Why Support Mayo Clinic?

Your gift to Mayo Clinic is an investment in medical progress.

People around the world rely on Mayo Clinic as a place for answers, and people take comfort in knowing that there is a Mayo Clinic, even if they never seek treatment on our campuses. An overwhelming number of Americans surveyed have said that if they were free to choose any hospital for the treatment of a serious illness, they would choose Mayo over other national medical institutions. At a time when there is widespread skepticism and uncertainty about the health care sector, Mayo continues to stand for clarity, determination, integrity, compassion and genuine collaboration — medicine at its best.

By supporting one extraordinary institution, Mayo's benefactors make the broadest possible impact on health and life everywhere. Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) charitable organization, and contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. Contributions support Mayo programs in patient care, medical education and research, which improve the quality of medical care that benefits people everywhere.

Building on Mayo's Resources and Strengths

Drs. William J. and Charles H. Mayo started with a few great ideas — put the patient first, learn from the best, undertake research to transform medicine and then teach what you've learned. They laid the groundwork for an institution that has become a sanctuary of healing — medicine's brightest beacon of hope.

Mayo is known around the world for its distinctive qualities, including:

• Reverence for the patient. At Mayo Clinic, "the needs of the patient come first." Always. Individualized care is a way of life at Mayo Clinic. Whether at Rochester, Jacksonville or Arizona, every patient experiences Mayo Clinic as the place for "the unhurried patient visit" and for medical care of the highest quality.

• Excellence as a learning organization. Even while we are one of America's most venerable institutions, we are also a place of ongoing innovation and renewal, of collegiality and community. Our whole ethos is the union of medical practice with research and education for the benefit of the patient — each area informing and challenging the next.

• Our altruistic culture. In 1919, Drs. Will and Charlie Mayo turned over the bulk of their life savings, along with the clinic's name and assets, to create a private, not-for-profit, charitable organization now known as Mayo Clinic. From that point on, the Mayos, their partners, and all future Mayo Clinic physicians would receive a salary and would not profit personally from the proceeds of the practice. All proceeds beyond operating expenses continue to be contributed to education, research and patient care. That culture continues to be unique in American medicine today.

• Creating knowledge. Because disease is an extraordinarily complex, interdependent phenomenon, we are committed to growing and integrating knowledge across the entire spectrum of medicine. Working together, our physicians, researchers and educators shepherd new ideas — and old ideas applied in new ways — from inception; through testing, evaluation and clinical trials; to the creation of innovative therapies; to the dissemination of medical knowledge; to the creation and adoption of improved standards of care at Mayo Clinic and around the world. Elias Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health, has said, "Mayo Clinic models what all health care should look more like."

Year in Review

Here are recent highlights of Mayo's leadership in patient care, research and education. In addition, Mayo Clinic's Annual Report provides an overview of the past year. We welcome your support to continue this tradition of excellence.