Missed the 2026 AHP International Conference in Nashville? Don’t worry. We’ve compiled a quick overview of a few of the many practical ideas shared that can strengthen your healthcare fundraising efforts, deepen donor relationships, and help your team prepare for what comes next.
Use AI to Make Fundraising More Human, Not More Manipulative
During his session, Nathan Chappell, MBA, MNA, AIGP, CFRE, chief AI officer at Virtuous, challenged fundraisers to stop treating donors like averages and begin seeing each person as a unique “N of one.” Predictive, generative, and agentic AI are poised to help organizations provide more individualized donor experiences while shifting staff time from administration toward human connection.
If you haven’t started exploring what AI can do for your organization, you’re not behind. But the time is now: with the advent of agentic AI the potential for exponential change is upon us. It’s time to optimize your processes for an AI world to eliminate the tasks that don’t bring joy and make time for deeper, more personal relationships with donors.
AI can help fundraisers deliver more personal experiences at scale, but only if organizations keep human judgment, transparency, and donor interests at the center. Nathan’s advice is simple: write down your values and maintain human accountability. And as AI takes on research and routine communication, be clear when people are interacting with a bot, especially when a conversation involves generosity and giving.
Fix the Fundraising System Before Blaming the Fundraiser
According to David Higgs, president of Engage Performance Advantage Canada, and Steve Reed, CEO of Engage Performance Advantage, fundraising performance problems often stem from the way work is structured rather than from the fundraisers themselves. David and Steve encourage you to examine roles, processes, technology, and organizational design before focusing on individual performance. It’s not possible to coach your way out of problems created by poor design.
Too many fundraisers spend their time navigating unclear definitions, fragmented responsibilities, data entry, and organizational workarounds instead of building relationships. Drawing on the 60-30-10 heuristic developed through the work of Richard Hackman and Ruth Wageman, the presenters suggested that leaders have the greatest influence when they invest first in designing the right conditions, then in launching the work effectively, and only then in ongoing coaching and management.
Let Donor Signals Connect Your Fundraising Pipeline
During their session, Jason Wyssmann of HonorHealth Foundation and Paul St Onge of Doing Good Digital explored how donor data, engagement signals, and coordinated systems can help organizations create a more connected donor experience. They argued that donors experience one relationship with an organization, even when multiple fundraising teams are involved.
Internal silos can create duplicate outreach, conflicting messages, missed signals, clumsy handoffs, and unclear ownership. Their solution is to build systems around the cumulative donor relationship rather than the organizational chart.
HonorHealth Foundation is designing a future-state model that looks beyond giving history to capture signals such as content consumption, event participation, downloads, direct replies, and repeated interest in particular service lines. Its proposed Pioneer program would use those signals to identify donors whose interests may be emerging or changing and test more personalized treatment, cadence, and relationship transitions.
Rather than labeling every engaged person as a major-gift prospect, the program encourages staff to notice, listen, learn, and respond appropriately, then create warm handoffs as the relationship develops.
Turn Donor Cultivation into an Experience
Jordan Brewer, MBA, lead philanthropy services officer at IU Health Foundation, and Lindsay Burkowski, director of philanthropy for IUHMC and the Metro Region at IU Health Foundation, shared how the foundation’s Experience the Difference program creates customized, mission-focused experiences that help donors form deeper connections to the organization’s work.
Donors are selected intentionally based on factors including capacity, interest, connection, readiness, and strategic value. Before the experience, participants identify their interests and comfort levels. The team combines that information with prospect research and development officer insight to create a customized day. Donors are paired with guides and take part in interactive experiences rather than simply attending presentations or tours.
Since the program began in 2023, eight events involving 70 donor guests have been followed by more than $15 million in gifts and commitments, with more than $29 million in impact when matching funds are included. The lesson: create a memorable experience, and connect the experience to thoughtful, individualized follow-up that turns inspiration into action.
Know When to Say No to a Gift
You’re months into cultivating a seven-figure gift. Then the donor’s son starts arguing in your hospital lobby: he wants seven-inch letters on the naming sign, and your standard is six. What do you do?
Stacey Corley, president of Sarasota Memorial Healthcare Foundation, and Jan Cady, executive partner at BWF, argue for something you don’t hear often enough: sometimes the right answer is no. Your sign standards protect every donor who followed the rules. HIPAA, patient privacy, and your nurses’ boundaries don’t bend because someone named a floor. And when a donor berates your staff, someone senior needs to say, kindly but firmly, “We don’t talk to people like that here.”
Saying no usually costs less than you fear. Donors who are turned down gracefully sometimes come back and give more. Even when they don’t, you keep your integrity, your team’s trust and your credibility with clinicians. Hold the line, and bring your CEO or board chair in when you need them.
Protect Local Donor Trust During System Growth
According to Michelle Schneider, vice president and chief philanthropy officer at Cone Health Philanthropy, and Heather Egan, chief philanthropy officer for the Triad Region at Novant Health Foundation, successful integration requires balancing system-wide priorities with the relationships and trust built within local communities.
Mergers and health system expansion can create fundraising opportunity, but they can also unsettle staff, volunteers, and donors who are deeply connected to their local institutions. Fundraising leaders need to align with system-wide strategy while continuing to tell local stories and demonstrate local impact. Blended gifts can help bridge the gap: a donor’s gift today can support a specific local need they care about, while a future or legacy gift can help meet broader system needs as they evolve.
The presenters also cautioned against moving too quickly. Even if a change makes sense organizationally, it can’t happen overnight without consequences since people are emotionally connected to existing identities. It’s important to take time to hear what local traditions mean, involve people in the transition, and preserve local donor connections where possible.
Build Your Campaign Around the Future Donors Can Create
During their session, Doug Diefenbach, vice president of strategy and brand at Foster Avenue, and Sarah Brown, consultant at Marts&Lundy, encourages you to think of campaigns as communications initiatives rather than fundraising initiatives. A successful campaign requires compelling messages that connect institutional priorities to a future that donors can help create.
Doug and Sarah stressed that the message must explain why ordinary institutional needs now serve an extraordinary purpose. A strong campaign idea should be ambitious, ownable, achievable, and fundable, with donors able to understand their indispensable role.
Henry Ford Health’s campaign offers an example. Although it includes a new academic medical center, the larger message connects patient care, research, education, and health equity in an interwoven vision for changing healthcare. The building is a means to that end, not the end itself.
Before finalizing campaign priorities, ask three questions: Why now? Why here? Why this? The answers should describe what will be different because donors chose to act.
The Next Best Thing
These sessions are only a sample of what healthcare philanthropy professionals shared in Nashville, and one more reason we wish you had been there.
While we can’t recreate the conversations, connections, and energy of being there in person, the on-demand session recordings offer the next best thing, allowing you to explore many of the ideas featured at this year’s conference whenever it’s convenient for you.
