Philanthropy and Operations Post COVID: Digital Transformation of Academic Medical Centers

• In Event: Tech and Digital Transformations

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the importance of and society’s dependency on academic medical centers (AMCs) to train the next generation of healthcare professionals, advance treatments and preventative care through research, and provide compassionate care to our most vulnerable citizens. Despite society’s dependency on AMCs, declining philanthropic revenue threatens this portion of the nonprofit sector (Furtner, et al., 2022). The purpose of this qualitative, multiple-case study is to describe and document the perceptions of subject matter experts (SMEs) who work at AMCs in the United States and the strategies they employ to digitally transform internal fundraising and operating strategies and processes to meet donor needs, grow philanthropic revenue, gain operational efficiencies, develop staff capabilities, and enhance their organization’s use of technologies to support their philanthropic efforts. The specific problem is that there is a lack of scholarly and practical guidance for the nonprofit sector, including AMCs, to digitally transform their fundraising strategies and operations (Lee & Trimi, 2020).. The overall decline in giving to healthcare charities and higher education institutions, including the below national average number of gifts from online sources, demonstrates the impact of the lagging response to digital giving preferences of donors and prospects by AMCs. If there is a lag in the digital transformation of this component of the nonprofit sector, it could pose a threat to society and warrant more in-depth study and research (Shukla et al., 2022).
This qualitative research used semi-structured interviews of nine subject matter experts who worked at seven different AMCs in the United States. Key findings from this research indicate that while there is not a clearly defined, singular roadmap or plan for digital transformation, there are a number of known challenges that typically arise in digital transformation efforts and philanthropic leaders at AMCs can make intentional strategic plans and investments to support their efforts and mitigate these challenges, including leveraging insights learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, and making additional investments in organizational infrastructure, staff training, and integrated technologies. This research directly addresses one of the most catastrophic crises the nonprofit sector has faced and has broad applicability to healthcare organizations around the world as well as other nonprofits and NGOs that need to adapt to a post-COVID philanthropic environment.

References

Furtner, D., Shinde, S.P., Singh, M., Wong, C.H. & Setia, S. (2022). Digital Transformation in Medical Affairs Sparked by the Pandemic: Insights and Learnings from COVID-19 Era and Beyond. Pharm Med 36, 1–10 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40290-021-00412-w

Lee, S. M., & Trimi, S. (2021). Convergence innovation in the digital age and in the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. Journal of Business Research, 123, 14-22.

Shukla, P., Lee, M., Whitman, S. A., & Pine, K. H. (2022). Delay of routine health care during the COVID-19 pandemic: A theoretical model of individuals' risk assessment and decision making. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 307, 115164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115164

Authors

• Courtney Rottman, Evernorth Health Services

• Kimberly Reeve, Saint Peter's University