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Customer story: MY Hospitals Charity
From spreadsheets to smart segments with Donorfy
MY Hospitals Charity is on a mission to make a real and lasting difference to the lives of NHS patients, staff and communities across Mid Yorkshire. From funding state-of-the-art MRI scanners to creating calm spaces like staff gardens and supplying craft materials for children and elderly patients, the charity’s work is all about delivering those “above and beyond” extras the NHS can’t fund alone.
Here's how they use Donorfy to help them do it.
Donorfy
Health / NHS
Professional package
Challenges
- No platform integrations, forcing manual data updates
- Spreadsheets were a glorified address book, with no segmentation
- Growing team needed a centralised system for strategic fundraising efforts
Solution
- Implemented Donorfy based on strong NHS charity recommendations
- Self-implemented with clear data import templates and direct support
- Established audience segmentation capabilities and centralised data management
Results
- Doubled their fundraising revenue in one year
- Successfully managed Hands Across Wakefield event, raising £13,000
- Can now segment our audience enabling strategic communications
Donorfy is known for having a strong reputation in the sector. Everyone I spoke to said they were either using Donorfy, or thinking about switching to it, and that meant a lot.
Lost in spreadsheets
Before Donorfy came along, supporter data lived in a scatter of spreadsheets. It’s a familiar scenario for many growing charities – they couldn’t easily track donor engagement, segment communications or coordinate efforts across a growing team. Louise admits:
"It was a glorified address book. We had names and email addresses, but no real way to work strategically with them. We knew we wanted to grow – but we didn’t have the tools to do it easily.”
The smart switch
Although Louise joined just after the decision to move to Donorfy had been made, the reasoning was clear. It came down to strong sector reputation, recommendations from other NHS charities and a great value pricing structure that worked for a charity needing bang for its buck.
"When I started talking to Gizem in business development, she got what we needed straight away too – and didn’t try to upsell us something we didn’t.”
As an NHS charity, there are extra procurement steps to follow – and rightly so. From data protection impact assessments (DPIAs) to digital security sign-offs, ensuring everything meets trust protocols is vital. Louise worked closely with Donorfy and her trust’s information governance team to make sure all the boxes were ticked.
"At one point, I suggested Donorfy and our IG team speak directly – and they did. Donorfy understanding NHS processes and being willing to liaise with other teams directly made the process smoother and took a real weight off my shoulders.”
With a science background and a data-loving streak, Louise took the lead on implementation. The overall process was smooth, and they're a great example of how, for some charities, self-implementation is not only possible, but empowering - giving them full ownership of their data, confidence in the system, and a clear foundation for future growth.
"The data import templates were really clear. Once I’d tidied up our messy data, uploading it was straightforward. It all clicked into place really nicely.”
Segmentation & smarter fundraising
It may be early days, but using Donorfy's features is already transforming the way the charity thinks – and acts.
“We can now segment our audience - which sounds so basic, but for us it's huge. Before, everyone got every email. Now, we've got a comms plan, and we're reaching the right people with the right message at the right time."
For example, here's a dummy-data example of pinned tags, used for segmentation, on a constituent profile in Donorfy:
Internally, Donorfy has become the single source of truth, too.
"Our team has doubled in size. It means my comms assistant can send a campaign, and I can walk into a meeting with a school the next day already knowing what they’ve seen and said. That’s never happened before.”
There's also been a major leap in income. In just one year, the team doubled their fundraising revenue - from £110,000 to over £220,000 - with Donorfy playing a role.
“We've been able to run more in-house events, promote them more efficiently and manage supporters more easily. It's a game-changer."
One standout moment? Hands Across Wakefield, a high-profile awareness event aiming to link 2,000 people hand-in-hand from the hospital to the cathedral. With registration, tracking, segmentation, payments and communication all run through Donorfy, the event went off without a hitch – and raised £13,000 to boot. Louise adds:
"Without Donorfy, managing it would've been tougher."
Here's a sneak peak of what a campaign can look like in Donorfy, using dummy data:
Looking ahead: future proof fundraising
Louise is keen to do even more. She’s exploring automated workflows and reducing reliance on expensive third-party tools that functions in Donorfy can replace.
There’s also excitement about empowering supporters to manage their preferences directly, bringing better GDPR compliance and a smoother experience. They're focusing on the little things, that take a big weight off of the team's shoulders.
"Donorfy has made us think differently about how we communicate, how we work together and what we can achieve. If you’re a small charity, don’t just think about what you need now. Think about where you want to be. Donorfy gives you the tools to grow.”
Discover Donorfy
From NHS charities to heritage organisations, over 1000 charities use Donorfy to build stronger relationships and focus on their mission. Ready to see how Donorfy could transform your charity's approach to supporter management? Start a no-strings free trial, or download the brochure to dive into the details. Fancy a chat instead?