Building a successful fundraising program always takes time, says the report, first in a series of studies from the new benchmarking service of the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy.

Up-front investment will often not yield higher returns and lower costs for three to five years.

The report, which examines fundraising efforts at nonprofit health-care facilities in 18 states in the U.S. and two provinces in Canada, also says major-giving and planned-giving programs are at the core of most successful fundraising success stories.

High performers show a strong focus on high-return fundraising, and what the report calls “leanness”: few employees, each entrusted with great responsibility in the groups’ day-to-day operations.

Yet fundraising is often a balancing act, the report says.

A strong focus on investment in programs that have lower-costs but yield higher returns should be moderated by a still-significant focus on programs that are more expensive but important in attracting new donors.

This balance can also be achieved through a wide assortment of programming, including annual giving, special events, public support, major gifts and planned giving, the report says.

The study says uncontrollable factors, such as geography, demographics and the size or structure of an organization, do not affect fundraising capabilities as much as previously believed.

With the economy facing a possible recession, and with “heightened scrutiny of nonprofits by government agencies to justify their tax-exempt status,” William McGinly, president and CEO of the Association Healthcare Philanthropy, says in a statement, “the gap continues to grow between hospitals’ costs to treat uninsured and under-insured patients and reimbursements from public and private sources.”

Source: Philanthrophy Journal

The healthcare system is incredibly complex. And hospitals haven’t done a great job telling their story and how they contribute to their local communities.

One of Bill’s recommendations is that hospitals hire more fundraisers. Very sensible! He wrote about in the article on recession-proof fundraising, cutting funding to fundraising can be a self-fulfilling prophesy of doom.

You can read the Prospecting post at:
http://philanthropy.com/news/prospecting/5018/hospitals-face-growing-list-of-fund-raising-challenges

Source: The Fundraising Coach

Source: The Fundraising Coach

“Charities and non-profits of every kind are facing tough economic challenges – from museums to performing arts organizations to all charities,” said David Asheim, Guide by Cell President and Founder. “Mobile giving is a wonderful means of addressing these challenges because the technology which is used is commonly found and easy to access. The dynamic of mobile giving allows all nonprofits to reach existing donors, and a new untapped community of donors, using tools and gadgets most people carry in their pocket or purse.”

For most nonprofits, raising money means asking donors to write a check.

But like music, maps and movies, charitable giving is also going mobile.

With a mobile phone, donating to a cause can be as simple as typing MEALS, WATER or ALIVE.

“Giving should be easy, it should be fun and it should be rewarding,” said Jim Manis, chief executive of the Mobile Giving Foundation, a Bellevue-based nonprofit that provides technology for charitable organizations to run mobile campaigns.

This tool gives people the ability to act immediately on an impulse to help.

Source: Fundraising Success Magazine

Fundraising on Facebook

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Paul Levy – The chart above is from an article on CrunchBase about Facebook, showing the growth in subscribers since the service was opened up to the world beyond students. Amazing quote: “Facebook users’ passion, or addiction, to the site is unparalleled: more than half use the product every single day and users spend an average of 19 minutes a day on Facebook. Facebook is 6th most trafficked site in the US and top photo sharing sidte with 4.1 billion photos uploaded.”

I became intrigued with the idea of using the Facebook cause feature as a possible fundraising tool for our hospital after I saw that a neighboring hospital had raised over $50,000 for one of its cancer programs in this manner. So last weekend I set up a cause, called Healing Music, to raise funds for our harp player and other musicians and sent a notice to some friends. It is has been fun to literally watch the viral marketing that results. I don’t know if it will raise much money — although it is a good cause and you should feel free to donate! — but it is also an excellent way to inform people about a worthwhile feature of our hospital and to share a nice idea with other medical centers as well. (By the way, the fee taken by the people who run the fundraising application, less than 5%, is very reasonable, especially since it costs nothing at all to set up a cause.)

But, beyond this, the wall-to-wall conversations on Facebook can be really entertaining and illustrative of important cultural differences throughout the world. Here, for example, is a post-Super Bowl note from a Boston-bred relative to her good friend in New York:

You know what?! Fine. You won. Good playing. Catch a ball on your head and all that crap. But sending me an invite to join the “Giants fan club”? Not cool.

Source: Crunch Base, Paul Levy