New opportunities abound for donor walls

It is something new for foundations to ‘sell.’ Now, foundations can solicit gifts for digital and physical separately, offer both for larger gifts, and produce donor stories or short films on the impact of their donations. Digital displays will open a lot of doors and provide the opportunity to keep the stories fresh. There is nothing worse than reading a great donor impact story that was set in bronze in 1970 in a hospital where the messaging has changed. There are new ways to tell stories and grab attention and eyeballs.

Interactive donor walls are adding another layer of engagement in hospitals. The ability to self-educate, along with feeling empowered and welcomed, lends itself to employee, visitor, and donor satisfaction. In turn, branding and philanthropy wins. The interactivity component provides the ability to understand the ties between the foundation, donors, events, and the community, while at the same time, providing an authentic sense of ownership.

The completion of digital donor walls is often well received and proves beneficial to staff and patient morale—even moving some to tears—while honouring the generosity of donors in a way that encourages further donations. This has been specifically powerful during the pandemic as many hospitals have used the massive and vivid canvas to recognize their local heroes, such as nurses, doctors, and volunteers.

One might think interactive donor walls would be much more expensive than a standard donor wall; however, they are not. Yes, there are landed costs associated with the technologies deployed and installation, but the cost and labour savings from buying new nameplates and plaques each time the wall needs to be updated is huge. Over time, interactive donor walls prove to be extremely cost-effective and provide a unique opportunity to engage with the public in new ways.

Hospitals are not exactly a ‘feel good’ environment; however, digital donor walls provide a great diversion and cause on so many fronts. Visual is our new language as everyone is drawn to it.

Noted author Paco Underhill suggests: “Our visual language is evolving faster than our spoken words. We process images faster and it is a single language. The value of digital signage does not decline but increases over time when the content messaging is refined.”

A versatile medium

Digital donor walls not only allow foundations to switch out content on the fly for seasonal campaigns, etc., but can also be used for emergency evacuation routes and even wayfinding within the hospital to complement an existing digital signage network serving similar content.

The world has changed dramatically as a result of the global pandemic and, in turn, philanthropy will alter its course as well. Hospital foundations would be best served to use any means possible to maintain their base of donors and find new ones in very challenging times. Certainly, digital donor walls should be recognized as a powerful and cost- effective tool to accomplish these goals and engage a new generation of donor, possibly digital native but existing in the modern digital landscape.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is also changing the world and how one engages with content on many fronts. This technology will certainly impact the digital donor space, too. Understanding and gaining insights into one’s audience is very powerful for fundraising initiatives. By measuring donor behaviour, communications, and giving profile, AI can assist in understanding so much more like what campaigns are of interest, what levels of donation to ask for, and what content is of interest to the audience.

The value to a foundation to understand their existing and potential donors at this level cannot be overstated. By adding analytics and dynamic decision-making tools to their toolbox, many foundations are throwing the traditional concept of ROI out the window as a result of incorporating a digital donor wall.

Mark Mantha, president of Man-Mac Consulting Inc., provides market development consulting for Envision, which delivers branded environments, digital experiences, and data solutions for a number of global brands. He can be reached via email at mark@manmacconsulting.ca.

As director of technology at Envision, Chris Murdy is currently leading the technology group where he is responsible for guiding all external digital projects, as well as the company’s internal technical infrastructure. Overseeing technical operations, managing a team of IT employees, identifying and eliminating security risks, and maintaining operations and systems, Murdy’s has a history of leveraging technical innovation in fields like broadcast, engineering, consultation, and branded environments to bring technical direction and solution architecture to the Envision team. With more than 15 years experience, Murdy’s technical direction, thought leadership, and management of the entire technology portfolio at Envision has been instrumental in the development of donor walls for high-profile clients including Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (SHSC), Women’s College, and Mount Sinai, as well as digital display solutions for CIBC Pearson Airport. He can be reached via email at chris.murdy@envision.design.