Running Head: AGENCY REPORT: THE RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE

Agency Report: The Ronald McDonald House

Lydia Kirkland
Wilmington University

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Mission
The mission of the Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey (RMHSNJ)
provides a home-away-from-home to families of seriously ill and injured children who are being
treated at nearby hospitals and operates Family Rooms within pediatric units of hospitals across
Southern New Jersey.
Demographic Information
The Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey assists seriously ill children
ranging from newborn to age twenty-one who must travel at least thirty miles for urgently
needed medical care. Parents travel great distances to get the best possible care for their sick
child: from 14 New Jersey counties 47%, from other states 44% and from other countries 9%.
The childrens diagnoses include: Fetal Surgery & NICU 28%, PICU/Pediatrics 65%, Pediatric
Oncology 4% and Pediatric Trauma 3%. The children are patients at these hospitals: Cooper
University Hospital 11%, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia 52%, Shriners Hospital for
Children 37%, Wills Eye Hospital 15% and Others 8%. A familys longest stay was 239 nights.
524 families stayed in our home-away-from-home. We were unable to accommodate an
additional 261 families who had to be referred to hotels.
Policies and Procedures
The Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey (RMHSJ) has many policies and
procedures. They are linked with Cooper Hospital and adhere to many of their policies and
procedures. The major policies and procedures they follow when it comes to administration
include but are not limited to: financial and social media. The financial policy and procedures
speak to who can handle the money. These policies & procedures outline who are bonded and

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collect money and who can sign checks. The social media speaks of how the social media is
limited to work efforts only.
Structure
The structure is comprised of a Board of Trustees (25 volunteer community leaders).
Under that is the President/Executive Director (Teddy Thomas), she is in charge of the whole
organization. Under her are the Finance Manager (Pat) and Administration and Data Coordinator
(Danielle). Then the organizational structure of RMHSNJ is separated into two structures. They
have the developmental side and the operations side. On the developmental side there is the
Development Director (Tina) in charge of corporate partnerships, major gifts and grants. Then
there is the Development Manager (Dorothy) for events and volunteers. Finally there are interns
and event volunteers. On the operations side there is the Program Manager (Dawn), working
along side is the Community & Social Media Manager (Sonia). Under them is the Guest Service
Manager (Danielle), Resident Manager (Carol), Weekend Managers (8 part-time), Family room
coordinators (3 part-time), Family room volunteers (9) and House Volunteers.
Governance
A 25 member volunteer Board of Trustees governs Ronald McDonald House of SNJ and
is responsible for policy making, governance, and financial oversight. The Board hires the
Executive Director who manages the ongoing operations including staffing, public relations, and
fundraising. In addition to the small staff, there are more than 500 volunteers annually, who team
with the Board and Staff to assist with family care and fundraising.
Funding
The funding for the Ronald McDonald House of SNJ comes from a number of sources.

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They receive corporate support, special events, foundation grants, and individual donations. The
individual donations make up the majority of their financial support. Their special events are
next in line as a major support. Although, these are the major resources every source helps
sustain the organization.
The corporate support is either in the form of sponsoring room or family. When a
corporation sponsors a room they decorate a specific room with their company as the theme of
the room and agree to keep it up for three years. They take care of whatever needs touching up,
paint rugs and/or furniture. When they sponsor a family they pay for the family stay for a year or
more depending on how long they choice to pay for.
Special events are another way to raise funds. Currently RMHSNJ is hosting four events
back to back. They are working on Wine and Chocolate, American Girl Fashion Show, a RMHC
telethon and Spare some love bowling event. These events allow for awareness and collection of
funds to support the organization. These events along with others are done every year and every
so often one may be replaced depending on how well it does.
Foundation grants are another way to seek funding. Their grant writer along with the
executive director fills out Grant applications. They seek grants that line up with their mission.
They may fill out ten applications and only receive two grants. These grants are helpful as they
provide larger sums at one time.
They also obtain funding from individual donors. The public is very important in
supporting an organization. These donations come anywhere from collecting change in jars,
writing checks, leaving money in a persons will and in plenty of other ways. They are a
necessary support system. Individual donors make up the primary source of their funding.

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Relationship to other agencies

The Ronald McDonald House has family rooms located in the pediatric units at
AtlantiCare, Capital Health, Cooper University Hospital, Inspira Health, Kennedy Memorial
Hospital, Shore Medical Center, Virtua Voorhees and Virtua Memorial Mt. Holly. These Ronald
McDonald family rooms assist with families being able to stay over night while their ill child
receives the necessary medical attention.
The Ronald McDonald House of SNJ also has a partnership with Hope Works. Hope
Works is a nonprofit charity that takes in troubled youth and trains them in technology. Hope
Works provides the RMHSNJ with students to work in their facility. RMHSNJ is often the first
job for these students. This relationship assists the community of Camden with job placement.
The Ronald McDonald House of SNJ also works with the Cathedral Soup Kitchen. They
currently supply menus to the RMHSNJ. In the future the RMHSNJ will work with the Cathedral
Soup Kitchen by hiring those in the Camden population interested in culinary arts. The RMHSNJ
will employ those with a culinary background to help run the kitchen during mealtime. This
relationship will also help the community.
Strengths, Trends & Challenges
Strengths
The Ronald McDonald House of SNJ has much strength. One of the strengths of the
Ronald McDonald House of SNJ is relationship. They have strong relationships with area
hospitals and the McDonald Corporation. Another strength is their ability to expand. Lastly, is
the RMHSNJs volunteer base. These strengths are basic things a successful organization needs
in order to operate.

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They have relationships with the area hospitals. These relationships allow RMHSNJ to increase
their consumer base. The hospital social workers know the financial state and medical urgency of
the families. The hospital social workers know who has the needs and makes referrals to the
RMHSNJ. This method of screening assists the RMHSNJ in the decision making of placement.
Also RMHSNJ has the relationship with McDonald for funding. Having the relationship
with McDonald, just in the name alone allows the organization to be provided with a positive
reputation. This correlation promotes giving of both monetary and in-kind donations at an easier.
Corporations and their employees are more incline to give as well as individual donors. They can
contact local McDonald franchises in the area and receive food and beverages for their families
and staff.
Another strength is expansion. The RMHSNJ has the ability to expand to meet the
overwhelming need of seriously ill children and their families. They have now added four more
rooms to their building. They have also added more common space areas (family rooms) within
the house. This strength decreases their limitations and increases their ability to serve those in
need from other countries. It also increases awareness about their existence as they can reach
more corporations to sponsor more rooms and/or families within the house.
The last strength to be noted is the volunteer base at RMHSNJ. They have a very large
volunteer base that includes but not limited to teen advisory council, young-professional council,
dinner groups, family fun nights, house volunteers, family meals & activities volunteers, family
room volunteers, morning/afternoon helpers and evening helpers. The RMHSNJ has more than
700 volunteers. These volunteers serve as the hub for RMHSNJ. They cut the cost from having
to hire employees. There are more than seven hundred volunteers. They also provide so many

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talents for the organization to utilize.

Trends
The main trend for most if not all organizations not unlike RMHSNJ is social media. This
includes of course the main sites like Face Book, Twitter and Instagram. Another social media
aspect is Crowd Funding. In addition, is that RMHSNJ is moving towards modernizing events.
Making sure that you are engaging the audience with what is relevant to them. Constantly
staying knowledgeable of what is trending in various demographics.
Challenges
For nonprofit organizations funding is always a challenge. An organization is constantly
searching for funding and the issue at times is that more than one organization is trying to receive
from basically the same pot. Also as an organization increases so does the budget. Trying to
balance your expenses and income can be more challenging as you service more of the
community. This is an ongoing challenge that needs constant monitoring.
Another challenge for the RMHSNJ is trying to figure out their need for expansion. It can
be a challenge figure out how much expansion is needed based on the other services in the area.
For example, The Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia added sixty rooms. Therefore, the
need to only add four rooms was the move to make. Initially, the thought was to add fifteen
rooms however with the expansion of Philadelphia, pulling back was the smarter more
conservative move.
Finding the balance in an organization another challenge. Not being stuck in one area is
key. Knowing not to put all time into searching for foundation grants but also reaching out for

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corporation sponsorships or other things. RMHSNJ has to keep all the balls juggling. Knowing
how to concentrate one the various areas equally is significant when looking to operate
successfully.
The last challenge of RMHSNJ is focusing on planned giving. They have to develop a
legacy society. They need to set up a formal plan to recruit legacy givers. An organization has to
be around long enough find people to commit to that type of giving. The organization needs to
establish these kinds of trusts more frequently and consistently.
Interns Role
My role at the agency is to perform various tasks wherever needed. I have been
able to write letters to introduce our recycling program to the local libraries. Working
with the program manager and media manager I have also created a flyer. I have sat
in on two major meetings. In these meetings fundraising events and web development
were discussed. I have also assisted in stuffing letters and helping with coin
collection. I have assisted the event planner with soliciting online in kind donations
from corporations. I have also been in charge of a school that came to volunteer by
cleaning the facility. I sat with the finance manager to better understand the
importance of record keeping. I was also offered a temporary position after my
internship is over so I have been training to be a liaison for the hospital and the
organization. My supervisor has given me tasks that allow me to be used in all aspects
of the organization.

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Reference

R. (2016). Welcome to the Ronald McDonald House of Southern New Jersey. Retrieved
February 15, 2016, from http://www.ronaldhouse-snj.org/