Recent reports have found that for every dollar of federal tax exempt revenue, nonprofit and other tax-exempt healthcare organizations delivered $11 worth of value to their communities. While that statistic is impressive, the level of care that nonprofit healthcare organizations offer their communities is more than just financial. It also includes the patient stories of healing and restoration that these organizations make possible, when affordable care would have been impossible otherwise.

But in order to provide these services, nonprofit healthcare organizations often need more support than just patient service revenue. They need additional financial contributions in order to ensure programs and services are available. In this guide, we’ll address navigating challenges specific to healthcare fundraising, like the sensitive nature of patient stories, and organizational best practices as you get started.

Optimizing the Patient Experience

When it comes to funding for your healthcare organization, it can be tempting to immediately launch a fundraising campaign to boost your revenue and continue to make care possible for your community. However, focusing on the patient experience and current operations can lay the groundwork for an even more successful campaign.

Satisfied patients who have benefited firsthand or family members of patients are more likely to become supportive donors. Here are just a few of the ways that patient experience affects your finances and fundraising efforts:

• Providing personalized care that accounts for the patient’s broader life experience, not just statistics on their chart, through intake screenings and meticulous data management, does more than just contextualize the appointment. When your staff treats each patient as a “whole person,” your organization is building loyalty not only as a healthcare provider, but as a missional institution.
• By building a stellar reputation in your community through listening to patient concerns and developing a patient-centric practice, you build trust in your entire organization, which is necessary for donors to give.
• Implementing innovative healthcare technology that automates manual processes (e.g. intake paperwork) reduces the administrative burden on your staff so they can focus on building strong patient relationships which result in better clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction.

Optimizing your practice to create positive patient engagement builds what BWF’s guide to grateful patient programs identifies as “one of the largest and most passionate sources of loyal donors” amongst your patients. And, it provides more benefits than just increasing your donor base. 

While you may need fundraising contributions to augment your healthcare organization’s income, medical service payments remain a valuable revenue source. As you improve the patient experience and bolster your institutional reputation, the organizational practices you optimize, like patient communication and payment collection, will simultaneously also benefit the revenue intake for medical services. When you keep the patient (and potential donor) at the heart of all you do, the benefits ripple across your entire organization.

Approaching Healthcare Storytelling with Care

In any fundraising context, storytelling can bring people alongside your organization as committed partners. This is even more important for healthcare organizations because of the truly life-changing impact that your organization has on patients’ lives. 

The transformational and personal nature of quality healthcare means that patient stories are moving to a wide audience, because we can all see ourselves in need of care. However, because healthcare is so personal, that also means there are extra considerations for including storytelling in your fundraising efforts. 

As you build a framework for ethical storytelling at your organization, keep the following in mind:

• HIPAA compliance. While HIPAA regulations allow your organization to use personal health information for fundraising, sharing patient details with the public requires specific authorization. When asking a patient for permission to share their story, be sure to clearly explain their rights and get the correct authorization if they are willing. 
• Be upfront. It’s important to be clear with the patient about your organization’s goals. Share why you need to fundraise, and the impact their story will have for future patients. Also, include how you’ll use their information and where the patient’s story might be published. 
• Lead with empathy. Patient stories will likely evoke emotional responses, for both the patient and your team. Give the patient the time they need and agency over the process. Just as your organization centers patients in your healthcare practice, center the storyteller in your fundraising narratives. 

To identify compelling stories, consider leveraging patient surveys. Patients who communicate their positive experiences via this channel might be willing to share more broadly. Promptly’s guide to patient satisfaction surveys recommends patient sentiment funneling. In this case, patients who award your organization a four or five-star ranking might be prompted to share a review on a public platform like Google, Zocdoc, or Healthgrades, or consent to being featured in your fundraising campaign promotion. 

Every patient story is unique, and your approach should be too. Offer options for patients at different levels of comfort. For instance, some might be open to being featured in a public video, while others might want their information anonymized or shared in a composite story. 

Communicating Gratitude

One of the most important fundraising activities is recognizing donors’ generosity in making your healthcare organization’s mission possible. Not only does intentionally sharing a personal thank you build long-term personal relationships and donor loyalty, it also reinforces the impact donors’ gifts have on your organization. 

A few ideas for healthcare donor recognition include:

• Donor walls
• Naming opportunities
• A personalized note from a patient or staff member 

Your donors have chosen to be a part of the good your organization does in your community and impact patient stories for the better. Even after your fundraising campaign has concluded, continue sharing meaningful patient stories with donors so they can see the difference their gift makes in people’s lives. 

Throughout the entire fundraising process, align your efforts with your organization’s values of care and doing no harm. When you keep those values central, you build relationships with patients and donors that uplift the entire community and ensure your organization can provide quality healthcare for years to come. 

About the Author:

Anish Kapur, MD
Founder and CEO of Promptly

Anish Kapur is the Founder and CEO of Promptly, a comprehensive web-based patient experience and automation suite designed for Medical Practices to enhance patient touchpoints, increase patient payments, and automate processes to support staff.