The board for Island Nursing Home in Deer Isle is taking a new route to raise the funds it needs to cover the facility’s debt and open the doors again.
Naming rights.
From outdoor benches to the cafeteria to the facility at large, the Island Nursing Home is looking for sponsors who will pay a fee for three years of their name on the facility.
This is the latest in the efforts to raise funds the board of directors say are necessary to revive the shuttered facility.
Island Nursing Home closed in fall 2021 due to staffing shortages. The board has since received a conditional license to operate a residential care facility that is valid through Jan. 11, 2024. If the home reopens, it will be called Homeport at Island Nursing Home and will be a 32-bed residential care facility. It previously was a skilled care facility.
Over the last five years, Maine has had a growing number of licensed residential care facilities. It’s increased from 690 beds in 2018 to 1,054 in 2023. At the same time, skilled nursing facilities have reduced from 93 beds in 2018 to 85 beds in 2023.
Spokesperson Dan Cashman said that this may be the first time a nursing home has sold naming rights, but the practice has been successfully used in other industries. For instance, the Cross Insurance Center has sold naming rights both to the facility itself and to spaces inside it.
The naming rights for Island Nursing Home range from $25,000 for the benches or outdoor lighting in gardens to $1 million for the entire facility for a three-year term.
The Island Nursing Home Board of Directors has vowed not to move ahead with reopening until they raise $1.5 million, which will cover a funding gap for the first three years caused by the difference between Mainecare reimbursement rates and the actual cost per resident. So far, the board has raised $557,151 through private donations.
“We have raised more than a third of our goal,” said Leon Weed, president of the Island Nursing Home Board of Directors. “We cannot reopen this facility without the assurance that we can keep it going. This business fundraising plan represents the next phase of our efforts, and we feel it comes with an opportunity for businesses to attach themselves to a well-loved facility, creating some goodwill, and to be a part of the future of Homeport at Island Nursing Home.”
The board has vowed not to spend any money raised until they have the full amount. Should they fail to meet the goal and not reopen, donations and sponsorship money will be refunded.
“We think that incorporating businesses into our fundraising plan is a win-win,” said Island Nursing Home Board Treasurer Skip Greenlaw. “Businesses can have many parts of our beloved building named after them, and we will be able to reopen to serve the elderly population in this area.”
Cashman said the idea popped up a couple months ago and has been in development since. If this is successful, he said, it may lead to other similar funding initiatives in the future. They’re hopeful this will be a more sustainable way of bridging funding gaps into the future.
“It’s going to be on members of the board to try to go into meetings and business to try to talk about it in a more formal fashion,” Cashman said.
