Hospice Health Report 2023: Helping hospices work towards success and sustainability

Aimed at helping support strategic planning in hospices, the report is a comprehensive study of the sector’s fundraising since 2017, and intends to guide the sector toward success and sustainability.

Its findings focus on the change in behaviour of both existing and new donors in the context of the current cost-of-living crisis. It suggests ways that hospices can address these by being more innovative through the use of technology in their systems and stewardship.

In creating the report, Dreamscape Solutions based their analysis on findings from the Fundraising Fitness Test service, studying nearly 6.5 million individual gift transactions in 38 hospices.

The findings show there have been both wins and losses for hospices in the last five years. Since 2020, hospices have seen improvements in income from newly retained donors, income from repeat donors, and overall retention rate. But there have also been challenges, with hospices reporting decreases in average gift values, overall acquisition, and income from major/corporate donors.

Find a summary of the report’s findings and suggestions for change below.

Hospice UK’s Director of Income Generations and Grants, Catherine Bosworth, 

“Hospice UK estimates that hospices are likely to face additional costs in 2023 of more than £100 million. At the same time, our aging population means demand on hospices will continue to increase, but pressure on household incomes and the public purse means hospice fundraising teams will need to find new ways to generate income and meet the demand for their services.”
 

Bernard McCabe, Director of Dreamscape Solutions:

“Hospices have weathered the storm of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the hospice health report shows there are more challenges ahead. Many hospices are struggling with donor attrition - for every 100 donors gained, 100 are lost.

"With the cost of living crisis expected to keep affecting how much communities can give to hospices, it's vital that hospice fundraising teams tackle donor retention by developing knowledge, skills, and systems to consistently deliver stewardship experiences that meet the expectations of modern consumers.”