A Journey from Patient Care to Philanthropy: Q&A with Emily Smith, MSN, RN

Emily Smith, MSN, RN, took a less conventional path into the world of philanthropy, having originally joined the team at St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton, Oregon as a Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA). 

Though she’s no longer directly involved in patient care, every decision she makes is woven with empathy and compassion — especially how she communicates with donors.

We asked Emily to share a bit about her background and what drew her to development, as well as some of her proudest accomplishments as the Director of St. Anthony Hospital Foundation. Hear what she had to say:

Q: Can you share your journey from patient care to philanthropy? What inspired you to pursue a new area of health care?

A: It’s a roundabout story! I started working at St. Anthony Hospital as a CNA and then was fortunate enough to stay on once I graduated with my RN. 

Several years later, I obtained my Master of Science in Nursing degree and was hired as the Clinical Education Manager at St. Anthony. My office was located next to the Marketing/Foundation Director at the time. 

I was able to help him with some social media and other digital efforts, as well as decorating a tree for the Festival of Trees. When he retired, I was asked if I would be interested in applying for the vacant position. 

I really enjoyed the work I’d done with him, both on the marketing side and especially the event portion of the philanthropy role, so I said yes to the opportunity. I’m so glad I did!

Q: How does your nursing background help you in your current role?

A: I think my nursing background helps in a few ways. I’m also in charge of marketing for the hospital — and knowing what would and wouldn’t happen in clinical situations comes in handy during photo and video shoots.

From the philanthropy lens, having a clinical background helps me really understand the care and compassion aspect of the work that we do, because I’ve been there. 

I know what it’s like to hold a patient’s hand as they are going through treatment and provide comfort when they are scared or hurting. That understanding translates to working with donors and conveying the “why” behind what we do in philanthropy.

Q: What is one of your proudest moments at St. Anthony Hospital Foundation?

A: We just finished up our Festival of Trees, which is the main fundraiser we do each year. As I mentioned previously, when I was still working in education in 2017, I decorated a tree and helped a bit with event setup, but that was basically the extent of my involvement.  

The next summer in my new role, I coordinated the whole event. Since I was the only person in the philanthropy office, it was a lot of building the plane while I was flying it! It was already an established event, but there is so much work that goes on behind the scenes that I had to learn. 

My first event was a success, and I’ve made several changes over the years to continue growing it — things like switching from a silent auction on paper to a digital platform. This was incredibly helpful when the pandemic forced us into virtual events, because our attendees were already comfortable with the online bidding process.  

That first year, we raised around $45,000, and the event proceeds have steadily increased over the years. In 2025, preliminary numbers show that gross revenue surpassed $100,000, making it the most successful year on record! So, to answer your question: the success of the Festival of Trees this year is one of my proudest moments. It felt great to see our numbers in the six digits!

Q: What advice would you give someone just starting their career in healthcare philanthropy?

A: My advice would be to keep an open mind and always be willing to try and learn something new. I had the opportunity to attend the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy Madison Institute in 2024 — it was amazing to learn so many new things and then figure out how I could implement them at St. Anthony. 

I think sometimes in our jobs, and in life, we get comfortable doing what we’ve always done just because it’s been working. We don’t have the time or energy to think anywhere past that. I agree with the sentiment “don’t fix it if it’s not broken” to some extent. But I also think it’s really important to be brave and push boundaries, because making a change might turn out to be even better than you’d hoped.  

The other piece of advice I’d give is to keep the mission in mind no matter what you’re working on. We do really important work every day to help support our community hospitals. We have to remember that this work impacts real people on a very personal level — and even if we aren’t the ones at the bedside, we still have the potential to make a huge difference in their lives.

Q: On a personal note, what is your favorite holiday or New Year tradition? How did you spend the season with your family?

A: My wild hobbies are reading, taking naps and spending time with my kids. I was able to take most of the Christmas break off this year, and it was wonderful to just relax and hang out with my family! 

One of our favorite traditions is getting ice cream and driving around looking at Christmas lights, so it was fun to continue that again!

 

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