Here's Your 90-Day Plan to Engage Grateful Patients

April 15, 2025

By Wendy Johnson

If you're not reaching out to patients within 90 days of discharge, you're missing your best shot at turning gratitude into a first gift. That’s when their care experience is still fresh and they're reflecting on the exceptional care they received. But this gratitude window doesn’t last forever.

Evidence shows that donors are most likely to give within 90 days after a hospital stay, with conversions peaking between days 30 and 60. Response rates drop off sharply after that. 

Grateful patients have the potential to give big. 88% of major gifts to hospitals come from grateful patients or their families.

Use Email, Direct Mail, and Digital Outreach to Engage Grateful Patient Donors

A multichannel donor engagement strategy is one of the best grateful patient fundraising strategies your hospital foundation can implement. Incorporating the following touchpoints work together to build trust, strengthen connection, and guide patients toward giving during the window when they’re most likely to respond. 

1) Direct Mail

Direct mail remains the most trusted channel for donors, outpacing email and social media by a wide margin. Over half of donors trust direct mail more than digital platforms, and that trust only grows with age.

And it doesn’t just drive mailed-in gifts; it prompts online donations, especially among older donors:

• 45% of donors over 60

• 34% of donors aged 45–60

• 26% of donors aged 30–44

• 20% of donors aged 18–29

That makes direct mail a smart way to connect with older patients and spark giving—even when the donation happens online. It's a key part of any successful grateful patient donor journey.

2) Email

Fast, scalable, and flexible. Email keeps the conversation going, shares quick updates, and reinforces everything else you’re doing. It’s the glue in your multi-channel donor communication plan.

3) Handwritten Notes

I'll be you opened it! Handwritten notes feel intensely personal, which is exactly why they work. 68% of donors said a thank-you letter that feels personalized (written just for them) strongly influences their desire to give again. It’s a powerful (but often overlooked) element of a strong grateful patient welcome strategy.

4) Phone Calls

Most people don’t expect a thank-you call from their hospital, so they’ll be surprised, in the best way. In fact, donors who receive a thank-you call are 25% – 30% more likely to give again.

Why Multi-Channel Fundraising Increases Donor Engagement and Response Rates

Using more than one communication channel is one of the most effective grateful patient fundraising strategies your healthcare foundation can implement to boost donor engagement and giving.

University of Utah Health found that patients who received a combo of direct mail, email, and a phone call converted at 6%, with an average gift of $110.

Wellstar Foundation also saw stronger engagement after targeting a test group of 1,000 patients with a mix of direct mail and email that incorporated emotional storytelling. These examples underscore how critical a thoughtful, timed grateful patient donor journey can be.

Try This 90-Day Grateful Patient Engagement  Plan 

This plan is built on real campaigns, behavioral data, and strategies that are working right now for hospital foundations and nonprofit healthcare development teams. It's designed to help your team reach out early, build trust across channels, and turn patient gratitude into giving.

🗓️  45 Days Post-Discharge
Email #2 – Why Philanthropy Matters

TYPE: Solicitation (Soft Ask)
CHANNEL: Email

By now, the patient has had time to recover and reflect. This is the moment to gently introduce giving with an email from your foundation’s executive director or leader. Frame the invitation as an opportunity for grateful patients to express their thanks through support.

What to include:

• A short, powerful story about how donor support improved care for someone like them

• A light reminder that the foundation exists to make care better—for them and others

🗓️  60 Days Post-Discharge
Handwritten Note or Email #3  

TYPE: Engagement
CHANNEL: Handwritten Note or Email

A handwritten note to once again thank the patient for trusting you with their care will be unexpected and warmly received. In fact, including a handwritten note in your outreach can increase response rates by up to 30%.

That said, handwritten notes don’t need to go to everyone. Focus on patients who had a strong care experience, formed a connection with their care team, or show higher giving potential through wealth screening. To keep it manageable, enlist volunteers or interns to write a batch of heartfelt notes in advance, leaving room to personalize them later.

Vendors like Postalgia and Handwrytten also offer handwritten-style letters that look and feel authentic—without adding hours of manual labor.

If a handwritten note isn’t feasible, a warm email that builds on your previous messages can still make an impact. 

🗓️  80 - 90 Days Post-Discharge
Email #3 – Ask for Their Support 

TYPE: Solicitation
CHANNEL: Email

At this stage, you've built trust and connection. You’ve welcomed the grateful patient, shared impact stories, and gently introduced philanthropy. Now it’s time for a clear, confident invitation to join your mission as a donor. This final message completes your grateful patient welcome journey and guides the supporter into your broader annual giving strategy.

Keep the tone warm, mission-driven, and donor-centered. This is about giving others the same extraordinary care they received.

What to include: 

• A direct but empathetic ask: “Help us continue providing world-class care to everyone in our community." 

• Clear examples of what their gift can do, such as supporting training and education, and expanding access to care.

• A clear call to action: “Make Your Gift Today”   they’ve already received.

Where to go from here: Patients who respond can be added to your hospital foundation’s donor pipeline and ongoing donor segmentation strategies. Those who don’t give now may still benefit from continued stewardship and stories that deepen their connection over time.