Abstract
Has your employee giving campaign stagnated? You're not alone. But there is a solution, advises Katie Dennehy, manager of system gift programs, Mission Healthcare Foundation (Asheville, NC): Take employee giving online and brand it.Partnering with United Way, Mission's program hovered at just a 1 percent participation rate and had been in decline. Two years ago, the foundation largely ditched its old paper program for an online portal. The foundation branded the revamped giving program with the words, “Give well,” to complement the hospital's tagline of, “Be well, get well and stay well.” With one click, a desktop icon on employee computers provides direct access to an online giving wizard. Employees can choose whether to give to United Way, Mission or both, how much to give and how often.“Everything is driven around choice and to make it as simple as possible for the donor,” Dennehy says.With real‐time reporting, workers can see how their teams are doing compared to others. The timely information also has helped Dennehy and her department evaluate their strategies and tactics, change messaging as needed and work with team leaders whose donations are lagging.Although the new giving program is almost entirely digital, paper forms are still given to employees who seldom use computers at work, such as those in housekeeping and food services. The foundation also pushes the brand with posters, table tents and other paper collateral.Dennehy's department has picked “employee champions” across the health care system to serve as “boots‐on‐the‐ground super‐communicators to spread the message for us.” Busy nurses and other critical care staff who might not have time to read computer messages are treated to coffee beneath pop‐up banners for the program in the lobby. New employees learn about employee giving during orientation.The results have been impressive. Participation increased to 33 percent by the end of the first year. Near the end of the second year, it hovered around 29 percent. From less than $400,000 raised in the year before going online, revenues increased to $960,000 the first year and to $1,007,650 near the end of the second year.Although there was a start‐up cost to building the portal, it is inexpensive to run, Dennehy says. In addition, it has “drastically” eased the back‐office work of gift processing and made reporting to partner United Way much easier.Source: Katie Dennehy, Manager, System Gift Programs, Mission Healthcare Foundation, Asheville, NC. Phone (828) 213‐1066. E‐mail: Katherine.Dennehy@msj.org. Website: www.cases.missionphilanthropy.org
Journal
Successful Fundraising
– Wiley
Published: Jan 1, 2018