The Board of Lady Managers brought together the support of countless individuals, churches, schools, community groups, and local businesses to support Alexandria Hospital. An endowment fund was started by 1926. In addition to the money and in-kind donations raised through direct appeals, the hospital would come to rely on the support of the Auxiliary Board and The Twig organizations. Local chapters of the Circle of Kings Daughters regularly supported rooms in the hospital with generous financial donations. The Colored Citizens Association furnished and supported the wards for African Americans in the Duke Street hospital. Community members could donate to specific initiatives such as the Children’s Ward Fund or the X-Ray Endowment Fund. Alexandria City Council provided financial support to cover expenses for patients who were unable to pay hospital fees. For many years, traditional Thanksgiving gifts were essential to hospital operations. Donations came in all shapes and sizes, from two bushels of potatoes to a dozen towels to an entire pantry’s worth of preserved fruits and vegetables. 

The following are a sampling of donors recorded for 1917 and 1939. They are transcribed as they appeared in the hospital’s annual reports. 

1917 Hospital Donations:

• Mt. Vernon Circle of the King’s Daughters, $112.06
• Eleemosynary Circle of King’s Daughters, $286.29
• Woodlawn Circle of the King’s Daughters, $112.06
• Colored Citizens Association, $500
• St. Luke’s Circle of King’s Daughters, $500
• Christ Church, $25.00
• St. Paul’s Church, $12.50
• Pohick Church, $12.50
• Grace Church Whatsoever Society, King’s Daughters, $25.00
• Second Presbyterian Sunday School, $25.00
• First Baptist Sunday School, $25.00
• M. E Church South Sunday School, $25.00
• St. Mary’s Church, Catholic, $25.00
• Bethel Temple, $16.75
• National Needle Work League, 43 garments
• St. Paul’s Sunday School, apples, sugar, salt
• Alexandria Gazette, 1 yearly subscription
• King’s Daughters Circle Del Ray, 15 cans vegetables, 2 quarts beans, 7 jars fruit and jelly
• N. Lindsey & Co., 1 Shredded Wheat, 1 Pink Salmon, 1 Cream Wheat, 25 lbs. rice, 25 lbs. hominy, 25 lbs. wheat, 2 quarts Olive Oil, 1-2 gallon olives
• Constantinople Fruit Store, 1 bunch bananas
• Council of Jewish Women, $5.00
• Zion Baptist Church (Colored), $1.25

1939 Hospital Donations

• Woodlawn Circle of the King’s Daughters and Sons, 30 tray covers, 12 vases, a case of peaches
• St. Luke’s Circle of the King’s Daughters, support two endowed rooms, bed in men’s ward
• Eleemosynary Circle of the King’s Daughters, $119.40
• Martha Washington Chapter, No. 42, Order of the Eastern Star, $15.00
• M.E. Church South Sunday School, $25.00
• Christ Church, $25.00
• St. Paul’s Church, $17.00
• First Baptist Church Sunday School, $25.00
• Second Presbyterian Church Sunday School, $22.35
• St. Mary’s Church, $25.00
• Emmanuel Church at Braddock, $4.50
• Emmanuel Chapel, Theological Seminary, $48.17
• Greenaway Bible Class, $30.00
• Del Ray Methodist Church, $10.00
• Oakland Baptist Church (Colored), $10.00
• Zion Baptist Church (Colored), $5.00
• The Hospital Auxiliary – Microscope for laboratory of surgical pathology. Toys and Books for children.
• The Twigs – Cystoscopic table.
• Lee School – 42 canned goods, fruit, vegetables, provisions.
• Washington St. School – 16 canned goods, fruit, vegetables, provisions.
• Maury School – 37 canned goods, fruit, vegetables, provisions.
• Mt. Vernon School – 89 canned goods, fruit, vegetables, provisions.
• George Washington High School – 122 canned goods, fruit, vegetables, provisions.
• Jefferson School – 48 canned goods, fruit, vegetables, provisions.
• Parker-Gray School – 32 canned goods, vegetables.
• Gibson’s Drug Store – Prescription pads.
• R.E. Knight & Sons – Kitchen pans.
• Needlework Guild of Alexandria – 66 new garments (infants, children, adults).
• Colored Branch Needlework Guild – 121 new garments (infants, children, adults).
• F.B. Howard & Co. – One bu. Apples.

When the Alexandria Infirmary was founded, the Board of Lady Managers had the dual role of administering healthcare and marshalling financial support.  In the early years, Alexandria's farmers donated food, church groups donated blankets and benefit proceeds, while local businesses made donations of products or money. Julia Johns and the Lady Managers were prominent members of the faith communities who played a vital role in financially sustaining the Infirmary in its early years. For example, churches donated proceeds from collections on Hospital Sunday to the Infirmary. Because they worked within Alexandria’s faith communities, women had the opportunity to be the Infirmary’s most significant fundraisers. In January 1883, a three-day fair organized by church women raised over $1,500 to support the purchase of a new infirmary building.

In 1941, the Board of Lady Managers passed on their stewardship of the hospital to professional administrators. They remained stewards of the nursing school until 1944 and retained director positions on the hospital’s board until the organization merged with Inova Health Systems in 1997. Without the responsibilities of hospital administration, the Lady Managers could fully commit to fundraising. Examples of fundraising events include shopping collaborations with local businesses, theatre productions, and a popular annual fashion show, luncheon, and silent auction, that was started in 1944. After the Auxiliary Board dissolved in 2008, the Board of Lady Managers took over operating the hospital gift shop. Money raised from these efforts goes to the hospital for purchasing new technology. Examples include purchasing an O-Arm Surgical Imaging System in 2019, and the 2020 conversion of several rooms to be “negative pressure rooms,” also known as isolation rooms, for patients who are susceptible to infections. Most recently they fulfilled a $550,000 pledge for the hospital’s Technical Advancement Fund and Spiritual Care Fellowship Fund. 

The Board of Lady Managers collectively contributes an average of more than 9,000 hours of volunteer service at events, as well as at the hospital, every year. Since 1993, they have donated almost four million dollars to Alexandria Hospital for new medical technologies. Inova Alexandria Hospital programs they support include neurosurgery, inhalation therapy, physical therapy, the Cancer Center, neonatal intensive care unit, cardiovascular care, the Stroke Center, and nursing scholarships.

Organized by Alice Anderton Burke (Mrs. Julian T. Burke), Fanny Carter, and thirteen other members, the Alexandria Hospital Auxiliary Board began in 1920. This organization of women raised funds for the hospital by offering programs and entertainment events for Alexandrians. Their contributions to the hospital helped finance building projects and new technology. In financially challenging times, donations from the Auxiliary Board helped the hospital maintain its service to the Alexandria community. In the organization’s early years, it compensated nurses who performed house calls on patients who were unable to afford medical care. Examples of sizable donations the Auxiliary made to the hospital include the X-Ray Endowment Fund (established in 1933 for the purposes of purchasing a new X-Ray machine as well as future X-Ray machines), a metabolism machine in 1942, and a $40,000 pledge for an Echo Analyzer in 1982.

In 1941, the Auxiliary Board began annual house tours highlighting Alexandria’s historic homes. The Auxiliary opened and operated the Alexandria Hospital Gift Shop beginning in 1946. At the Seminary Road hospital location that opened in 1962, they ran a shop as well as a gift and sundries cart that was taken around to the rooms and wards. Other fundraising initiatives included jewelry shows and sales. The popularity of the Auxiliary Board would lead to the founding of The Twig as a junior auxiliary organization. The Auxiliary Board dissolved in 2008, and the Board of Lady Managers undertook many of the Auxiliary’s traditional programs. 

The Twig is an organization of women dedicated to providing financial aid, volunteer service, and support to Alexandria Hospital. In 1933, a group of twenty-four young women gathered at the home of Alice Anderton Burke (Mrs. Julian T. Burke) to form the Junior Auxiliary of the Alexandria Hospital. They took the name “The Twig” from a contest entry by Mrs. Nellie Sommers Blackwell; this described the new organization as a small branch of the “tree” which supported the hospital.

Today’s members carry on that tradition of community support, having raised more than $4.5 million for hospital programs and equipment. They donated $100,000 to the hospital Covid emergency fund. Successful fundraising has included publishing four profitable cookbooks, operating The Twig Thrift Shop, and hosting annual September Historic House Tours of Alexandria.

Supporting Alexandria Hospital’s nurses has been a top priority for The Twig. It began in 1943 with a donation of $25 to Visiting Nurses Services, Inc. to pay nursing fees for patients in need. In 1948, The Twig established a nurses’ scholarship of $50 a year for three years, in honor of Twig member Cook Smith, for three students attending the School of Nursing. In 1976, The Twig pledged $60,000 in support of the Hospital’s new Nursing Health Education Center on Seminary Road. The pledge was realized in 1980. They also continued supporting nursing students with the Alice Anderton Burke Scholarship Fund. 

After the hospital’s School of Nursing closed in 1987, The Twig established a Nursing Education Fund to provide scholarships to nurses who needed financial support. In 2008, they pledged $25,000 to the Inova Institute for Nursing Excellence Scholarship fund at Inova Alexandria Hospital, to be paid over 5 years. When accepting this scholarship, students agree to a two-year commitment working at Inova Alexandria Hospital after graduating and successfully completing their nursing licensure examination. In total The Twig has donated $400,000 in support of nursing education and facilities.

The Twig considers nurses to be the heart and soul of the hospital community. Every year during Nurses Week, Twig pays tribute to the nursing staff of Inova Alexandria Hospital with a flower flash mob, thanking them for their commitment.

Thanks to the generosity of the local community, Alexandria Hospital grew and prospered. With the future in mind, the Board of Directors established the Alexandria Hospital Foundation in 1978 as a way of more formally seeking donations. By 1982, the Foundation began an ongoing fundraising program, raising over $70,000 from 650 donors. 

The Foundation then approached the three women’s auxiliaries -- the Hospital Auxiliary Board, the Board of Lady Managers, and The Twig -- and asked these volunteer organizations to provide matching funds. The three women’s auxiliaries agreed to formally pledge toward hospital projects, and over the years donated over $8,750,000 supporting hospital programs and initiatives.

The Board of Lady Managers and The Twig continue to pledge toward hospital projects. The Board of Lady Managers operated the hospital gift shop until its closure due to Covid-19. Plans are in the works for them to again manage the shop when it reopens, as well as host their annual fashion show. The Twig’s Thrift Shop is open for business in Old Town and their Historic Alexandria Homes Tour, held every September, continues to raise funds for the hospital.

The Alexandria Hospital Foundation also expanded its fundraising efforts to include memorial gifts along with restricted giving, thus allowing donors to support a particular hospital project or service. Examples of donor generosity include the Brock Family Antenatal Testing Center and the Joe Viar, Jr. and Bonnie Christ Cancer Center.

In 1992, Joe Viar, Jr., a Board member, suggested the Foundation create an annual giving society. The Founders Society, named in honor of the community members who established the hospital in 1872, averaged over 300 members and focused its fundraising efforts on upgrading hospital services and expanding the emergency department, also known as Project 2010. The Alexandria community contributed over $17 million dollars in private donations to underwrite construction and equipment.

As healthcare needs in the community changed, Inova took a new approach towards fundraising. Inova formed Visionaries in 2019 to acknowledge the importance of philanthropy in ensuring Inova Alexandria Hospital achieves its mission of providing world-class healthcare. Over 790 Visionaries are the generous donors of Inova and serve as partners to enhance the patient and family experience, recruit and retain top talent, address healthcare needs for vulnerable populations and support the well-being of the local community.