For the past fifteen years, as Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs, for Johns Hopkins Medicine, Steve Rum has been the leader of the development organization that has generated on average over $1billion dollars every four years. This fundraising organization with over 200 employees and raising on average $350m per year in the past five years and is the largest of its kind in the U.S. The development operation encompasses four affiliated hospitals, sixteen clinical departments, the Institute of Basic Sciences and an alumni affairs department.
Mr. Rum is known for his success in leadership philanthropy. Under his direction, the Fund for Johns Hopkins Medicine raised $375 million for Sheikh Zayed Tower and the Bloomberg Children’s Center; he has secured gifts of $100M, $75m and $65m to support capital projects and the creation of Institutes. He directed the medical development effort for the Johns Hopkins University Knowledge for the World campaign, in which Hopkins became the first academic medical center to reach the $2 billion mark. Through his leadership spanning twenty- four years in Academic Medicine, he has led both Johns Hopkins Medicine and Duke University Medicine in raising over $5billion. The largest amount of any individual in Medicine. As a result of his leadership training, five members of his staff on gone on to become Vice Presidents of Development at other intuitions in Higher Education and Medicine.
Steve Rum, is also founder and director of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Philanthropy Institute (JHMPI). The institute was created based on the compelling need in medical development to enhance the professional skills of senior development officers and to also create a research platform for the advancement of the profession in medicine. For the first time in medical development, a research project was published in a medical journal (AAMC) and cited in the prestigious publications of Science and Nature. Additionally this landmark study on physician engagement is now being incorporated as a best practice at medical centers around the country. Recently through his initiative, he launched a national summit on the ethics of medical fundraising associated with grateful patients, physicians and institutions. This has resulted in a published paper in the journals of the AAMC and JAMA in 2018. It is the only document of its kind that has guidelines for institutions and their physicians on the practice of grateful patient fundraising. The JHMPI strategic plan and the Summer Institute program reflect Steve’s capacity to think beyond the walls of his own institution and the bounds of his own career; they embody his desire to advance the effectiveness, quality, and stature of medical development as a credible profession.
Steve’s professional fundraising career began with Special Olympics International in Washington, DC, where he was Assistant Vice President for Development and Marketing (1988-1991). He then served as Assistant Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at the Children’s National Medical Center Foundation in Washington (1991-1994), and as Vice Chancellor for Development and Alumni Affairs at Duke University Medical Center (1994-2005). At Duke, he led a seven-year campaign, Keeping the Promise of Medicine, during which he and his team exceeded their campaign goal of $600 million by more than $100 million.
Mr. Rum earned his bachelor’s degree from Georgia Southern University, and his master’s degree in administration from Ohio University. From 1978 to 1983, he played professional baseball in Italy and Japan.