Fostering Strategic Alignment in Philanthropy
Alignment between the health care organization's strategic priorities and charitable funding priorities is essential to maximize the impact of donor dollars. However, many organizations fail to secure a shared vision, so philanthropy is used to advance low value priorities or development officers are left to de facto set hospital strategy.
Getting to a new level of collaboration requires health care organization leaders to understand how and why to optimize philanthropy as a key revenue source. Organizations must also commit to building a solid and consistent process to improve project selection, so philanthropy is no longer directed to the "nice to have" but to the most important strategic endeavors of the health care organization.
This brief explores one core concept on the journey toward alignment: just because something is the burning platform of the health care organization doesn't mean it will light the fire of a potential donor.