Expert answers to your questions about healthcare direct response fundraising.

1. What is an individual giving program for a healthcare organization?

   By “individual giving” we are referring to the generosity of ordinary individuals in your community – or in a wider geographical area – who are likely to respond to your appeal for support. The individual giving program is not meant to replace, but instead to supplement events, corporate underwriting, and major gifts in your organization’s fundraising efforts.

   The program may take the form of an annual appeal with a requested renewal at the end of a year, or organizations may ask for gifts on a monthly or quarterly basis, or at any preferred interval. You can build a database of individual donors who can be relied on to give continuously and, in many cases, frequently. Each individual has a predictable long term value to the organization.

2. What is the best way to reach those people in my community who are likely to donate to our organization?

   Carl Bloom Associates is expert at finding and targeting your most likely donors. We are knowledgeable about which lists work well for hospitals, taking into account both the geographical location and demographics of prospects. CBA builds a database of the long-term value of individual lists, avoiding the mistake of judging a list’s performance by its first usage. We have access to the most sophisticated and up-to-date list strategies to identify your best prospects, whether it be through the mail, through email, or online.

3. How can we identify which of our former patients are likely to become good donors?

   Carl Bloom Associates has partnered with a highly sophisticated and analytical list analysis group which tags the potential fundraising performance of former patients based on a set of criteria, such as giving history with other organizations, mail order purchases, demographics and other factors. This eliminates waste, saves money, and enables you to maximize response.

4. What is the best way to reach those prospects once they are identified?

   Each source has its own set of economics based on cost and performance, and an organization has to decide what they can afford to pay for a gift. Direct mail is still one of the most effective means of targeting individuals for fundraising, especially when the copy and design are done right. CBA has over 35 years of experience in creating direct mail packages that get results. Through integrated marketing with e-mail and online, we can boost your results.

5. Should a fundraiser expect to net positive revenue in prospecting for new donors?

   Usually not. If you’re prospecting “outside” of the hospital which means to people who have not been patients or previous donors, don’t expect to make money at first, because you are investing in building a donor base that will pay off handsomely in repeat appeals and upgrades,  as well as other sources of giving like planned giving and special events.

   There may be some exceptions, for example newly discharged inpatients and some outpatients who are identified as having favorable demographic characteristics.

6. Are released outpatients as good as inpatients for fundraising?

   You can except at least double the return in gifts and a higher average contribution from inpatients. However, the majority of patients (perhaps 10 times as many) will be outpatients. We have to keep in mind that we’re building a database of donors who will be prospects for further giving, so it makes sense to appeal to outpatients, provided the cost to acquire them as new donors is acceptable to you.

   It also makes sense to send appeals as soon as possible after a patient is discharged so he or she will feel positive about contributing to the hospital that provided good care. That’s why a monthly program is typical for this kind of fundraising.

   Special selections such as demographic and regression analysis formulas can be applied to all the names, and can make outpatient names work better for your program.

7. Must you concentrate on acquiring large gifts in the thousands ($2,500 to $25,000 plus) through personal contact or special events appeals?

   While it’s best to have personal contact and develop a close relationship between organization and donor, surprisingly, with an appropriately designed mailer, you can raise a large amount of money in the mail at very low cost from a small number of  “hi-dollar” donors.

8. How important is geographical proximity of prospects to the hospital or clinic in a successful fundraising campaign?

   Unless it is a hospital that attracts patients from around the country such as the Mayo Clinic, people are most interested in hospitals that are easily accessible to themselves and their family. In direct mail tests we have seen a poor response from lists of potential donors just one zip code away from what might be considered the “geographical area of coverage”. So we advise staying close to home.

9. Should the look of a fundraising appeal for a hospital always be serious?

   Not necessarily. It depends on the content and tone of your letters. Children’s hospitals have had great success with stories of children’s recoveries, accompanied by colorful graphics. Sweepstakes have been used successfully by St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Name and address labels and magnets are also popular.

10. How valuable to a hospital’s fundraising is it to be ranked among the best hospitals by national and local magazines? How valuable is it to be endorsed by celebrities and sports teams?

    Favorable publicity is very valuable to a healthcare institution. Being ranked among the top hospitals in a specific field, or being a popular sports team’s hospital, or being known for the best doctors adds legitimacy; it’s like a word of mouth reference that recognizes your ability to successfully treat patients. People will give to these hospitals because they have confidence that if they find themselves in need of care, they will receive the best at that hospital.

11. Does acknowledging special events or milestones commemorating accomplishments or honoring hospital staff make a difference if included in a mailing or email promotion?

    In direct mail appeals, hospital fundraisers often ask past patients to recognize those doctors or nurses they felt did an excellent job. Patients will often request that their words of appreciation be passed along to these healthcare professionals. In addition, National Doctors Day and National Nurses Week are good times to mail appeals, especially if they can be coordinated with recognition in consumer publications.

Use the form below or contact CBA at healthcare@carlbloom.com or 914-468-8949. We will be happy to answer your questions, and we look forward to having an informative and lively discussion on any area of direct response fundraising of interest to you.

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