‘Rainmakers’ vital to health-care industry

May 27, 2009

Lisa Hillman

With the prolonged recession resulting in greater numbers of uninsured patients and fewer donations, the health-care industry is in need of skilled and experienced fundraisers, a new report says.

Such seasoned professionals will help secure the major gifts and planned gifts nonprofit health-care facilities need to survive, says a survey conducted by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy in late 2007.

Major gifts from individuals averaged $55,000, with the best-performing organizations investing three times as much in procuring major gifts than their peers, and reaping five times more in high-dollar donations.

"It takes experienced and talented major-gift and planned-giving officers to build crucial relationships with donors that result in significant support for the institutions they represent," Lisa Hillman, chair of the association, says in a statement.

Similarly, the groups that excelled in annual giving and special events were those that invested the most in their programs.

"Health-care executives and boards should think twice before downsizing their fundraising staff and mix of fundraising activities to cope with the recession," William McGinly, president of the association, says in a statement.

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