Healthcare fundraising strategies, challenges, and solutions

Healthcare fundraising is the process healthcare organizations use to raise donations that support patient care, research, and operational growth. It allows institutions to expand programs, purchase new technology, and improve facilities. Most importantly, it ensures staff and patients have the resources needed to stay at the forefront of medicine.

What drives healthcare philanthropy?

Patient experiences drive healthcare philanthropy. Unlike other nonprofit sectors, constituents often witness or benefit directly from life-changing or lifesaving care firsthand. 

Consider a parent whose child receives groundbreaking treatment for a rare condition, a cancer survivor benefiting from innovative immunotherapy, or a trauma patient who walks again thanks to dedicated rehabilitation teams. These individuals don’t just receive care; they experience transformative moments that often inspire them to give back.

These profound experiences inspire various forms of philanthropic support, including:

• Grateful patient programs that fund immediate care needs
• Community health initiatives that expand access to care
• Endowed research positions that advance medical breakthroughs.
• Transformative gifts that construct new healing spaces
• Innovative treatment centers that bring advanced therapies and cutting-edge care to patients

Why is healthcare fundraising important?

Healthcare fundraising enables hospitals and medical institutions to secure vital funding that clinical revenue alone can’t provide. Support strengthens the organization’s mission impact and long-term sustainability by:

• Expanding patient care and programs: Donations enable hospitals to offer new services, improve access, and fund initiatives that standard budgets can’t cover.
• Supporting medical research and innovation: Gifts fund clinical trials, breakthroughs, and advanced treatments that improve outcomes.
• Enhancing donor engagement and relationships: Thoughtful engagement fosters trust, strengthens long-term support, and builds a culture of giving. 
• Aligning fundraising with mission impact: Coordinated campaigns and strategic focus ensure donations directly support the organization’s core goals. 

How healthcare fundraising works

Healthcare fundraising connects donors with opportunities to support patient care, research, and the facility’s growth. Organizations use a combination of prospect research, defined fundraising strategies, and campaigns to raise funds while building lasting relationships.

Prospect research

Prospect research identifies individuals with both the capacity and inclination to give. Healthcare organizations use data such as patient engagement, wealth indicators, and philanthropic history to prioritize outreach. 

Prospect research software and customer relationship management (CRM) platforms help teams identify high-potential donors efficiently without disrupting patient care. This allows fundraisers to focus on relationship-building rather than broad solicitation. For a deeper breakdown of prospect research, see our complete guide: Prospect research 101 for nonprofits.

Balance privacy with engagement

While prospect research helps identify high-potential donors, healthcare organizations must use data thoughtfully. Maintaining patient trust requires protecting sensitive information while personalizing outreach to foster meaningful donor relationships.

Integrating prospect research into your fundraising strategy

Daily patient screenings, patient screening services, and in-house prospect teams work together to identify high-potential donors. Regular wealth screenings help staff recognize prospects during their care journey and coordinate timely, personalized engagement. 

Fundraising platforms automate much of the research process, making prospect data actionable and allowing teams to focus on building strong donor relationships. Once prospects are identified, in-house teams follow up with visits, calls, or tailored outreach to convert interest into giving.

Types of healthcare donations

Healthcare organizations categorize donations to match strategies with the right donors. Understanding the differences between planned giving and major gifts is important for tailoring outreach and engagement strategies:

• Major gifts: Most hospital donations come from major gifts, often through grateful patient programs. Donors are typically current or former patients with the capacity and desire to give back to the organization that supported their care.
• Planned gifts: Planned gifts are significant contributions made as part of long-term estate planning, such as funding a hospital wing in honor of a loved one. 
• Payroll giving: Employees use this to support organizations through payroll deductions, often coordinated via internal campaigns. 

Specialized healthcare fundraising software and fundraising CRM tools help your team identify high-potential individuals and segment them for targeted engagement. Engaging patients thoughtfully during care builds trust. This approach emphasizes relationship-building over solicitation and increases the likelihood of future major or planned gifts. 

Key fundraising strategies

Healthcare organizations use targeted strategies to build lasting relationships and maximize donations.

Grateful patient programs

Grateful patient programs engage current or former patients who have experienced transformative care to support initiatives meaningful to them. Use proven engagement techniques and data-driven workflows to power up your grateful patient program (or watch our webinar here).

Diversified revenue streams

Diversified revenue streams combine major gifts, planned gifts, corporate sponsorships, and community fundraising to maintain consistent support and reduce reliance on any single source.

Peer-to-peer fundraising

Peer-to-peer fundraising encourages patients, families, and community members to advocate and fundraise on behalf of the organization to expand reach and engagement.

Engagement and cultivation strategies

Key engagement and cultivation strategies in healthcare fundraising include:

• Fundraising events: Host galas, auctions, or community activities to engage supporters and generate new donor interest.
• Merchandise campaigns: Use branded items to spread awareness and support fundraising goals.
• Corporate philanthropy: Engage local businesses for sponsorships, matching gifts, and partnership opportunities.
• Regular donor updates: Keep donors informed about impact and progress to inspire continued support.

Identifying healthcare fundraising prospects

Once strategies are in place, the next step is to identify the right individuals and groups to add to your prospect lists. Targeting the right prospects ensures outreach is efficient and fundraising efforts have the greatest impact. Healthcare organizations should consider a mix of: 

• Physicians: Current and retired clinicians usually support programs tied to their specialty or patient outcomes. For example, a retired cardiologist might fund a new heart disease program.
• Hospital employees: Staff may give through voluntary programs or internal campaigns. 
• Grateful patients: Former patients are a key prospect group. Using wealth screening and data insights identifies patients with major gift potential.
• Corporations: Local and regional businesses sponsor events or donate items to auctions, which expands community support.
• Healthcare foundations: Foundations fund programs aligned with their mission, such as disease-specific research initiatives.
• Communities: Community members often donate in memory of patients or in gratitude for care received. Some communities organize independent fundraising efforts to support hospitals.
• Families: Families give gifts after a loved one receives life-saving or long-term care. These are driven by gratitude and personal connection.
• Grant organizations: Grant-making organizations fund nonprofits with defined goals and specific needs. Grant funding requires formal proposals and clear program objectives.

Pro tip: Using a fundraising CRM at this stage ensures that prospect segmentation, engagement tracking, and relationship-building are organized and actionable.

Types of campaigns

Campaigns structure fundraising efforts to meet short- and long-term funding goals.

Annual campaigns

Annual campaigns support ongoing operations without a single defined project. They often include events such as auctions, black-tie galas, or ongoing grateful patient programs.

Capital campaigns

Capital campaigns are goal-driven efforts with a fixed timeline. They typically fund large initiatives such as new buildings, major equipment, or renovations. Capital campaigns include two phases:

• Private (quiet) phase: Most donations are received during this phase. Early identification of major donors is vital.
• Public phase: The broader community is invited to give after major gifts are secured.

Key roles in healthcare fundraising

Healthcare organizations need teams with clearly defined roles and aligned goals. Fundraising CRMs can help coordinate efforts, segment prospects, and track engagement. They ensure each team member, from marketers to clinicians, is able to act on timely donor insights. Clear team responsibilities ensure donors are engaged thoughtfully, and every fundraising effort achieves maximum impact.

Fundraisers and marketers

Fundraisers and marketers must collaborate closely to maximize campaign impact. Marketers target audiences and craft compelling stories, while fundraisers cultivate relationships and secure gifts. When aligned, these teams deepen donor engagement and boost contributions, advancing the organization’s mission.

Development committee

The development committee leads healthcare fundraising initiatives. It is typically chaired by the hospital’s executive or developmental director. Members oversee campaigns, engage donors, and represent the organization’s mission. Diversity within the committee ensures outreach to a broad donor base. 

Major and planned giving officers

These officers focus on large donations. They research prospects, maintain donor databases, and cultivate donor relationships to promote giving opportunities. Strong interpersonal skills are essential for these roles to sustain long-term donor engagement.

Hospital administration

Administrative staff support fundraising by ensuring positive patient experiences. Addressing any concerns promptly goes a long way to strengthening donor relationships. Satisfied patients will increase the likelihood of future contributions. 

Doctors and nurses

Medical staff influence donor engagement through personal interactions. Meeting one-to-one with patients to explain care options and answer any questions helps them feel supported. Positive experiences with clinicians directly impact giving and foster long-term donor loyalty.

Harnessing AI in healthcare fundraising

AI in healthcare fundraising helps organizations identify high-potential donors, personalize engagement, and streamline operations without replacing human judgment. Integrated with top-tier fundraising CRMs, these tools help support staff, prioritize prospects efficiently, and enhance donor interactions. Nearly 70 percent of healthcare donors think AI will improve charitable effectiveness, but organizations must use it responsibly and transparently to build trust. 

Key AI applications

AI supports healthcare fundraising by automating tasks, analyzing data, and guiding strategic donor engagement. Key applications include:

• Wealth and capacity screenings quickly identify patients with major gift potential using wealth and philanthropic data.
• Predictive analytics forecast giving patterns and prioritize high-potential donors.
• Donor insights and targeting analyze patient and donor data to uncover high-potential prospects and personalize outreach based on giving propensity, engagement signals, and past behavior. 
• Chatbots and virtual assistants provide real-time donor support, answer questions, and share campaign information efficiently.
• Dynamic gift and recognition strategies use donor behavior and market trends to suggest optimal gift levels and tailor recognition opportunities, improving appeal effectiveness and conversion.
• Content generation drafts emails, social posts, grant applications, and stewardship plans, saving fundraising staff time while maintaining personalization.

AI tools

Several tools make these applications actionable by supporting donor identification, engagement, and campaign efficiency without replacing human judgment: 

• iWave performs predictive screening of the industry’s most accurate donor data to identify donors with the capacity and inclination to give.
• Ascend CRM can segment, prioritize, and track donors. 
• Kindsight Intelligence (directly within Ascend CRM) can draft contact reports, convert record data into clear, actionable summaries, and drafts tailored emails, call scripts, and stewardship messages. 

Pro tip: Use AI to support human decision-making while keeping people in control. You must maintain ethical practices, ensure privacy compliance, and preserve personalized human connections while leveraging AI to enhance effectiveness.

Challenges in healthcare fundraising

Healthcare fundraising faces unique challenges, including strict compliance requirements, complex stakeholder structures, legacy systems, and inconsistent use of data. These obstacles slow decision-making, limit efficiency, and strain donor engagement. When addressed strategically, they create opportunities to strengthen donor relationships and improve fundraising performance. 

According to the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, hospitals in the United States see an average return of $4.29 for every $1 invested in fundraising. That’s more than a 300 percent return on investment! By tackling these challenges head-on, you’ll transform your fundraising operations into a high-performing engine that delivers exceptional results. 

1. Data privacy & compliance: Navigating HIPAA and PHI in donor engagement

Healthcare fundraising operates within strict regulatory frameworks like the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Protected Health Information (PHI) is tightly controlled, making donor outreach a potential compliance minefield. Any misstep in handling sensitive information will potentially lead to serious reputational damage and legal consequences.

When creating a grateful patient program, make sure you exclude sensitive health information, such as:

• Diagnosis
• Nature of service
• Medical treatment

To maintain compliance, ensure every member of your fundraising team is trained on HIPAA and PHI and understands proper legal guidelines. According to IBM’s Cost of a Data Breach Report 2024, the average cost of a healthcare data breach is approximately $9.8 million per incident, the highest across all industries.

How to overcome it:

• Implement a HIPAA-compliant CRM system. Non-compliance increases the risk of legal violations and data breaches. Ensure your system includes encryption, restricted access controls, and comprehensive audit trails to protect donor trust.
• Segment donor lists responsibly by using de-identified data and opt-in consent mechanisms. Group donors by engagement level, past giving behavior, and event participation rather than health conditions.
• Establish strict role-based access protocols, so only authorized fundraising staff can interact with donor data. Configure automated permissions aligned with privacy regulations to prevent unauthorized access.

2. Complex decision-making and stakeholder coordination

Healthcare fundraising involves multiple stakeholders, including hospital executives, foundation boards, and compliance teams. This complexity often creates decision-making bottlenecks and delays campaign approvals.

How to overcome it:

• Develop comprehensive stakeholder maps to clarify who influences donation approvals. Identify champions within the hospital system who will advocate for fundraising initiatives.
• Leverage data-driven reporting to make compelling cases for support. Use dashboards that clearly connect fundraising impact to patient care improvements and hospital priorities.
• Streamline approval workflows with automated reminders and clear deadlines. Establish a structured campaign review cadence to maintain momentum for fundraising initiatives.

3. Ethical challenges in engaging grateful patients

Grateful patient programs are a critical component of healthcare fundraising and require careful management. Research from the Advisory Board shows that grateful patient programs are genuinely helping many hospitals improve their bottom lines. Ethical considerations, privacy regulations, and patient trust all play a role in ensuring outreach is both effective and respectful.

How to overcome it:

• Implement explicit opt-in mechanisms so patients willingly participate. Allow them to specify preferred communication channels and desired engagement levels.
• Personalize outreach with discretion by focusing on impact stories rather than medical history. Connect patients with hospital initiatives that align with their care experiences. 
• Provide comprehensive staff training on ethical donor engagement to ensure all interactions remain sensitive, respectful, and compliant with hospital policies.

4. Integration challenges with legacy systems

Many healthcare fundraising teams continue operating on outdated systems, leading to inefficiencies and data silos. While transitioning to a modern CRM seems daunting, the long-term benefits substantially outweigh the short-term disruption. 

A 2022 Digital Fundraising Benchmark Report for Hospitals showed that almost 58 percent of respondents wanted more integration between their CRM, email marketing, and donation processing platforms.

How to overcome it:

• Select a CRM that integrates seamlessly with hospital systems to enable real-time data synchronization across departments. Look for platforms supporting bi-directional data sharing with electronic medical records (EMRs) and financial systems.
• Implement a phased data migration strategy by prioritizing high-value donor records and gradually transitioning legacy data.
• Adopt automation for donor stewardship to improve efficiency. Configure triggered communications for acknowledgments, recurring gift reminders, and impact updates.

5. Lack of a strategic, timely data approach

Many healthcare fundraising teams collect large volumes of patient and donor data, but lack a clear plan for when and how to use it. High-performing organizations focus only on the data that directly informs donor engagement and fundraising outcomes. Fragmented, outdated, or delayed data prevents timely action, causing missed opportunities and weakening donor relationships.

Common barriers include:

• Restrictions on accessing historical patient records
• Limited tracking of family relationships across systems
• Uneven access for patients in sensitive care areas
• Patients who opt out of fundraising communications

How to overcome it:

• Define a clear data strategy focused on actionable insights rather than tracking everything.
• Ensure key engagement indicators, such as gratitude expressions, survey feedback, event participation, and community involvement, are surfaced quickly and securely shared with the fundraising team.
• Standardize data quality by eliminating duplicate records, enforcing consistent data entry across departments, and maintaining accurate links between patients, families, and service lines. 
• Establish structured collection protocols with clear access guidelines, regular quality checks, compliance monitoring, and timeline standards for each data type.

Selecting and using high-value fundraising data

Reviewing past donor wins and missed opportunities shows which data points drive high-impact fundraising outcomes. The goal is to focus on actionable, high-value data. Key questions include:

• Which data supported successful donor engagement?
• Which signals consistently appear in high-impact donor journeys?
• Where did gaps or delays cause missed opportunities?

These questions highlight the importance of actionable data. Now consider how the timely and strategic use of donor data impacts fundraising in practice.

Scenario 1: Strategic and timely data use

A gift officer receives an alert about a grateful family whose child received specialized cardiac care. Engagement signals indicate readiness for deeper involvement: 

• Repeated expressions of gratitude
• Attendance at education sessions
• Sharing their experience with others on the ward
• Expressed interest in pediatric cardiac research 

The officer takes coordinated action by connecting the family with the care team, inviting them to a research symposium, and arranging a facility tour. 

Result: This intentional engagement leads to a significant gift that establishes a pediatric cardiac research fund.

Scenario 2: Delayed or fragmented data

A gift officer discovered that a major donor’s spouse received cancer treatment two years earlier, but no relevant care or engagement data was entered into the system. The spouse had previously tried to explore giving opportunities, but the information never reached the advancement team. 

Result: Without timely, accessible data, the opportunity is lost. The family ultimately donates elsewhere.

Maintaining accurate, standardized data ensures engagement signals are captured and usable when they matter most. This supports a strategic approach to fundraising data, as outlined in our resource, The ultimate guide to data-led fundraising.

Best practices to elevate your healthcare fundraising strategy

Follow these proven best practices to maximize healthcare fundraising success:

• Leverage data-driven personalization: Tailor donor outreach based on giving history, interests, and engagement preferences.
• Embrace multi-channel engagement: Use email, social media, events, and direct outreach to connect with donors where they are most active.
• Optimize for conversions: Reduce friction on donation pages with clear calls-to-action and a seamless user experience.
• Build thought leadership: Publish research-backed insights, impact stories, and outcomes to enhance credibility and trust.
• Test and iterate: A/B test your messaging, visuals, and engagement strategies to continuously improve performance.

How Kindsight’sAscend solves these challenges

Kindsight’sAscend is a nonprofit CRM and donor management software (DMS) built specifically for healthcare fundraising teams. It helps organizations address common challenges by providing: 

• HIPAA-compliant donor engagement: Securely manage donor data with robust compliance safeguards.
• Integrated dashboards and reporting: Access customizable, real-time analytics dashboards for comprehensive donor and fundraising data. 
• Streamlined stakeholder coordination: Track interactions and manage decision-making workflows efficiently.
• Ethical grateful patient engagement: Implement tools ensuring transparency and respectful outreach.
• Seamless Salesforce integration: Transition beyond legacy systems with a CRM designed for modern healthcare fundraising needs. 

With the right technology infrastructure, healthcare fundraising teams will navigate their unique challenges more effectively. This will foster donor trust, improve operational efficiency, and ultimately drive greater impact for their organizations.

Strengthening healthcare fundraising through technology

Healthcare fundraising works best when people, data, and technology work together. AI and automation help surface key engagement signals at the right time. This reduces manual work and supports timely, ethical donor outreach.

As healthcare systems become more complex, fundraising success depends on speed and clarity. Strategic use of data helps teams focus on high-impact relationships and avoid missed opportunities. This approach drives stronger results while protecting trust and compliance.

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