By Mark Mantha and Chris Murdy
The Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (SHSC) has one of the largest and most complex digital donor recognition walls in Canada.
The healthcare sector has seen great progress in the digital space recently with the advancement of digital donor recognition walls. The static impersonal brass plaques that have become so dated for the times, are being replaced with attractive and engaging dynamic walls. Simply put, digital donor walls make sense on so many fronts, ranging from the simplified update process to an improved experience.
Donor walls visually engage and connect visitors with the mission and vision of the hospital foundation, a particular campaign or reason for the donations and, most importantly, encourage the donors by displaying their names in a commemorative way. Charitable donations are more of a challenge than ever before with varying tax laws let alone a global pandemic. Reaching donors on a personal level and recognizing their efforts and story in real-time is critical to any hospital foundation. Digital recognition walls have also become a vehicle for employee recognition and anniversary dates to celebrate.
From a branding perspective, digital donor walls have become an effective on-premise tool for educating and enlightening visitors, employees, and donors as to the corporate strategy and goals of a hospital foundation, as well as its history, all geared to increase donations and loyal contributors.
A great example is Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (SHSC) in Toronto, which has one of the largest and most complex digital donor recognition walls in Canada—in fact, it is a model for many other hospitals to aspire to. Envision, a market leader in digital donor walls and, more generally, digital experiences, was engaged by Sunnybrook to design, build, and install its new donor recognition wall.
The goal of the Sunnybrook Foundation was to create a dynamic and memorable experience that is uniquely differentiated and conveys donor impact through engaging content that would serve as a showcase of innovation for the hospital. The donor wall is differentiated through design by the creative use of physical shapes and form, as well as the close attention paid to the use of colour and light and how it works in the space. The combination of technology used allows visitors to be passive viewers, or to interact at their own pace using the interactive screens. Mood is achieved through enhanced, emotion-driven storytelling and donor listings that the foundation can update and edit.
