Massachusetts General Hospital’s Fundraising Community Raised $7M In One Year

Massachusetts General Hospital is the largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, training the next generation of leaders in science and medicine. It is the third-oldest general hospital in the United States.

Classy’s Comprehensive Fundraising Suite Empowers Supporters to Fundraise Their Way

Mass General relies on several fundraising channels to grow giving each year. In particular, the team has leveraged Classy’s comprehensive fundraising suite to drive its community fundraising initiatives. What differentiates their approach is that the organization itself doesn’t organize or manage any particular campaign. Instead, it offers Classy as a self-service option for third parties to easily fundraise on behalf of the hospital.

Based on how the fundraiser wants to support Mass General’s mission, they can choose from any of the following campaign types that Classy offers:

• Donation pages
• Peer-to-peer fundraising
• Crowdfunding websites
• Registration with fundraising
• Ticketed events

At Mass General, 100% of every dollar raised goes directly to benefit the hospital. The team markets the community fundraising program with one major incentive: Every dollar raised is managed by Mass General, so fundraisers don’t have to transfer money to the organization or be the go-between for sending donors’ tax receipts. 

Thanks to Classy’s secure and reliable online payment processor, Classy Pay, Mass General has full visibility of donations and can allocate funds accordingly. It also offers multiple payment options like Venmo, ACH, and wire transfers, so the ease of giving is recognized by donors and fundraisers alike. 

Building a Fundraising Community With Grateful Patients

Many community fundraisers start as patients or family members of patients at Mass General. These individuals have often gone through life-changing circumstances and are looking for ways to give back and say thank you for the care they received.

The hospital has three programs for grateful patients to participate in and raise money independently:  Community Fundraising, Mass General Marathon Team, and Mass General Cancer Center Eversource 5k Run-Walk.

The Future Growth of Community Fundraising

Mass General is looking to focus on how to engage younger generations and create a better system within its database to segment and send targeted messaging to help the program grow. So far, the impressive growth Mass General has seen has been organic, without much of a need for marketing campaigns. 

Future fundraisers come to them as a result of their experiences at the hospital. The Mass General team understands their supporters and develops meaningful relationships with them. Fostering these connections is an essential part of building a grateful patient community and is one of the main reasons the program has been so successful.

The big-picture focus going forward is a strategy Mass General calls “win the building,” meaning raising awareness for the fundraising program with hospital staff and faculty who are the first to form relationships with future fundraisers. By proactively marketing community fundraising, Mass General can form more meaningful connections with fundraisers and have high hopes in meeting an ambitious goal of $10M in revenue by 2026.