Project HOPE Announces New VP of Development and Communications

Global NGO Project HOPE announced Richard A. Rumsey as its new Vice President of Development and Communications. 

Rumsey, formerly a Vice President at the Lebanese American University (LAU) of New York, has a background in planning, leading and securing financing of programs and campaigns in the academic and health care sector. 

“Richard’s expertise and his track record of successful fundraising campaigns will strengthen our efforts to expand HOPE’s reach to communities in need around the world,” said Dr. John P. Howe III, M.D., President and CEO of Project HOPE. 

For more than five decades, Project HOPE has provided health education and humanitarian assistance to people in more than 100 countries.  

One of Rumsey’s first tasks at HOPE will be to direct the HOPE in the Face of Crisis campaign, which will raise $94 million to fund the organization’s work in five targeted areas – infectious disease, chronic disease, women’s and children’s health, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance and health system strengthening. 

Recently at LAU, Rumsey led a fundraising campaign that raised more than $67 million in gifts and pledges -- $27 million over the original campaign goal – and finished a year ahead of schedule.  

Rumsey has also conducted branding, strategic development and multi-million dollar fundraising campaigns as a Director of Development at Columbia University Medical Center and in similar roles at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and the University of Akron, Ohio.  

“I am delighted to join the Project HOPE family and to support HOPE’s mission to improve the lives of people in the developing world and here at home, in smart and sustainable ways,” said Rumsey. 

A native of Spencer, New York, Rumsey holds a Master of Education in Sports Management from Springfield College and received a Bachelor of Science from State University of New York. 

About Project HOPE

Founded in 1958, Project HOPE (Health Opportunities for People Everywhere) is dedicated to providing lasting solutions to health crises, with the mission of helping people to help themselves. Identifiable to many by the SS HOPE, the world’s first peacetime hospital ship, Project HOPE now conducts land-based medical training and health education programs in 35 countries across five continents.