

While the center remains committed to serving people with HIV, says Mr. Blanchon, the organization’s primary-care services for other people have grown. So far this year, the center has attracted about 150 new patients a month. And, says Mr. Blanchon, when he thinks about the painful criticism the center faced when times were hard, he repeats something his father used to tell him: “Remember that sometimes the right thing to do is the hardest thing to do.”

Recovery Tips

• Strengthen the services the charity provides best.
• Drop programs that duplicate what other groups do better.
• Find ways to diversify sources of revenue.