Keep your HIPAA compliance program airtight and in shape with this checklist covering PHI, risk analysis, safeguards, vendors, training, and breach response.
Anwesha Kiran
Updated:
October 1, 2026
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People trust healthcare organizations with some of their most sensitive information. For hospital and healthcare foundations, too, this information is extremely valuable since it could bring a patient to a diagnosis, treatment, provider, or healthcare experience. As it moves across teams, systems, and individuals, protecting this information becomes a crucial, shared responsibility for all involved organizations.
This makes HIPAA compliance indispensable for fundraising and advancement teams, particularly when patient information touches donor records, grateful patient programs, communications, or third-party technology. A good HIPAA compliance program covers much more than keeping information behind a secure login. In fact, the most important part is for organizations to understand what information they handle, who can access it, how it moves between systems, and what happens if something goes wrong.
This HIPAA compliance checklist covers the main areas healthcare organizations should review, like identifying protected health information (PHI),managing vendors, and documenting compliance efforts.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, or HIPAA, established federal requirements around the privacy and security of certain health information.
The HIPAA Rules include requirements covering the privacy and security of protected health information, along with requirements for responding to breaches and protecting individuals' rights.
For organizations handling health information, these parts of HIPAA are particularly relevant:
HIPAA applies to covered entities and business associates.
Covered entities include healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses that meet HIPAA's definitions. A business associate is generally an organization or individual that performs certain functions or services for a covered entity that involve creating, receiving, maintaining, or transmitting PHI.
If an organization does not meet the definition of a covered entity or business associate, HIPAA may not apply to it.
Being affiliated with a hospital does not automatically make a foundation a covered entity under HIPAA. What’s relevant is looking at what information the foundation handles and what role it plays in relation to the covered entity.
For example, a foundation may work with information connected to grateful patient programs or receive information from a hospital that contains PHI. In those situations, the foundation and hospital need to understand their respective responsibilities and how this information should be handled.
The same principle applies when a foundation brings in an outside technology provider. If the provider functions as a business associate, HIPAA requires an appropriate written arrangement covering how PHI will be handled and safeguarded. It’s not a standard answer across the board for every organization and differs each time in relation to the data, partnerships, vendors and other factors involved. So it becomes important to have an understanding of what will make your organization compliant even under changing circumstances.
HIPAA compliance addresses everything, including the data you collect, the systems your team uses and even the vendors you work with.
The following checklist will help you review the major areas of your compliance program. Before we get into it in detail, here’s the checklist at a glance:
This is the most fundamental step to get right before you can approach protecting the data: you need to know where it is and how your organization uses it. The best way to look for it would be to break this down into granular steps.
Ideally, this should include:
For a healthcare foundation, this could mean looking closely at how information moves between the hospital, advancement team, CRM, fundraising platform, communication tools, and other systems.
Once you’re certain where the PHI is stored, and how it enters and leaves your systems, look at who can access it and deliberate on the access. Of course, trust plays a huge part in this process, and you probably trust your team to be responsible with handling this data.
However, access should be tied to a person's responsibilities. Someone working on donor communications may not need the same access as a member of a grateful patient team, for example. Consider access from this perspective.
Review whether your organization:
Regular access reviews can also help catch permissions that made sense when they were created but no longer make sense today.
A HIPAA policy sitting in an internal folder or understood by only a few employees will only be so effective. Employees need to understand what the policies mean for the work they do every day.
Your organization should establish policies and procedures covering areas such as:
Training should also reflect people's responsibilities. A fundraising officer, IT administrator, and volunteer who encounter health information in different ways may need different guidance. Consider conducting specific workshops and training to address these role-based differences.
The HIPAA Security Rule organizes safeguards into three categories: administrative, physical, and technical.
Here's what to review in each area.
Administrative safeguards focus on the policies, processes, and people responsible for protecting ePHI.
You must include:
HHS credits risk analysis as a foundational step in identifying and implementing appropriate safeguards. It also notes that organizations should take their own environment and circumstances into account rather than relying on a single compliance blueprint.
Physical safeguards protect the facilities, workstations, and devices where ePHI can be accessed.
Review whether your organization:
Technical safeguards focus on the technology used to protect ePHI.
Depending on your environment and setup, this means:
The exact safeguards an organization needs will depend on its systems, risks, and environment. This is one reason the risk analysis should come before deciding which controls to implement.
Your organization can have strong internal controls and still introduce risk through a third-party vendor.
To minimize this risk, identify every vendor that creates, receives, maintains, or transmits PHI on your behalf. Then determine what information each vendor handles and what protections are in place.
Check that you:
A BAA establishes permitted uses and disclosures of PHI and requires the business associate to implement appropriate safeguards. HHS also requires business associates to address certain obligations with their subcontractors.
This detail is particularly relevant when evaluating fundraising and engagement technology. A CRM, event platform, communication tool, or other system may interact with information that falls within your organization's HIPAA obligations, so its data practices should be part of your vendor review.
A compliance program is not complete without a plan for incidents. Your organization should have a clear process for identifying, reporting, investigating, and responding to potential breaches.
Make sure you can:
Under the HIPAA Breach Notification Rule, covered entities and business associates have notification obligations following a breach of unsecured PHI.
Having these procedures in place before an incident occurs gives your team a defined process to follow if the need arises.
A part of HIPAA compliance also means having evidence on hand of the work your organization has done.
Document the following:
It’s best to set up a regular cadence for reviewing these materials. Any new development, such as a new vendor, system, fundraising workflow, or a change in how information is shared introduces new risks that were not part of the previous assessment. Regular cadences will help make compliance part of your organization's rhythm and ensure you stay on top of these changes.
Healthcare fundraising teams work with a wide range of information across donor engagement, events, giving, communications, and grateful patient programs. The technology used for these processes needs to support the organization's privacy and security requirements.
Almabase is designed to help healthcare foundations manage these fundraising workflows with security and HIPAA considerations built into the platform.
Almabase provides controls designed to help healthcare organizations manage access to sensitive information, including permissions and audit trails. The platform also supports a Business Associate Agreement for organizations that require one.
Healthcare foundations can use Almabase to manage donor engagement, giving, events, communications, and other advancement workflows in one connected environment.
Almabase integrates with Raiser’s Edge NXT and other CRMs to help reduce manual data movement between platforms and keep donor and engagement information synchronized. Reducing unnecessary movement of information makes day-to-day data management easier to control.
HIPAA compliance is an ongoing process. As your organization adds new technology, works with new vendors, or changes how teams handle information, your compliance measures must adapt to remain airtight.
This means keeping an eye on how patient and donor information moves through fundraising workflows and making sure the right people, systems, and safeguards are in place.
Use this checklist as a starting point for reviewing your current practices, identifying gaps, and deciding where your team may need to take a closer look. Regular risk assessments, policy reviews, employee training, and vendor reviews can help keep your HIPAA program aligned with the way your organization actually works.
Looking for a fundraising platform built with healthcare organizations in mind?
See how Almabase supports healthcare fundraising →
HIPAA applies to covered entities and business associates. Covered entities include qualifying healthcare providers, health plans, and healthcare clearinghouses. Business associates provide certain services to covered entities that involve PHI.
PHI is individually identifiable health information that is created, received, maintained, or transmitted by a covered entity or business associate and is subject to HIPAA's protections.
The Privacy Rule establishes standards for how covered entities may use and disclose PHI and gives individuals certain rights regarding their health information.
The Security Rule establishes requirements for protecting electronic protected health information through administrative, physical, and technical safeguards.
The Breach Notification Rule establishes requirements for notifying affected individuals, HHS, and, in certain cases the media following a breach of unsecured PHI.
The Enforcement Rule establishes procedures for investigations, hearings, penalties, and enforcement of the HIPAA Rules.
The 2013 Omnibus Rule implemented changes to the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Enforcement, and Breach Notification Rules under the HITECH Act and strengthened requirements for business associates and their subcontractors.
The HIPAA requirements that apply to an organization depend on its role and circumstances. Organizations should first determine whether they are a covered entity or business associate and then identify the specific requirements that apply to their activities.
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Anwesha Kiran
For decades now, fundraising galas have been at the forefront of philanthropic events, and with good reason. It’s a format that combines formality, cause and accessible fun very effortlessly.
The best part about a fundraising gala is that it doesn’t have to follow specific guidelines; you can customise it however you want according to your needs and your donors. It can include just about anything ranging from live entertainment, food, presentations to auctions and awards.
And that’s also why the distinctness of your particular gala is all the more important. We’ll take a look into how these events are planned, and some unique ideas that you can adopt to engage your donors.
Galas have been a philanthropy event mainstay for a long time now, but it begs the question of whether they still provide ROI or just function as a general networking event.
The data on this leans towards the former. Overall, in 2025, about 77% of organizations met or exceeded their fundraising goals. The ones that organized purely in-person events or mixed it up with virtual/hybrid events were the standout performers.
But there’s more. Here are a couple of interesting takeaways from the same study:
This gives us two important takeaways: one being that events in general continue to be a crucial part of philanthropy. Secondly, galas meet both the criteria of being an in-person event as well as an event that can incorporate virtual or hybrid events (or purely any of the three).
All that is to say that galas continue to meet the preferences of donors as well as the innovations of fundraising teams, giving us an easy answer to our question above: Yes, galas are definitely worth it in 2026 and will in all likelihood, continue to be in the foreseeable future.
Fundraising galas are extremely customizable, making it easy for you to incorporate themes and programs catered to your organization and its donors. Here are a few gala ideas that can create fun, memorable experiences that inspire your donors to contribute.
There’s a reason black-tie galas are a mainstay on the fundraising calendar. The dress code, the venue, the etiquette all add to the formal tone that tells guests that this is one to show up for. The sense of occasion created also goes a long way if major donors are in attendance.
Nearly 800 guests turned out for Children’s National Hospital Foundation's 2025 Children’s Ball at The Anthem in Washington, D.C., raising more than $3.2 million for the Fund for Every Child. Held every spring with a black-tie dress code, the Ball has become one of those D.C. events people plan around, having built an enduring legacy since its first edition in 2007. Since then, the foundation has raised more than $54 million towards its cause.
The evening had all the trappings of a major gala, but the mission was never lost within the glam.
Max, 16, opened the night with a special performance after receiving music therapy at Children’s National for cerebral palsy. The co-chairs, who have personal connections to the hospital and its families, shared their own stories of finding answers and expert care when they needed it most. Then came Raci, 7, celebrating her recovery from a life-threatening car accident. Those moments gave the evening a personal touch and the guests a reason to care. Without something like this, a black-tie event involving children would run the risk of appearing almost distant, given the formal nature.
Give your guests a reason to feel connected to the mission through a patient or beneficiary story or a moment that puts the impact of their support right in front of them. Peer voices from those who donated can also be very impactful here.
St. Jude’s second biennial Evening of Hope Gala at the Fairmont Century Plaza brought in more than $5.5 million in 2025. Its theme, “Infinite Light,” centered on the idea that each of us has the power to create a lasting legacy: a fitting nod to St. Jude founder Danny Thomas and the vision that started it all.
There’s something different about an event that doesn’t happen every year. By giving the Evening of Hope some breathing room, St. Jude builds anticipation around it and makes the night feel like a genuine occasion.
Vancouver's Capital Direct VGH+ Gala brought in $3.2 million in 2025, including a $1.2 million gift from the Ko Family and Viva Pharmaceutical Inc. and a $100,000 matching gift from Windset Farms. While the size of the gifts is impressive, what’s noteworthy is that the organizations backing the gala stepped up as donors, too.
What really worked here is the guest list. The gala brought together health care leaders, community members, and people who were already invested in the work of VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation. When that kind of crowd is in one room, raising money is just the most basic part of the story. What’s far more impactful is that it puts the story and the cause front and center . The Ko Family’s $1.2 million gift was announced during the evening, putting a major show of support right in front of an audience that understood what it meant.
A matching gift, a surprise announcement, or a major commitment can give the evening an almost tangible boost in spirits. At the end of the day, treat your biggest supporters like partners in the event and show them that their presence matters more than the sponsorship amount they contribute to the event.
Some galas succeed because they give guests a reason to go all out. A well thought out theme is a great way to incorporate some of this into your gala.
The 9th Annual Gala & Auction at Twin Arrows Navajo Casino Resort went all in on the masquerade theme, with festive décor, dinner, dancing, and a silent auction featuring unique works of art. Proceeds went directly to Tuba City Regional Health Care Corporation to support Native American communities.
The masquerade theme is always an easy hit with attendees, and it was no different with this event. Choosing a casino resort instead of the usual hotel ballroom added a touch of novelty to a fairly common theme as well. While the set up was commendable, the true success was, of course, what the event supports.
The organizers were very upfront about where the funds raised went. They helped purchase bilirubin monitors for newborns, infant warmers for critically ill babies, and physical rehabilitation equipment to help patients regain strength and mobility. This made the impact much easier to picture.
The 19th Annual St. Jude Pittsburgh Gala took an Old Hollywood turn at Acrisure Stadium’s East Club. Between the setting, the elegant decor, and the storytelling around Danny Thomas’s legacy, the evening had the feel of a movie premiere, except it was the mission that was at the center of it.
A stadium’s premium club isn’t where you’d normally expect a gala, which made the setting part of the experience. The Old Hollywood theme then gave the night its own visual identity and a natural excuse for guests to dress up. Most importantly, it wasn’t a theme picked just because it looked good. It tied back to St. Jude’s history and founder and entertainer Danny Thomas, placing the evening in a story that everyone attending was already familiar with.
To replicate this idea, start with the story you want guests to walk away with, then build the theme around it. A memorable venue can help too because you may not need to transform a space if the space already has a personality of its own.
Held at Pier 27 on San Francisco’s Embarcadero, Miracles on the Bay had a pretty spectacular programme. Cocktails, dinner, live music, dancing, and a few masquerade masks rounded out an evening with the Golden Gate Bridge and the bay as the backdrop.
Sometimes the smartest decor decision you can make is to leave well enough alone. The gala let the waterfront do the heavy lifting, with most of the decor built around it, minimal and polished. All proceeds from the event benefitted St. Jude, where families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food so they can focus on helping their child live.
If your venue already has a great view, beautiful architecture, or some other built-in wow factor, let it carry the room. Add a few details, like minimal lights, drapes and maybe some flowers that complement it rather than trying to transform the space completely. Your budget will thank you and your guests will end up having an amazing time, regardless.
The 15th annual Grand Cru, Canada’s premier wine and culinary fundraiser for medical research and innovation, raised a record-breaking $33 million-plus for Toronto General and Western Hospital Foundation programs. Over two days, the event puts food and wine front and center, with an experience that felt much more like a festival for food and wine lovers
Grand Cru zeroed in on something their audience cared about and built the fundraiser around it. At the same time, wine and food is a broad enough theme for just about everybody to look forward to it. Wine tastings, great food, and access to culinary experiences gave people plenty of reasons to want to be there, while the mission sat naturally alongside the experience. The two-day format also made the event feel like more than one big dinner, more like a festival; a whole weekend of food, wine, and philanthropy.
Think about what your supporters genuinely enjoy outside of your organization, and build your theme around that. It could be food and wine, golf, art, fashion, music, or something completely different.
Not every gala can appeal to everybody, and that’s not really a bad thing. Sometimes it helps to be extremely specific about who a gala is for, and build the entire evening around that community.
The White Hat Gala brings together leaders from cybersecurity, technology, AI, finance, law, and government to support pediatric healthcare. Since 2013, it has raised more than $7 million, while becoming a regular gathering point for people working across Washington’s technology community.
The White Hat Gala has a clear audience and gives them a reason to come together. Tech leaders can catch up with peers, meet people outside their usual circles, and spend an evening supporting a cause that intersects with their world. This makes the event feel like part of the community’s calendar.
Look for a community that already exists around your mission. It could be an industry, profession, alumni group, or local business community. Then give them a reason to want to be in the same room. The cause is still the reason you’re gathering, but the conversations, connections, and shared interests are what will make the invitation especially appealing!
Every year, Spirit of Hope brings together leaders from New York’s commercial and residential real estate and construction communities. The evening mixes food and drink from some of the city’s best spots with music, a silent auction, and St. Jude stories and experiences.
Nothing short of stalwarts in their field, St. Jude knows its audience and builds the evening accordingly. The food, drinks, entertainment, and setting give real estate and construction leaders the kind of polished, social experience they’re used to and the St. Jude side of it gives the evening a clear purpose. The different parts of the night have a reason to be there. This kind of cohesion and clarity of purpose goes a long way in a room full of leaders in their community.
Once you’ve decided your specific audience, research what kind of events they already enjoy. You don’t have to outspend every other event on their calendar but these events serve as a good reference point. A well-chosen venue, good food, thoughtful programming, and a room full of the right people can go a long way in capturing their attention. Once you have their attention, give them a few meaningful ways to connect with your mission, and make it easy for them to give.
A great story has a way of sticking in your memory, and a gala with a good story attached to it is no different. Find a story for your evening and let the program, the dress code, the speakers, even the auction build up around it.
The fourth annual Moments of Courage gala celebrated the milestones that mark a child’s journey at St. Jude, from birthdays and graduations to finishing treatment. Guests were encouraged to wear pink, orange, or red, giving the evening a bright, celebratory feel from the moment they arrived.
Held every year, the gala is centered around celebrating the milestones in the St. Jude’s children's lives. “Milestones” gives the evening a story and theme everyone understands. Birthdays, graduations, finishing treatment, are all moments families look forward to, and putting them at the center changes the tone of the gala.
Even the dress code supports the idea: the bright colors feel festive and joyful, and no one needs to show up in costume. The result is an amazing evening that celebrates what patients and families are experiencing, rather than simply talking about the challenges they face. This kind of upliftment to the spirits cannot be overstated.
Look for the part of your mission that your community celebrates with you. Maybe it’s a graduation, a recovery, a new beginning, a scholarship recipient’s next step, or a community that has come together after a difficult year. That gives you a much richer starting point than simply “our organization does important work”, especially since your community is already familiar with the work anyway.
The 2026 Spring Gala organized by the Hospital Foundation of Decatur County brought more than 400 community members, local leaders, businesses, donors, and healthcare advocates together in support of local healthcare, raising more than $143,000. Alongside the fundraising, the evening created a chance for the community to come together around something that affects everyone: the healthcare available close to home.
This is a very different kind of gala from a large, high-production event in a major city. In a community of this size, the people in the room are likely to already know one another, the hospital, or someone who has relied on it. The event can tap into that sense of shared responsibility in a way a much larger gala might not, and that becomes the story for the evening. The auctions give people another way to participate, while the gathering itself reinforces the idea that local healthcare belongs to the whole community.
There’s no single formula here. Some of these galas are built around major donors, some around a particular professional community, and others around simply bringing a town together.
What they do share is a clear sense of why this particular event exists and why people would want to be there. The venue, theme, food, stories, entertainment, and giving moments all have a role to play and they don’t feel like separate pieces stitched together at the last minute. They’re all very intentional with what they’re doing.
That’s a worthy lesson for when you’re planning your own gala. More than a big budget or an elaborate production, you need an evening that feels intentional from start to finish, gives people something to enjoy, and leaves them with a reason to remember why they came.
As you might know, a successful fundraising gala sometimes takes months and months of preparation. Coming up with plans and goals is easy enough, but with the amount of moving parts, keeping track of progress across all fronts can be confusing.
Here are the steps you can broadly follow to ensure a smooth planning phase for your event:
This is where you get the big stuff out of the way: who’s running the gala, what you need to raise, how much you can spend, and where and when it’s happening.
A few things you should sort out early:
Get these decisions right and you’ve got yourself a solid base to begin with.
Once the basics are locked in, you can start figuring out what kind of evening you want to create. Pick the theme, settle on your ticket options, and start lining up speakers and entertainment. This is where research you’ve done about your community, their preferences, the story, all come in handy.
Your theme need not be complicated. But your theme will give your plans a direction and shape a lot of the smaller, more specific choices you’ll have to make. If you’ve chosen an Old Hollywood gala, for example, that decision itself answers questions about the music, dress code, décor, and even the food.
At this stage, you work out how the event will make money. Sponsorships, tickets, auctions, and giving moments can all contribute, but the numbers need to make sense together.
A couple of things to keep in mind:
Now that the event is planned, it’s time to create buzz around it! 🐝
You need people to know about your event, and, more importantly, for them to care about your cause.
Start early with the save-the-date, then give people new reasons to pay attention as the event gets closer. Some ways to do it are:
Make sure to do these or a combination of these in a staggered manner; you don’t want to give too much away at once. And of course, it’s equally important that the right message reaches the right segment of your audience. Each segment will have a different reason to care and show up, make sure they feel considered.
By the time guests arrive, your team should know where they need to be and what they’re responsible for. Walk through check-in, make sure volunteers know the basics, and have someone in charge who can make a call when something inevitably changes.
It’s important to be flexible and accommodate minor adjustments and changes on the fly. And once everything is in place and the event is well on the way, take a step back and appreciate everything you and your team have just achieved. 😊
Keeping track of outreach sequences, responses, and registrations while simultaneously planning for event logistics can end up being messy and stressful. Almabase gets some weight off your shoulders by bringing together engagement, giving, and event planning under one roof.
Especially with a gala involving auctions and sponsorships, you’ll need varying registration forms and workflows. With the built-in event builder module you don’t have to worry about losing track of different groups of attendees and the relevant forms. Almabase can also accommodate complex tiered ticketing structures, which you will need to tackle for a large fundraising gala with multiple sub-events.
With Emily AI, you don’t have to take painstaking effort to manually personalize outreach for every segment of attendees. The context-aware AI drafts subject lines and event emails which you can further tweak to your liking.
During the gala itself, ground operations can be hard to manage even with enough volunteers. QR check-ins, payments, and on-site registrations are all automatically synced to your CRM when using Almabase. Additionally, seating assignments and name tags are easy to arrange.
As for tracking and collecting event data, you can do away with spreadsheets (well, most of them). Almabase lets you see registrations, revenue, attendance, and engagement data all at the same place. If you’re selling merch, tracking order count ensures that you’re prepared with just the right amount of stock next time around.
Fundraising galas inject some much needed spectacle and celebration when it comes to giving. They’ve been a mainstay in philanthropy for many decades, and will continue being so long into the future. Hopefully, you’ve gained some helpful pointers in planning one of your own and drawing people to your cause.
If you’re on the lookout for tools that could help your team and wish to learn more about Almabase, we’d suggest booking a personalized demo. Happy planning!
10+ Fundraising Gala Ideas for Nonprofits
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Hari Govind
July 7, 2026
12 minutes
Hospital foundations pour immense resources into signature galas, golf tournaments, and auctions, but without concrete data, how do you measure actual success?
These 2026 hospital fundraising event benchmarks show hospital foundation teams how to assess event performance, improve donor experience, and convert fundraising event attendees into long-term supporters.
To help healthcare teams bridge this gap, Almabase’s event management platform for healthcare foundations uses TrueSync integration to sync clean, real-time data directly into Raiser’s Edge NXT, enabling you to evaluate your hospital fundraising event metrics with significantly less manual effort.
The Benchmark: 75% of in-person fundraising events and 76% of hybrid fundraising events met or exceeded budget goals.
Why this matters: Face-to-face connection remains a reliable baseline for high-stakes fundraising, providing the space for grateful patient storytelling and high-touch donor cultivation.
How to use it:
The Benchmark: 77% of virtual-only events met or exceeded goals—a massive jump from 59% the previous year.
Why this matters: There’s a common misconception that virtual events were a "pandemic-only" trend, but the data tells a different story.
How to use it:
The Benchmark: 83% of nonprofits said their in-person auction events meet or exceed their fundraising goals.
Why this matters: Auctions are the highest-rated revenue drivers, signaling strong sector-wide confidence in their donor appeal.
How to use it:
The Benchmark: The average net worth of golf tournament attendees is $768,000.
Why this matters: Golf tournaments attract high-value corporate sponsors and offer predictable revenue potential and strong donor engagement.
How to use it:
The Benchmark: 39% of nonprofits plan on investing in more modern technology and automation in 2026.
Why this matters: Event technology platforms like Almabase’s reduce friction during high-emotion donor moments. Any technical barrier at check-in or bidding can break momentum and cost real revenue.
How to use it:
The Benchmark: 41% of Gen X donors attend in-person fundraising events.
Why this matters: Gen X is entering their highest-earning years. Ignoring this segment weakens your future donor pipeline.
How to use it:
The Benchmark: 50% of Baby Boomer donors don’t like attending fundraising events.
Why this matters: Boomers are major donors, but half actively dislike large events. Relying on broad invitations can weaken donor trust.
How to use it:
The Benchmark: Mid-level “Engagement Seeker” donors have a strong appetite for in-person involvement.
Why this matters: These donors are the most likely to respond to deeper cultivation and upgraded giving.
How to use it:
The Benchmark: 67% of donors who were asked to give again after attending a recognition event did so, and they attributed their willingness partly to the event.
Why this matters: Recognition events are not just stewardship; they are strategic revenue drivers that reinforce trust.
How to use it:
The Benchmark: Only 23% of first-time donors return for a second gift.
Why this matters: Event attendees often give impulsively and drift away without a structured touchpoint.
How to use it:
The Benchmark: Healthcare nonprofits retain just 14% of new donors—the lowest in the nonprofit sector.
Why this matters: Low retention erodes event ROI. When 7 out of 10 new attendees don’t turn into repeat donors, your hospital foundation is forced into a permanent, expensive cycle of donor acquisition rather than building on previous successes.
How to use it:
Evaluating your hospital fundraising event benchmarks is only possible with a clean data stream. Almabase simplifies performance management by:
Ready to turn your hospital foundation’s fundraising event data into a strategic advantage for 2026? [Request a Demo]
11 Hospital Fundraising Event Benchmarks to Track in 2026
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Wendy Johnson
December 23, 2025
12 minutes
Hospital foundations raised an average of $7.7 million in net fundraising revenue in 2024. Galas and other fundraising events played a pivotal role, with some hospital foundations raising millions at just one gala alone.
Sponsorships are the key to any event’s success, providing up to half of a gala’s operational expenses. But securing these partnerships requires more than sending mass emails and generic proposals to businesses in your region. You need an intentional strategy, thoughtful outreach, and a clear understanding of why businesses sponsor events in the first place.
This post breaks down the most effective ways to attract high-value gala sponsorships, and how Almabase’s event and data automation tools streamline sponsor management and eliminate manual work.
Start with companies whose business goals align with your audience. Prioritize those that sponsor other community events, such as parades, golf tournaments, galas, health fairs, summer concerts, and walks or races.
Tap board members, physicians, executives, and volunteers for warm leads. Warm intros convert much better than cold asks.
Companies more likely to say yes include:
Also, reach out to businesses that have supported your foundation in the past, and ask them to increase their support.
Identify the right leaders in marketing, brand, or business development and ask board members or executives for warm introductions whenever possible.
Reference their recent community involvement or past sponsorships to show how their values align with your mission, and provide a brief overview of your foundation and event audience.
Close with a simple next step: a short conversation to review sponsorship levels for gala participation and the options that best match their goals. Have a hospital executive co-sign the email to elevate your outreach.
Hi {{First Name}},
I am writing on behalf of [Foundation Name], which raises money to support the life-saving mission of [Hospital Name]. We have so much respect for [Name of Company]’s longtime support of local community initiatives, including your recent sponsorship of [INSERT INFO HERE].
Your values align perfectly with our mission to provide compassionate healthcare to families throughout our region. That’s why I’m reaching out to ask if you’d join us as a corporate sponsor for our [NAME & DATE OF EVENT].
This popular fundraising event attracts [NUMBER] residents and business leaders to support innovative healthcare in our community. Our goal is to raise [DOLLAR AMOUNT] to fund [PROJECT].
Your sponsorship would provide high-visibility and recognition before and during the event, including potential mention in local media advertisements during [NUMBER] weeks/months of promotion.
Can we schedule a brief 15-minute call to discuss the possibilities?
Thank you for considering this opportunity to make a difference in our community.
Sincerely,
NAME
ORGANIZATION
Share concrete business benefits, such as logo placement, signage, digital exposure, program ads, and opportunities to engage directly with attendees. Provide brief details that help companies justify the spend and understand your sponsorship levels for gala packages:
This elevates your CTA beyond ‘support our mission’ toward the tangible marketing value they’ll receive as gala sponsors, which is essential in any corporate event sponsorship decision.
Thank each sponsor during the event, in follow-up donor communications, on your website, and across your social media channels.
Send a personalized thank-you note within a few days after the event. Reference their specific contribution and show their impact with a short story, quote, or examples of the specific programs or people they supported.
Send a report within a week that includes total attendance, audience demographics, and every place their logo appeared, along with photos of signage and digital placements.
Add key performance numbers, such as social reach, email impressions, website traffic, on-site engagement highlights, and any notable feedback. If recognition moments or fundraising results were part of the event, summarize them.
Almabase brings all your healthcare fundraising events into one connected platform that syncs directly with Raiser’s Edge NXT, reducing manual work and keeping every team aligned.
Centralize event metrics, attendee engagement, and sponsor activity so fundraising, marketing, and gift officers can collaborate more efficiently and act on complete data.
Use branded event pages, automated reminders, and targeted email workflows to promote events without juggling multiple tools or teams.
Sync attendance, engagement, giving data, and activity into Raiser’s Edge NXT. Provide complete, accurate ROI without manual entry.
Set reminders, deliverable deadlines, staff updates, thank-you messages, and post-event recaps automatically. Consistent communication creates a polished sponsor experience.
5 Ways Hospital Foundations Can Attract More Gala Sponsorships
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Wendy Johnson
December 23, 2025
12 minutes
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