Giving to nonprofit hospitals and healthcare systems in North America dipped three-quarters of 1 percent in 2015 but still eclipsed $11 billion, with a stark contrast between institutions in the United States and Canada.
The total $11.041 billion was down by $82 million from 2014, according to the annual Report on Giving, released yesterday by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP). Giving was essentially flat in the U.S., increasing 0.2 percent to $9.651 billion but was down by almost 7 percent in Canada, to $1.39 billion.
“It’s significant that giving stayed above $11 billion in 2015, continuing a positive trend we saw in 2014,” AHP President and CEO Steven Churchill said in a press release announcing the survey results.
Multiple economic pressures can be attributed to the decrease in donations in Canada, according to Children’s Health Foundation of Vancouver Island CEO Veronica Carroll, MBA, CFRE. There also is an increased focus on community services and programs “which are inherently more complicated to explain to donors,” she said via a press statement.
“We are seeing the effects of a change in the way in which younger generations are engaging in healthcare philanthropy,” Carroll said. “As peer-to-peer fundraising increases, traditional healthcare philanthropy will need to make the case to younger generations that they are good stewards of healthcare dollars,” she said.
Fundraising efficiency, measured by the cost to raise a dollar (CTRD), also went in different directions in both countries. CTRD dropped from 25 cents to 23 cents in the U.S. while in Canada it rose from 23 cents to 24 cents in 2015.
“Overall, donors should be confident that their contributions are used effectively by health care institutions to improve the quality of care and research they provide throughout North America,” said AHP Board Chair Jory Pritchard-Kerr, FAHP, CFRE, executive director at Collingwood General & Marine Hospital Foundation in Ontario, Canada.
AHP represents almost 5,000 development professionals at more than 2,000 nonprofit hospitals, medical centers, health systems and related facilities. The Falls Church, Va.-based organization sponsors the annual survey of gifts, pledges and grants, which can be accessed at www.ahp.org