WASHINGTON, D.C., (August 7, 2012) – Nonprofit hospitals, foundations and professionals who raise funds for health care institutions through philanthropy now have available standards offering a unique structured, efficient and businesslike approach for accurately measuring and reporting charitable giving in order to improve organizational performance with the publication by the Association for Healthcare Philanthropy (AHP) of its AHP Standards Manual.
Based on expertise from the disciplines of law, finance, accounting and research, the manual defines terms and sets standards across the field of health care fundraising -- from the classification of revenue sources and expenses to measurement of the impact of philanthropic programs and various management and operational approaches.
Senior level fundraisers and chief financial officers of AHP-member organizations serving on AHP’s Health Care Philanthropy Standards Council have reviewed the manual to ensure its accuracy and relevancy.
“Philanthropy is an essential and vital revenue source for every hospital, health care system and related institution in the not-for-profit sector,” says William C. McGinly, Ph.D., CAE, president and chief executive officer of AHP. “By adopting the AHP standards, they will strengthen their ability to earn the support of individual, corporate and governmental donors.”
“As the leading association of development professionals working on behalf of nonprofit health care institutions, AHP has a responsibility to implement organizational performance measures that will enhance the accountability and credibility of charitable fundraising and foster public trust and transparency,” adds David L. Flood, chair, AHP Healthcare Philanthropy Standards Council.
The manual reflects criteria formulated and tested by the association through its annual Report on Giving and the AHP Performance Benchmarking Service, both recognized as among the highest quality data-gathering and reporting activities in the world of health care philanthropic fundraising. It places reporting standards in the context of Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) as well as Internal Revenue Service and Canadian Revenue Agency specifications.
Fundraising revenues, for example, are deemed to be either “cash” or “production” in order to provide a thorough accounting of fundraising performance. Cash represents the dollars available for immediate use by the organization, while production provides a more accurate measure of total fundraising, including both projected and secured revenues. The AHP Standards Manual sets detailed definitions of these terms as well as their classification into specified fundraising programs such as annual giving, major giving and special events. Direct and indirect expenses associated with each type of program are calculated to reveal the programs’ return-on-investment and allow comparisons between and among fundraising approaches.
The 82-page manual includes situational examples that illustrate how to classify revenue and expenses and arrays of sample reports. AHP markets the publication to its members and to other nonprofit organizations interested in using the association’s methodologies. The publication is available for purchase in AHP’s online store at www.ahp.org/newpubs and costs $75 for AHP members and $140 for non-members.
AHP Strategic Plan
The movement to establish more uniform sets of standards for health care philanthropy is one key element of AHP’s Strategic Plan for the years 2011 through 2015. The association also intends to strengthen and more widely disseminate the knowledge base of core to executive-level fundraising competencies among its members and engage them more actively in developing leadership skills for the betterment of the profession and the health care institutions they serve.
The Association for Healthcare Philanthropy, established in 1967, is a not-for-profit organization whose 5,000 members direct philanthropic programs in 2,000 of North America’s nonprofit health care providers.
Hospitals, health care systems and related facilities for which AHP members raise charitable funds provide essential, comprehensive medical services to their communities, as well as wellness programs, mobile health vans, mammography screenings, hearing and eye exams, and other community-based health care services. AHP members include fundraising professionals, development staff, public relations professionals, trustees, marketing specialists, administrators and executives interested in health care fundraising. To learn more, visit www.ahp.org.
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