AHP Connect Articles

Missed the AHP Convene Canada Conference? No problem! We’ve compiled a quick overview of a few of the many powerful insights shared that can supercharge your healthcare fundraising efforts. 

Build a Purpose-Driven Culture, One Practice at a Time 

Want to boost team engagement, retention, and fundraising results? Take a page from Southlake Health Foundation. Jennifer Ritter, LLB, president & CEO, and Dionne Malcolm, CFRE, director of strategic marketing communications and brand development at Southlake Health Foundation in Newmarket, ON, believe culture isn’t a backdrop—it’s the engine that powers high performance. Their advice: infuse your daily operations with your mission. Start small: host weekly huddles that celebrate mission impact, organize “mission field trips” to connect staff with clinical teams, and create culture goals that are just as important as revenue goals. Build shared language and rituals that reinforce purpose, and don’t underestimate the power of listening deeply to staff feedback. By making joy and mission part of the everyday, you’ll cultivate a culture that people want to be part of. Better year, performance will follow. In the three years since Jennifer and Dionne began the cultural transformation at their organization, they increased staff satisfaction from 68% to 98%, and fundraising revenue jumped 70%. 

Make Qualification Less Scary and More Strategic  

Qualification doesn’t have to be a mystery or a chore, according to Katie Kelly-Greenbaum, vice president of strategy, governance and campaign operations, and Ali-Reza Chattoo, team lead of prospect research and pipeline administration, from the Jewish General Hospital Foundation in Montreal, QC, shared how they worked with Marts & Lundy to turn a feared task into a cultural norm. Their advice: start small to build momentum. Katie shared that their team began with a modest expectation of just one qualification per fundraiser per month to help staff ease into a new habit without feeling overwhelmed. Ali-Reza emphasized the importance of celebrating every outcome, including disqualifications, because each decision helps keep portfolios focused and frees up time for truly viable prospects. The team tailors portfolios based on each staff member’s strengths, interests, and networks. New fundraisers receive what the team affectionately calls a “Nespresso starter pack”—a curated mix of qualification prospects, stewardship opportunities, and easy renewals—to help them ease into their portfolio and build confidence early. They also equip fundraisers with curated prospect digests and discovery scripts, making those first outreach efforts less intimidating and more strategic. Regular training, a clear definition of what “qualification” means, and time-bound follow-up reminders all help turn qualification from a dreaded task into a productive part of the culture. 

Keep Your Team Energized for the Long Haul to Avoid Campaign Burnout 

Campaigns are a marathon, and that goes for your team, too. Panelists Bethany Dainton (Peterborough Regional Health Centre Foundation), Leonard Nolasco (SickKids Foundation), and Katie Graham (CHEO Foundation) shared how they’re keeping staff and volunteers engaged through long campaign cycles. Bethany reconnects her staff to the purpose by creating opportunities for her team members—not just donors—to witness the impact of their work through hospital tours and patient stories. Leonard fosters a culture of belonging and engagement through creative internal campaigns, like the “Family Campaign Committee,” populated by staff, to encourage internal giving and connection. Because burnout extends beyond staff to volunteers and donors, Katie tries to avoid it in her donors by setting clear expectations early, communicating honestly about delays, and proactively planning the next phase of engagement before the current campaign ends. The message was clear: investing in your team’s (and donors’) energy and purpose is just as critical as hitting your financial goals. 

Rethink Governance to Serve Your Mission 

What if governance wasn’t about your board, but about your mission? That was the central provocation from Nic Gagliardi, Governance & Strategy Lead at Rise & Run Co. Nic invites foundation leaders to rethink the dominant “board-centric” governance model—where all authority, responsibility, and structure revolves around the board—and instead adopt a “purpose-led” approach that centers decision-making on advancing the organization’s core mission. In this reframed model, the board becomes just one part of a larger governance ecosystem, not the hub of all activity. Governance, Nic argues, should be a flexible, organization-wide system for navigating toward purpose, not a rigid checklist of policies and meetings. By decoupling governance from board structure, organizations gain room to design systems that fit their reality, engage staff and volunteers meaningfully, and avoid the burnout that comes from trying to force old models to work. 

Let Go of One-Size-Fits-All Workplaces 

KCI’s 2025 Healthcare Foundation Benchmarking Study shows that foundations in Canada are seeing some sea changes in the way work is being done. Flexibility is the name of the game. Ninety-one percent of foundations now offer hybrid work as the norm, compared to 9% before the pandemic. Workplace flexibility is no longer a perk but an expectation. And flexibility extends beyond work location. More foundations are including personal days in their benefits packages—and framing them as restorative days, not vacation—and floating holidays that allow staff to celebrate the holidays with the most meaning to them. Even benefits packages are not immune. KCI is seeing an increasing number of foundations offering tiered benefits packages so that, for example, employees without children are not paying for parental leave or childcare benefits that they won’t use.