Digital-First Philanthropy: What Healthcare Can Learn from Higher Education

// By Marcia Simon, APR //

Did you cancel fundraising events during the pandemic? How did your development team find other ways to successfully keep donors engaged and giving?

Without the galas, hospital tours, and meetings with doctors and researchers, the pandemic has no doubt created a new fundraising challenge. But as with other aspects of life, the pandemic has forced organizations dependent on donations to think differently and move forward in new ways.

Chris Snavely, managing partner, Ovrture

“The old days of treating donors and prospects as monoliths are gone. Today it’s about high-personalization values,” says Chris Snavely, managing partner at Ovrture, an enterprise software platform built specifically for fundraising.

Ovrture’s digital platform keeps donors engaged by delivering personalized updates about ongoing work, progress, and needs. Consider that 98 percent of high-net-worth individuals access the internet daily; 65 percent of them would be willing to give more to charitable organizations they support if they felt they really knew them, according to statistics provided by Ovrture.

Michelle Clark, associate vice chancellor for advancement strategy and administration, Texas Christian University

Texas Christian University (TCU) found a way to keep relationships with major donors strong during the pandemic by delivering personalized videos shot with a smartphone. But technology alone is not the answer.

“We can use technology to help communicate in a way that’s compelling, but at the end of the day it’s really about those strong personal relationships,” says Michelle Clark, associate vice chancellor for advancement strategy and administration at Texas Christian University (TCU).

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