Major Gift Strategy
Timeline: January 2024 - May 2024
August 2025 - December 2025
Role: UX Research Fellow
A partnership with HealthSource of Ohio to design a strategy and process for identifying, engaging, and qualifying new philanthropic donors to support the organization's philanthropic growth. The project focused on defining a sustainable donor pipeline, optimizing donor management software, and creating pathways to move donors toward major and lead gift opportunities.
Strengthening Community Impact Through Storytelling and Philanthropy
Building visibility, engagement, and funding to support underserved communities
HealthSource of Ohio (HSO) is a not-for-profit community health center serving 27 locations across Southeastern Ohio. HSO is committed to serving underserved populations, accepting all patients regardless of insurance status. As a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), HSO relies on federal funding, grants, and philanthropic support to operate clinics, mobile care units, and community health programs.
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HSO identified two key areas for organizational growth:
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Improving storytelling and community engagement
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Developing a robust philanthropic pipeline to attract and steward new donors
These initiatives aim to enhance the organization's visibility, deepen community connections, and increase financial support to sustain and grow impactful programs.
Phase One: Enhancing Storytelling and Community Engagement
Challenge
HSO's existing storytelling efforts were inconsistent and inaccessible, making it difficult to communicate the human impact of its services. The organization needed a standardized, adaptable toolkit for capturing and sharing compelling narratives, as well as a clear process for engaging staff and stakeholders.
Goals
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Develop a flexible, standardized storytelling "toolbox" for staff
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Map current storytelling processes and identity areas for improvement
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Co-create materials with stakeholders to ensure authenticity
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Establish communication strategies and metrics to measure impact
Understanding Organizational Needs and Storytelling Opportunities
Engaging stakeholders and examining best practices
Conducted interviews with staff, community partners, and donors, observed workflows, and studied best practices in storytelling from other institutions.
Identifying gaps and opportunities
Identified bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement, visualized insights to guide strategy.
Designing Tools and Workflows for Effective Storytelling
Developing templates, guidelines, and workflows
Created templates, guidelines, and training materials, designed a workflow for story collection, curation, and sharing.
Prototyping and testing with stakeholders
Tested prototypes with staff and community members, incorporated feedback.
Final Deliverables
Storytelling Toolkit
Collection of resources that used to collect stories of the HealthSource impact, share the stories, and connect these stories to potential donors.
Phase Two: Defining the Philanthropic Pipeline for New Donors (Ongoing)
Challenge
HSO aims to establish an individual giving program with a focus on major gifts, requiring a semi-automated system to identify, qualify, and steward donors while moving them through a structured giving pipeline. Current software and staffing limitations necessitate a strategy that is efficient, scalable, and integrated into existing systems.
Goals
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Identify and segment new donors based on giving potential and engagement needs.
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Understand donor motivations and stewardship strategies.
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Develop visualized campaign concepts and donor journey workflows.
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Create an efficient donor process integrated with HSO's current digital tools.