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A fundraising campaign isn’t all about money. Wait. What? According to a new report using data from hospitals 58 hospital and health systems in the United States and Canada show a campaign can offer value far beyond the funds it generates.
By strategically expanding and sustaining institutional capacity, organizations can create much better campaign experiences for donors, development staff, and partners, according to the authors of Executive Insight Report #5 by Twin Point Insights and the Association For Healthcare Philanthropy.
Campaigns often result in a dramatic increase in gift volume. More than 60% of survey respondents reported that their yearly gift commitment volume grew moderately (up to 50%) or significantly (More than 50%) during their campaign.
It costs money to make money. As campaigns ramped up, a slight majority of organizations added new dedicated donor relations staff (60.3%) and/or asked existing staff to take on additional donor relations responsibilities (51.7%), according to researchers. Among the 43 organizations that reported new donor relations staff, 58.3% also added capacity in at least one other way, such as outsourcing support, according to the researchers.
The good news is that new contributors can quickly become a major proportion of an organization’s donor pool. One survey participant noted that 70% of campaign donors were first-time contributors.
Organizations proactively added or significantly updated their policies and procedures in connection with their campaign. While more than two-thirds of respondents reported revising their gift acceptance and campaign counting policies, fewer than 40% updated their database recording and gift entry procedures. And nearly two-thirds (71%) revised gift acceptance policies.
What do donors want in return? Historically, that answer has centered on one thing: naming opportunities for physical spaces. But as campaigns diversify — incorporating programmatic, endowment, and community health priorities — recognition is being stretched, and the complexities
of naming rights are intensifying. Despite this, most survey respondents still consider naming opportunities of physical spaces far and away the most impactful form of recognition, according to the researchers.
See the full report at Twin Point Insights.
