In 1918, Margaret B. Carle Morris left $40,000 to the city of Urbana to help establish a hospital. Others donated the land, time and energy to make her dream a reality. For instance, the Busey Family Homestead, built in the 1860s, was property donated by Simeon Busey and family on August 14, 1920, to the Urbana Memorial Hospital Association, later to become Carle Foundation Hospital. In keeping with this philanthropic legacy, Carle administrators formed The Carle Development Foundation, a not-for-profit, charitable organization operated by The Carle Foundation through which donations can be made. Another remarkable aspect of the Foundation’s creation was the decision by the physicians’ of Carle Clinic Association to donate all of the buildings, which they owned outright, to this non-profit entity. The Carle Foundation and Carle Clinic Association have grown to become one of the largest healthcare providers in Illinois. And we continue to grow as we serve the health care needs of communities throughout central Illinois and beyond. Now Today, philanthropy plays an even greater role at Carle. As the cost of new technologies continue to rise and reimbursements decline, the financial strain of providing quality health care has become an even greater challenge. These factors, and many others, led our administrators to select fund development as one of the key strategies to realizing our mission. Generous gifts have already allowed us to bring many services to our community including pediatric oncology and the St. Joseph Institute for the Deaf. The Carle Development Foundation collected more than $2.5 million in charitable gifts in 2003-04 alone from friends, supporters and employees of Carle. Charitable giving gives hope to patients and helps raise health care in our community to a whole new level of excellence.