From Prospect to Donor: Strategies for Identifying and Engaging with Healthcare Prospects
Bre Alexander
Published: 05/24/2023
The following post is sponsored by iWave.
Nonprofits face numerous challenges when it comes to identifying potential supporters. The ability to fundraise successfully is essential to the growth and sustainability of your organization. It’s important to consider several factors when evaluating your best prospects.
By breaking down the process into manageable steps, healthcare organizations can develop effective strategies to identify and engage prospects.
But first, let’s take it back to the basics.
What is Healthcare Fundraising?
In short, healthcare fundraising is how your institution raises donations to support your mission. It’s how you continue to support your staff and patients, ensuring you’re on the cutting edge of medicine.
How Healthcare Fundraising Works?
Healthcare fundraising is typically broken down into two types of campaigns.
1. Annual Campaigns—used when there isn’t a specific, tangible cause that donors can support. Instead, you’re asking a donor to assist your organization so you can continue to operate successfully
2. Capital Campaigns—best suited when a specific goal and timeline are in mind, like when you need to construct a new building or secure new equipment.
- Private Stage
- Public Stage
Who are your best candidates to seek out for a gift? Some of the people you can ask for support include:
● Physicians: Doctors are a great resource for raising support for your healthcare organization, whether it's the physicians that work for you or a retired cardiologist looking to help you build a new heart disease program.
● Hospital Employees: Other employees in your hospital may be willing to contribute to bettering their workplace. You can host fundraising contests between different departments or offer them exclusive hospital merchandise, so they can wear your organization's name and logo with pride—further spreading your mission.
● Grateful Patients: Former patients will likely give back to the institution that helped them. Make sure you're using the right wealth screening solution to uncover which patients may be more likely to provide a significant gift.
● Corporations: Major businesses may likely sponsor an event for you or donate an item to a silent auction. Create strong relationships with various local corporations to help get community support.
● Healthcare Foundations: Foundations are always looking for new programs that align with their mission to support the community's health. For example, a cancer society would be willing to help fund your research, so stay connected to foundations whose missions align with yours.
● Communities: Many communities are likely to donate in memoriam of one of your patients or to thank you for their loved ones recovery. Reach out to the community and ask if anyone would like to launch a fundraising event to support your hospital.
● Families: If your team worked hard to save the life of a donor's mother, they might thank you with a donation to the organization that helped her.
● Grant Organizations: Grants are given from organizations to help support like-minded nonprofits and their specific needs. For this type of donation, a grant proposal will need to be written, and specific goals will need to be recognized.
The right fundraising platform will make identifying the best prospective donors easier, so you can save time and resources. Make sure you're assembling a hardworking team with the best tools to ensure you're getting the donations you need.
Tip: Matching Gift programs are an easy way to double or even triple a donor's gift to an eligible nonprofit organization. Consider partnering with local businesses to have your organization listed as an approved nonprofit. Typically organizations match on a 1:1 ratio. However, some companies go as high as a 4:1 matching ratio!
A grateful patient program is a fundraising process that identifies past patients who may be willing and able to support your hospital today. These past patients are success stories from your hospital and have proven means to make a sizable donation.
When evaluating a donor, two key factors need to be considered.
- Does the prospect have the ability to donate?
- Do they have the inclination to support your cause?
People are most likely to support causes that are close to their hearts. For example, if a donor is a stroke survivor, they’re more likely to donate to stroke research.
If they were previously a patient and your hospital provided lifesaving care, then you’ve already identified a possible inclination to give.
Pooling donors from past patients means you’re more likely to receive the funds because these potential donors know and have experienced your mission firsthand.
How to Implement a Grateful Patient Program.
While Grateful Patient Programs will vary by organization, implementing a successful one contains the same elements.
1. Establish Guidelines and Requirements
Align your team on goals and metrics and set expectations with stakeholders to ensure they understand the program's benefits and their role in its success. Next, establish program guidelines, including how and when to approach new prospects and how patient data will be ethically collected and prepared.
2. Find a Patient Screening Solution
Like your ideal donor, a screening solution should be specific to your healthcare organization. Find a solution that allows for customization and transparency in its results. However, even the most sophisticated solution can never replace the due diligence of researchers. Validate the accuracy and relevance of results and remove or add records as required.
3. Act Swiftly!
After you've identified your top prospects, you must quickly formulate your ask. Three months is the accepted best practice for gift solicitation. Beyond that, patients become less likely to donate.
Wrapping Up
Identifying and engaging potential donors is crucial for the growth and longevity of healthcare organizations. Developing effective strategies to engage prospects empowers healthcare institutions to raise funds to support their missions.
iWave is here to help. If you’d like to learn more about our fundraising intelligence solution, including our Grateful Patient Program, contact us!