Blackbaud Data Highlights the Impact of Healthcare Philanthropy During COVID-19

Data Reveals Surge in Goodwill Toward Healthcare Organizations

Charleston, S.C. (April 1, 2021) — Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB), the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good, today released data that illustrates the impact of philanthropy on the healthcare industry during 2020.

Analysis of Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT^® data from U.S. healthcare organizations that raised more than $1M in at least one of the past three calendar years shows that:

• Healthcare organizations raised $4.9B in cash in 2020, a year-over-year increase of 2.7%
• In-kind donations to healthcare organizations increased by 61% in 2020
• Healthcare cash-giving increased by 2.7% in 2020, but total transactions decreased by 6.7% indicating that larger gifts are coming from fewer donors

“With health systems and hospitals already operating on thin margins at the onset of the pandemic, pausing elective surgeries to enter the fight against COVID-19 made philanthropic dollars more important than ever,” said Page Bullington, president and general manager, Healthcare and Foundation Solutions, Blackbaud. “Healthcare organizations experienced an outpouring of public support in 2020, and with healthcare currently universally top of mind, we’re witnessing an inflection point in history that is providing exponential opportunity for healthcare philanthropy.”

COVID-19 prompted many fundraising changes, especially in the healthcare sector. Community hospitals experienced a surge in goodwill, resulting in an influx of in-kind donations ranging from meals for healthcare workers to personal protective equipment (PPE). In Blackbaud Raiser’s Edge NXT, healthcare organizations recorded more than $170M in in-kind donations in 2020, compared to a 28% decline in in-kind donations in all other sectors combined over the previous three years. This increase in donations was largely coordinated by hospital foundation staff who stepped up to help in any way possible. 

Healthcare fundraisers were among the first to be shifted to remote work and may continue to rely on virtual meetings and donor tours in the future, accelerating the idea of e-philanthropy—a full strategy shift to a virtual mindset. In addition to online cultivation and stewardship, healthcare organizations saw an increase of 11.7% in online giving according to the Blackbaud Institute’s 2020 Charitable Giving Report. 

With Blackbaud’s Cloud Solution for Healthcare Organizations, hospitals and foundations were able to stay connected with staff, supporters and their communities, while simultaneously responding quickly to a changing landscape. Garnet Health Foundation implemented the Cloud Solution for Healthcare Organizations just a few months prior to the pandemic, allowing its staff to quickly adapt to remote work as the New York health system it supports faced a dramatic surge of COVID-19 cases. Using email blasts and powerful peer-to-peer giving campaigns, the foundation raised more than $150,000 in cash and in-kind donations in six weeks, including meals for hospital staff. “We experienced an overwhelming response from our community,” said William Dauster, Garnet Health Foundation President.

On Tuesday, April 13, at 2 p.m. ET, Blackbaud will host a free webinar, presented by Page Bullington, to discuss analysis of 2020 trends in healthcare fundraising with the goal of providing benchmarks for healthcare organizations and tangible information on opportunities in 2021. Register for the webinar here and learn more about the Cloud Solution for Healthcare Organizations here. 

About Blackbaud
Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB) is the world’s leading cloud software company powering social good. Serving the entire social good community—nonprofits, higher education institutions, K–12 schools, healthcare organizations, faith communities, arts and cultural organizations, foundations, companies and individual change agents—Blackbaud connects and empowers organizations to increase their impact through cloud software, services, expertise and data intelligence. The Blackbaud portfolio is tailored to the unique needs of vertical markets, with solutions for fundraising and CRM, marketing, advocacy, peer-to-peer fundraising, corporate social responsibility, school management, ticketing, grantmaking, financial management, payment processing and analytics. Serving the industry for more than three decades, Blackbaud is headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, and has operations in the United States, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit  www.blackbaud.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

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