Digital Grateful Patient
How to run a successful patient acquisition program
Welcome to Doing Good Digital’s 2025 Grateful Patient Report. This guide is designed to help you launch, enhance, or optimize a digital grateful patient (GP) conversion program that’s adaptable to your organization’s technology stack and fundraising goals.
Introduction
While many hospital foundations still wrestle with how to best incorporate a digital component into their grateful patient efforts—often due to siloed data and complex tech systems—we’re here to show you it’s possible to start small and scale smart. From our experience, a grateful patient program can be implemented using a wide variety of fundraising tools, including:
In this year’s report, we’ll also explore new insights—like the performance of longer email series versus shorter ones in converting patients to donors. We’ll outline what happens next after a patient completes a GP series, including effective stewardship journeys and mid-level upgrade series that deepen donor relationships.
Plus, we’ll cover emerging best practices around scoring patient engagement, pushing that data back into your CRM, and how that feedback loop improves your direct mail segmentation over time. Whether you’re just starting out or refining an existing program, this report is designed to provide practical guidance, platform-agnostic tips, and real-world examples from health systems of all sizes.
- RE NXT for CRM and donation forms, paired with Mailchimp for email.
- Luminate Online for both forms and email, with RE NXT as the CRM, connected through Omatic.
- GoFundMe Pro for donation forms and Fundraise Up and donor conversion, both integrated with Salesforce CRM.
Legal disclaimer: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) are federal laws pertaining to the privacy and security of individuals’ health information. Covered entities should be aware that these and other laws, including state or other jurisdictional laws, may apply to their implementation of any recommendations in this paper to the extent they rely on, use, or incorporate protected health information. We aim to fully comply with HIPAA as required by law, but additional steps may be required of you and your organization. Our recommendations do not constitute legal advice or guarantee that you fulfill your legal obligations. Please consult a licensed attorney familiar with these matters to ensure avoidance of any such violation.
Establish Goals and Key Performance Indicators
Well-defined digital KPIs are essential for securing internal buy-in and tracking the success of your grateful patient program. By identifying the right metrics from the start, you will set expectations for senior leadership and be able to demonstrate both short-term wins and long-term growth potential.
In 2025, the most effective GP programs use KPIs that go beyond one-time giving. Consider tracking:
- Total revenue per month or quarter: segmented by first-time versus returning GP donors.
- Conversion rates by email series length: to evaluate the performance of shorter versus longer sequences.
- Time to first gift: the average number of days from first touch to first donation.
- Mid-level and major gift lift: the percentage of GP donors who upgrade after completing the series.
- Engagement scoring: email clicks, page views, or donations used to inform CRM scoring models and refine direct mail lists.
Defining and Managing Your Audience
Work with your hospital’s prospect team to identify potential prospects on a monthly basis. These records should be sent securely into your analytics platform, where existing constituents are matched, and remaining patients are scored and modeled according to:
- Recency
- Frequency of clinical and hospital visits
- Age of the patient
- Recency of hospital and clinical visits
- Department of care
- Outcome
- Wealth scoring
Based on scoring thresholds for direct mail and major gift outreach, some constituents will be sent to your CRM. Most of the remaining, after applying standard suppressions, should be sent to your email platform for digital activation.
While sending all prospects to your CRM may seem easier, it can increase record volume and platform costs. That’s why we recommend directing non-DM and non- major prospects into your email platform first, where they can be nurtured and re- scored based on engagement.
*You could send all prospects to your CRM, and this would be easier from a data management standpoint, but this would increase your record counts and could impact pricing. Therefore we recommend sending non-DM and non-Major prospects into your email platform.
Technology Integrations and Considerations
Many of our clients use Raiser’s Edge as their database of record. For Raiser’s Edge, it would not be ideal to import all of your patient prospect records into Raiser’s Edge because it would clutter up the database and likely add to or complicate your pricing with Blackbaud.
Therefore we recommend that you purchase a separate email platform to send your acquisition emails to your patient file.
You could either purchase a stand-alone email platform like Mailchimp or MyEmma, or purchase an integrated platform, like Luminate Online or Engaging Networks, that include donation forms, surveys and landing pages. Landing pages and surveys are ideal to engage your audience in more ways than just asking for a donation. Ex. downloads, messages to caregivers. We know that response rates are low early on, but by engaging in unique ways throughout their journey, they will convert.
If you are hesitant to transition all your communication to a new email platform, it’s possible to run your existing donor communication through RE NXT email module, and your patient prospecting communication through a separate email platform as per the following pages.
Lastly related to technology integrations and considerations, a process will need to exist to store historical patient appeal communications. This can either be done 1) in the email platform itself 2) via a data warehouse 3) your prospect research platform 4) using non-constituent records in Raiser’s Edge’s via Omatic’s List Management.
Doing Good Digital provides consulting and implementation services for data, email platforms, integrations, and overall grateful patient program strategy.Hospitals and foundations need to extend the length of their digital patient acquisition strategy in order to increase response rates
Data Flow Option 1
Integrated Email and Donation Form Platform
Typical data flow when using an integrated email and donation form platform like Luminate Online or Engaging Networks.
- Pros: less data and systems to integrate; includes surveys, landing pages, and peer-to-peer; robust digital capabilities.
- Cons: cost; an enterprise solution.
Data Flow Option 2
Separate Email and Donation Form Platforms
Typical data flow when using separate email and donation form platforms.
- Pros: emails and donation forms can be built quickly.
- Cons: additional data to integrate and business rules to create.
Data Flow Option 3
RE NXT for Donation Forms
Typical data flow when using RE NXT as your donation form.
- Pros: less data and systems to integrate.
- Cons: RE NXT forms are not very customizable; third-party analytics can be difficult to use with RE NXT.
Map the Patient Journey
Now that we have our data and technology in place, let’s map the patient journey. Our recommendation is that hospitals and foundations extend the length of their digital patient acquisition strategy in order to increase response rates. Rather than just sending a short digital campaign over one to two months, we recommend extending digital engagement to patients over a longer time period.
Therefore, if patients do not convert in the initial digital campaign, we recommend that you:
- Keep patients on a dedicated digital engagement track after the initial campaign.
- Remove any patients from the digital track who are not engaging.
- Send dedicated or automated engagement touches throughout the year.
- Send digital solicitations at key moments throughout the year, such as Giving Tuesday and end of year.
Hospitals and foundations need to extend the length of their digital patient acquisition strategy in order to increase response rates
Journey Option 1
Campaign Style
2-part email campaign with hard asks, followed by engagement for non-converting patients.
- 1-2 email series appeal for each batch of patients
- A/B test email format, messaging or imagery
- Suppress patients in all other email communication
- Move non-converting patients to an engagement track after campaign is complete.
Journey Option 2
Welcome and Ask
Provide patients with a welcome series with an ask at end, followed by engagement track.
- Welcome series of 2-3 emails with ask in second and/or third email
- Suppress patients in all other email communication
- Move non-converting patients to an engagement track after welcome is complete.
Journey Option 3
Engagement Focused
A non-soliciting welcome series sent to patients, followed by engagement track.
- Welcome series of 2-3 emails with no ask or a soft ask
- Suppress patients in all other email communication
- Move non-converting patients to an engagement track after welcome is complete.
Depending on capacity and budget, the engagement track could consist of appeals, eNews, conditional stories in eNews, and dedicated or automated engagement touches. Remove unengaged emails after 90 to 180 days.
Content
Once you have mapped out your grateful patient journey, the next step is to develop content that resonates with your audience, especially in your first two to three emails and throughout the stewardship cycle. Aim to offer a variety of content types and calls-to-action, such as:
- Honor a caregiver
- Patient stories and testimonial videos
- Impact stats, infographics, and updates
- Medical breakthroughs or innovation spotlights
- Share your story
- Peer-to-peer fundraising opportunities
- Special invites to patient-only events
- Birthday or milestone fundraising appeals
- Interactive quizzes
- Engagement or feedback surveys
- Profile-building forms or polls
- Content downloads, such as caregiver guides or wellness tips
Be sure to align your content strategy with your goals, whether it is acquiring a first gift, deepening engagement, or identifying mid-level potential. The right mix of storytelling and interaction can lead to higher conversion and long-term value
Early Results
Longer Journeys Drive Greater Impact
In 2025, we are seeing strong performance from grateful patient journeys that extend beyond a single welcome or three-part series. Programs that layer in six to eight touchpoints, starting with storytelling and ending with a clear solicitation pathway, are outperforming shorter journeys in both engagement and revenue.
These longer, educational series warm up prospects over time and often result in indirect giving: patients who first interact through surveys, caregiver tributes, or downloadable content and then return later to donate via your website, direct mail, or even peer-to-peer.
This approach also improves first-gift quality and gift retention, making longer journeys a smart investment for pipeline development and future annual giving growth.
Technology Considerations
With all of the options above, it comes down to budget, capacity and technology. If you are unsure if you have the right technology for anything mentioned in this report, please contact us. Your organization may be on a myriad of different platforms. Our team is experienced with RE NXT, Bloomerang, DonorPerfect, Omatic, Engaging Networks, Luminate Online, MyEmma, Mailchimp, Constant Contact, WordPress and others.
Other Considerations
- Converting patients to donors is only half the strategy. What is your plan for stewarding patients once they have become a donor?
- How could social media and digital advertising complement your strategy? Recently Facebook eliminated the ability to target based on health related interest groups. You could consider advertisements to patients that did not convert (Custom Facebook Audience) if this is in line with your HIPAA compliance policy.
A Note on HIPAA and Compliance
We recommend that you establish Privacy and Security practices, a Joint Notice of Privacy Practices (JNPP), and all opt-out language for communications. It is extremely important that your legal and compliance teams are included on this aspect of the project to make sure you are following federal, state, and local laws, in addition to the hospital’s policies to safeguard patients’ data.
You will also want to train staff and vendors on how to protect themselves and the hospital by using dual authentication for logins and handling reports and spreadsheets within the policies set by the hospital compliance team.
Legal disclaimer: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) are federal laws pertaining to the privacy and security of individuals’ health information. Covered entities should be aware that these and other laws, including state or other jurisdictional laws, may apply to their implementation of any recommendations in this paper to the extent they rely on, use, or incorporate protected health information. We aim to fully comply with HIPAA as required by law, but additional steps may be required of you and your organization. Our recommendations do not constitute legal advice or guarantee that you fulfill your legal obligations. Please consult a licensed attorney familiar with these matters to ensure avoidance of any such violation.
Need Help With Your Grateful Patient Program?
Whether you are just starting out or refining an existing program, our team can help with strategy, content, fundraising, and technology. Download the full report or get in touch at hello@doinggoodagency.com.
