What Universities Can Teach Healthcare About Effective Digital Fundraising

Chris Snavely, managing partner, Ovrture

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.

“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.

Texas Christian University (TCU) has been using Ovrture’s platform for a couple of years. It has kept relationships with major donors strong during the pandemic by delivering personalized videos shot with a smartphone. But it’s important to remember that 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 TCU.

Learn more about the crucial intersection of technology and relationships to keep your fundraising efforts strong: Digital-First Philanthropy: What Healthcare Can Learn from Higher Education

Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President