Image from Digitalhealthstrategies.com

By Richard H. Levey

Philanthropy professionals who work on behalf of hospitals listed major donor development, retention and upgrades and refilling the donor pipeline as their top three fundraising priorities, according to a new study. But while the hospital community reported successes within each priority, a few concerns linger regarding technology’s impact on major donor relations.

Nearly eight out of ten (79%) hospital-focused fundraisers with “very well integrated” annual and major giving programs reported increased year-over-year revenue, according to Digital Fundraising Benchmark Report for Hospitals, a new report from the association for Healthcare Philanthropy and Digital Health Strategies.

Give personalized renewal and reactivation messaging some credit for that. More than 60% of foundations that used these tactics reported increases in revenue, helping to fuel a 20% year-over-year boost in online donor retention rates. Overall, the percentage of online donors rose to 16.1% during 2024 from 14.6% in 2023.

Online giving has accelerated during 2024, with the average reported online gift (with two months left in the calendar year) coming in at $373, up from $178, and overall average value of online donors nearly doubling from $224 in 2023 to $417.

But even the most sophisticated tools have their limits, especially with major donors who are accustomed to high levels of personal touch. Just 15% of respondents felt major donor tools played a significant role in converting high-value prospects. And three-quarters indicated their major giving tools were not supporting their organizational goals as well as they had hoped.

That’s cause for alarm, as major gifts were the largest source of income, trailed by grants, low- and mid-level gifts, planned giving, events and corporate partnerships and peer-to-peer fundraising.

Overall, 62% of foundations reported increases in fundraising revenue, with just under 15% reporting declines.

The study’s other findings include:

* Digital channels are increasingly playing a role in major gifts, with online gifts in excess of $10,000 seeing nearly a 10% increase over 2023’s level.

* Personalization works, with the 60%+ of organizations basing asks on the most recent gift date realizing increased revenue from donors with whom they had previous relationships.

* Just under six in ten foundations that employed digital “grateful patient programs” successfully cultivated new donors.

* While overall new donor rates have slowed, new donor value is increasing, with 7% of the respondents saying first-time gift amounts increased in 2024 over 2023’s levels.

* Repeated touches work: two thirds of the foundations sending higher volumes of email reporting increases in new donors. Overall, 44% of foundations sent fewer than 10 emails to potential funders, while just under 50% sent between 10 and 30 emails and more than 6% sent more than 30 emails.

The content of these emails varied, with 93% of respondents indicating they used email for appeals, followed by event solicitations (90%), stewardship emails (73%), enewsletters (69%), planned giving solicitations (51%), reporting (40%) and tax advice (15%).

In contrast, just under 20% of respondents said they increased their direct mail volume, with nearly 19% reporting volume cuts.

A full copy of the report is available here: https://www.digitalhealthstrategies.com/benchmark24/#microsite-main

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Source From Non Profit Times