Instant Fundraising Boost – Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Case Study
Client: Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services
Industry: Healthcare
“I just really believe in it—I think it’s super valuable and I think that the company really does believe in fundraising and nonprofits and wants these missions to be achieved. It’s not just your average research tool.”
At A Glance
- Challenges
- New development operations vertical
- No formal major gifts program
- A lacking prospect research tech stack
- Results
- Nearly tripled fundraising revenue in less than a year
- Ability to establish a major gifts program
- Access to ever-evolving, industry-leading tools
- Ongoing support from the DonorSearch team
Client Overview
Since 1942, Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services has provided mental health, substance use disorder, and suicide prevention services to the Southern California community.
Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services began using DonorSearch in 2023 and has already seen incredible results for its development efforts. When a new staff member joined the organization’s development team in January 2023, she knew that turning to DonorSearch would help the agency gain valuable insights about their donors and give them access to a dedicated support team.
Background
Katie Dean started in her role as the Senior Director of Development Operations at Didi Hirsch Mental Services in January 2023. One of the first things she did in her new role was evaluate the agency’s prospect research tools, noticing an important tool was missing—DonorSearch.
Strategy
Having used DonorSearch for a decade with a previous employer, Dean decided Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services needed the platform in order to make real progress on their fundraising goals.
She knew from her past experience that DonorSearch took prospect research and screening to a whole new level: “It was a ‘must have’ for my organization as soon as I could get in there and establish a development operations vertical…You can find an individual’s wealth online pretty easily these days, but you can’t necessarily determine their philanthropic likelihood and behavior. What I love about DonorSearch is that it has an algorithm, it’s intelligent itself, and brings [philanthropic information] to you without you having to spend hours and hours diving into online research.”
The Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services team immediately started seeing results. In less than a year, the organization has almost tripled its fundraising revenue.
Now, they’re focusing on building out a major gifts program. “I think DonorSearch is going to be a key tool in helping us evaluate our current database [and] reactivate those donors who maybe haven’t been reached out to in years. It will be a major component of that program,” Dean said.
Benefits
- More than wealth data. For Dean, DonorSearch stands out because it helps organizations evaluate philanthropic behavior in addition to potential wealth. And it helps fundraisers get a holistic view of its entry and mid-level donors, not just major donors. DonorSearch even brings in engagement data to its DSAi solutions.
- User-friendliness. Dean said that it takes about half an hour to onboard with DonorSearch and learn the ins and outs of the platform. “It doesn’t require intensive training and time on the backend for the team,” she said. “And it remains a very user-friendly tool.”
- Constant support. “With DonorSearch, when you need help and have a question, you’re talking to a person,” Dean explained. “And that goes so much further than I think people realize…It saves time for the client, it demonstrates DonorSearch’s commitment, and that’s never changed. So, as the tool has grown and evolved, I’m still able to reach out to my person.”
- Commitment to improvement. Dean pointed out how much DonorSearch’s platform has developed over the years: “It’s a fair-priced, super intelligent tool. It’s always evolving, adding new features, getting smarter, and it remains easy to use throughout that.”
Ready to see a jump in your own fundraising results? Demo DonorSearch today!
