AHP Annual Report on Giving: Healthcare Fundraising Continuing to Grow

The AHP Annual Report on Giving for FY2011 shows continued growth in healthcare fundraising.  “As we move into 2013, hospitals and other healthcare organizations have reason to be encouraged about their philanthropic potential,” says Adam Wilhelm, Senior Consultant at Campbell & Company, a national fundraising consulting and executive search firm based in Chicago.  “On average, we have seen healthcare giving not only rise to pre-recession levels, but reach its highest level in more than a decade.”

Key data points from the report include:

• US nonprofit hospitals and healthcare organizations raised more than 8.9 billion in FY2011, the highest level in the past 12 years and a 17 percent increase over FY2009’s low of $7.6 billion.
• Individual donors represent the single largest group supporting hospitals and other healthcare organizations, representing 85 percent of all sector donors and providing 61 percent of all funds raised.
• Major gifts and annual giving were represented as the primary sources of hospital and healthcare philanthropy, each accounting for 19 percent of all funds raised.
• Planned giving continued to be a significant source of funding for healthcare, accounting for 10 percent of all funds raised.  More than 60 percent of these planned gifts came in the form of bequests.
• Larger programs were more efficient; development operations with seven or more fulltime fundraisers raised $4.33 for every dollar invested in fundraising, compared to $2.60 for organizations with only one fundraising employee. Not surprisingly, longer established programs experienced higher returns.

While the environment for healthcare philanthropy continues on a postitive trajectory, a strategic approach to ongoing challenges is required for continued and accelerated growth. Leaders of healthcare foundations and philanthropy programs should be examining:

• the case for support and its ties to institutional priorities
• their investment in, and the measurement of, relationship management-based fundraising, focusing on major and principal gifts
• the relationships with physicians and grateful patient programs and how they are filling the pipeline of major gift prosects
• the level of involvement and buy-in of all volunteers and senior staff

Questions? Comment below, or email me at amw@campbellcompany.com

About Campbell & Company Healthcare Practice

The Campbell & Company Healthcare Team are experts in healthcare philanthropy and staff management. We understand the context in which healthcare organizations operate, and create a structure and process within that context, tailored to your community, that allows philanthropy to grow. For 36 years, we have helped hundreds of healthcare institutions succeed in growing and sustaining their programs.

Campbell & Company maintains offices in Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Portland, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, DC. For more information, please telephone (877) 957-0000 toll free, email info@campbellcompany.com or visit www.campbellcompany.com.