Written by London Automation cofounders Michael London and Brandon Danner
In the fast-paced world of healthcare philanthropy, development teams are constantly chasing aggressive revenue goals. But while foundations frequently analyze financial metrics, donor acquisition costs, and portfolio sizes, they often overlook the single most valuable resource they have: time.
“The one thing nobody in this world can buy is time.”
Brandon Danner
When hospital leadership demands a larger major gift pipeline, the immediate reflex is often to evaluate software costs or consider hiring more staff. However, if your team is forced to rely on manual processes, disconnected data systems, and constant spreadsheet updates to manage prospects, you are actively losing time that should be spent cultivating transformational gifts.
Every hour a highly-paid gift officer spends trying to figure out who to call is an hour they are not building a relationship.
What is the Largest Burden on Backline Fundraisers?
“That’s what it’s like for your backline gift officers: so your prospect managers, your prospect researchers, your database administrators. They have massive amounts of manual work that they must complete every day in order to keep everybody informed. And it’s just too much work.”
Brandon Danner
When a hospital asks for more major gifts, the pressure immediately falls on the backline team. These professionals are tasked with the nearly impossible job of cross-referencing patient data, verifying HIPAA compliance, checking wealth markers, and assigning prospects to gift officers.
Human teams simply cannot manually keep pace with hospital patient volume. Thousands of new patients come into a health system every single week. When prospect managers are bogged down in data hygiene and spreadsheet manipulation, frontline gift officers are left waiting for leads.
How Should You Measure the True ROI of Fundraising Technology?
“If we’re worrying about updating a spreadsheet or creating another spreadsheet, it’s just gonna be more time. When we talk about technology, one of the last things that we measure is time. Everyone always wants to know, ‘How much does it cost?’ ‘What’s the ROI?’ How about: ‘How much is it costing us right now not to do these things in an automated fashion?’ It’s about efficiency. It’s about effectiveness.”
Brandon Danner
When foundations evaluate new software, the conversation typically revolves around the literal price tag. However, relying on outdated tools and manual processes carries a massive, invisible cost.
To build a high-performing grateful patient program, foundations must evaluate the “cost of inaction.” Tech tools need to be built and deployed with one primary goal in mind: getting the job done as quickly, easily, and effectively as possible.
Why Automation is the Key to Reclaiming Your Day
“That’s why the main thing that our fundraising software does is it gives you your time back… Let’s stop with the manual work and let’s help you focus your time.”
Brandon Danner
The ultimate purpose of purpose-built fundraising technology is not to replace fundraisers, but to remove the operational friction that prevents them from doing their jobs. By automating data flows between the hospital’s EHR and the foundation’s CRM, teams can instantly identify the right patients to contact without ever exporting a CSV file.
Conclusion: Stop Wasting Time, Start Building Relationships
“You got great results at the hospital, you’re creating great outcomes with grateful patients. Let’s go have those conversations as soon as possible. If we’re not, we’re missing out on all of that fundraising opportunity. Anytime you’re not fundraising, you’re wasting time.”
Brandon Danner
A grateful patient’s connection to your institution is strongest immediately following a positive clinical outcome. If your team is stuck digging through spreadsheets to find those patients, the window of gratitude will pass. By automating the manual work, your team can focus entirely on what matters most: having meaningful conversations and building lasting philanthropic relationships.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Question: Why is manual data entry a major problem for healthcare foundations?
Answer: Manual data entry drains the limited time of backline fundraisers, such as prospect managers and researchers. Because thousands of new patients enter a health system every week, it is impossible for human teams to manually track, vet, and assign prospects without missing major gift opportunities.
Q: How should hospital foundations measure the ROI of new fundraising technology?
A: Instead of only looking at the upfront financial cost of the software, foundations must evaluate the “cost of inaction.” This means calculating how much time and potential major gift revenue is actively being lost by continuing to rely on slow, manual spreadsheet updates instead of automated workflows.
Q: What is the main benefit of automated fundraising software in healthcare?
A: The primary benefit of AI and automation is giving development teams their time back. By eliminating the administrative burden of data hygiene, gift officers can focus entirely on building authentic relationships with patients during their peak “window of gratitude.”
