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A Message From Our CEO

 

Dear friends,

As we reflect on the past 30 years, I am filled with both profound gratitude for our community and excitement about the path ahead.

The challenges facing healthcare systems worldwide, from provider burnout to persistent health disparities, have reinforced the urgency of our work. Central to our future vision is our new Schwartz Compassionate Care Model, which will serve as our framework for compassion-building programs and partnerships to support patients, families, healthcare teams, and organizations across the globe.

Your generosity makes this work possible. Your support advances vital programs like Schwartz Rounds® and Stress First Aid, underwrites critical training, advocacy, and thought leadership work, and enables our international expansion. Every contribution helps healthcare teams expand their capacity for compassionate care delivery, both here in the United States and abroad.

As Ken Schwartz wrote, “Each one of us wants not simply the best possible care for our body but for our whole being.” We remain inspired by his legacy and energized by our global community of champions. Together, we are transforming healthcare culture and ensuring that compassion remains at the heart of healing for generations to come, wherever care is delivered.

Thank you for your steadfast partnership in this vital mission.

Michael Gustafson Signature

Michael Gustafson, MD, MBA
Chief Executive Officer

INTRODUCING THE SCHWARTZ COMPASSIONATE CARE MODEL

Our newly developed Schwartz Compassionate Care Model provides the roadmap for our next chapter. This evidence-based framework outlines six domains for building and sustaining compassion in healthcare organizations, guiding us as we develop programs and partnerships that foster meaningful caregiver-patient relationships, support team resilience, and create lasting compassionate cultures.

Our International Growth

For three decades, the Schwartz Center has championed the human connection in healthcare. Now, with 183 new sites across the U.K. and Ireland joining us, our mission is expanding globally to meet rising demand for compassionate care.

Beyond the U.K. and Ireland, we continue to strengthen our presence in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, where growing networks of healthcare organizations are implementing our programs to address the unique challenges facing their patients, care teams, and communities.

In addition, more than 61,960 healthcare providers across 39 countries turn to our webinars and online resources for guidance.

Our Impact

800+

sites across the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand run our Schwartz Rounds program.

8,900+

caregivers, representing  34 countries, viewed our Schwartz Compassion in Action Webinar Series in 2025.

Future Vision

For three decades, the Schwartz Center has been at the forefront of championing and increasing compassionate connections in healthcare. Through our efforts, we have reduced psychological distress in care teams and increased empathetic care for patients – all which lead to improved health outcomes. In today’s healthcare landscape, marked by unprecedented challenges including provider burnout, technological overload, and persistent health inequities, our purpose resonates more powerfully than ever before. Our future vision will cultivate compassion in healthcare and its associated benefits for patients, families, healthcare teams and organizations. We’ll achieve this by:

  • Reaching More People and Places with the Time-Tested and Proven Effectiveness of the Schwartz Rounds Program: Extending our signature program to support more healthcare organizations and professionals worldwide.
  • Building a Community of Compassion Champions: Fostering a vibrant community of compassionate care advocates and leaders.
  • Advancing the Power of Compassion to Transform Organizations: Implementing the Schwartz Compassionate Care Model as a framework to drive institutional change, supported by an expanded set of programs and partnerships.

The Schwartz Rounds Program

More than 900 sites across the U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand run our Schwartz Rounds program.

The Schwartz Rounds program creates dedicated space for healthcare workers to discuss the emotional dimensions of their work—both the challenges and the joys. Each session is organized around a compelling theme or patient story, and includes both clinical and nonclinical panelists and participants. More than 100 peer-reviewed and descriptive studies have documented the benefits of the Schwartz Rounds program for over 25 years.

90%of attendees reported a greater understanding of the psychosocial and emotional aspects of patient care

85%of respondents said the Schwartz Rounds increased their understanding and practice of empathy with patients

 

“When you attend Schwartz Rounds and witness what people go through as they share their experiences, you see the profound learning that occurs alongside the immediate emotional release and healing that happens in that moment. It’s very powerful, and I think it’s
an amazing program.” – Shelly Anderson, MPM. Hospital President Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Learn More

Healthcare Organizations We Support

Donor Spotlight

Steve Corman

This year, we mourn the loss of a visionary, philanthropist, and cherished friend of the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare. Together with his late wife Betsy, Steve made a lasting contribution by naming the Schwartz Center in his will. Steve and Betsy’s extraordinary commitment to advancing compassionate healthcare led to the creation of the Corman IMPACT Honors, a program that has recognized and elevated programs that promote innovative, compassionate care.

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This year, we mourn the loss of a visionary, philanthropist, and cherished friend of the Schwartz Center for Compassionate Healthcare. Together with his late wife Betsy, Steve Corman’s extraordinary commitment to advancing compassionate healthcare led to the creation of the Corman IMPACT Honors, a program that has recognized and elevated programs that promote innovative, compassionate care.

Steve was one of the first members of the Schwartz Center Legacy Society, Steve made a lasting contribution by naming the Schwartz Center in his will.  We are grateful that Steve understood the importance of compassion – and joined the Schwartz Center’s Legacy Society as a charter member prior to his passing. His sustaining gift to the Schwartz Center will help to ensure the well-being of future generations of healthcare workers and sustain generations of caregivers, including doctors, nurses, and all healthcare workers, to feel increased compassion and engagement toward patients. 

Steve’s warmth, wisdom, and unwavering belief in the power of compassion to transform healthcare will be deeply missed.

Donor Spotlight

Ellen and Michael Gordon

“Donating to the Schwartz Center is a philanthropic priority for us. As a psychotherapist (Ellen) and a surgeon (Michael), we know firsthand the importance of compassionate caregiving, as well as the emotional toll it takes on caregivers. The Schwartz Center addresses these priorities with the Schwartz Center Rounds, the Compassion in Action webinars, and other mission-driven programming. We are so proud of the Center’s continued growth and success.” — Ellen Gordon

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“Donating to the Schwartz Center is a philanthropic priority for us. As a psychotherapist (Ellen) and a surgeon (Michael), we know firsthand the importance of compassionate caregiving, as well as the emotional toll it takes on caregivers. The Schwartz Center addresses these priorities with the Schwartz Rounds, the Compassion in Action webinars, and other mission-driven programming. We are so proud of the Center’s continued growth and success.” — Ellen Gordon

Michael and Ellen Feldberg Gordon have been supporters of the Schwartz Center since its inception in 1995. Michael, an orthopedic surgeon, and Ellen, a psychologist, generously underwrite the Schwartz Center’s Compassion in Action webinar series each year as well as the Marjorie Stanzler Fund which provides access to Schwartz Center programs to healthcare organizations that could otherwise not afford them.

Donor Spotlight

Paresh Purohit

“Our contribution to the Schwartz Center offers us a unique opportunity to directly support healthcare providers in today’s challenging healthcare environment.  It is a privilege for us to support the Schwartz Center’s mission and work, which enables healthcare professionals to provide outstanding human-centered care, providing patients and their families with hope, empathy, and compassion during their most vulnerable moments.” –Paresh Purohit

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Paresh Purohit and Ritu Trivedi-Purohit have supported the Schwartz Center since 2015. Paresh attended our Annual Kenneth B. Schwartz Center Compassionate Healthcare Dinner for the first time in 2013 where he was moved by the stories shared by our National Compassionate Caregivers of the Year award and guest speaker Dr. Atul Gawande. Paresh lives outside Chicago, where he is a vice president at Marsh McLennan Agency, which provides business insurance, employee health & benefits, retirement, and private client insurance solutions. He is also a member of the Schwartz Center Leadership Council.

 

Financial Highlights 2025

Webinar

During Fiscal Year 2025, 71% of all spending was directed to mission-specific programming.* Fundraising and administrative costs represent the remainder. Strategic program investments for Fiscal Year 2025 resulted in a planned loss from operations of $700k.

 

*Industry benchmarks suggest that at least 70% of funds raised directly support mission-focused programs.

Webinar

Looking Ahead

Looking to the future, we remain committed to supporting health workers during this tumultuous time in healthcare. We will continue to expand our reach to more caregivers and their patients. Our work has never been more important, and the impact of your support has never been more meaningful.

Thank you for joining us in our mission to advance compassion for patients, care teams, and their healing relationships.