Electronic Media and Donor Recognition: Is Anyone Using it?
It’s a very competitive philanthropic marketplace these days for community hospitals. I was reminded of this last week while at the Georgia Association of Development Professionals’ conference (GADP), a segment of the Georgia Hospital Association. Most of their members are located in small communities and represent the primary health provider for their county or region. I live in Atlanta. Fundraising events and success here in this city are now daily news items. We are home to 100s of non-profits and maybe more Foundations. Not so, currently, in the rest of the state. In those small communities, medical center fundraisers face tremendous challenges even when the economy is more stable than it is today. CEOs enjoy the income that their Foundations provide, yet they often offer little in the way of day-to-day support or, in many cases, any real understanding of the CEO’s role in acquiring and stewarding donors. Many of these organizations are considered “small shops” and the titles bestowed on many of the chief fundraisers by the CEO and/or Boards, i.e. Development Officer, Development Coordinator, and the like, are less than confidence-building and may be counter-productive, as they strive to solicit corporate CEOs, Marketing VPs, major Foundations and major donors. I wonder if they know that.
Filed under Donor Communications, Donor Recognition Programs, Robin E. Williams, Social Media | Tags: Communications, Development, Donor Recognition, Fundraising, Healthcare Philanthropy, Social Media, Trends in Fundraising | Comments Off
Nomination for Non-Profit Marketer of the Year
Sharon Johnson, Executive Director of the Transylvania Regional Hospital Foundation, Brevard, North Carolina, has been nominated for the American Marketing Association’s Non-Profit Marketer of the Year Award in response to her success using donor recognition as a tool to improve fundraising success.
Filed under Best Practices for Donor Recognition, Donor Communications, Donor Recognition Programs | Tags: Development, Donor Recognition, Healthcare Philanthropy, Stewardship | Comments OffJohnson explains, “Through effective stewardship of our donors, we are able to develop ‘brand loyalty’ among the donor base. This is a direct result of proactive stewardship, which includes demonstrating appreciation of our donors, reporting on the progress achieved through giving, and combining the recognition of existing donors with a consistent message of the importance of ongoing philanthropy.”
Hospital Fundraisers Focus on Social Networking
Yesterday we hosted a luncheon roundtable at the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy Conference in Nashville. The title we had chosen was intended to lead discussions toward the pros and cons of digital media as a means for donor recognition. We were pleasantly surprised by the direction those discussions took. Not one issue arose regarding the complexities involved with interactive displays or digital, donor-centric presentations.
Filed under Best Practices for Donor Recognition, Robin E. Williams, Think Before You Thank | Tags: Communications, Development, Donor Recognition, Interactive Displays, Trends in Fundraising | Comments OffIt’s Never Too Early to Start
Many fundraisers do not address the design and implementation of donor recognition until the later stages of a capital campaign. There is a misconception that “plaques” need not be planned until the building’s construction is well underway.
However, best practices for donor recognition have shown significant benefit to early donor recognition planning in three distinct areas:
Filed under Best Practices for Donor Recognition, Donor Recognition Programs, Stewardship | Tags: Best Practices, Communications, Development, Donor Recognition, Successes | Comments Off