Uncovering Transformational Support: How AI Helped Shriners Children’s Portland Reach More Donors

Client: Shriners Children’s Portland
Sector: Healthcare

“We were able to raise double what we did the first year, all using your software. It helped us find donors we would have never identified otherwise.”
– Colin Hester, Director of Philanthropy, Shriners Children’s Portland

Client Overview

Shriners Children’s Portland provides unreimbursed medical care to every child who comes through their doors. The hospital serves families across a wide region, often extending into neighboring states in the Pacific Northwest.

The Challenge

With a small team and a large geographic area to cover, the Portland philanthropy staff needed a better way to identify potential donors, especially former patients or families no longer living locally. Traditional outreach methods weren’t sufficient for uncovering high-potential donors scattered across multiple states.

The Results

• Event Transformation: Using DonorSearch AI, the team identified a donor who wasn’t initially interested in the hospital’s golf tournament but had high giving potential. He ended up sponsoring the entire event, doubling revenue from the prior year.
• Expanded Reach: DonorSearch AI uncovered donors in other states who had received care at the hospital—people the team had no way of identifying through traditional methods.
• Smarter Prospecting: Queries based on wealth and philanthropic potential helped surface donors who “could fall through the cracks.”

The Solution

DonorSearch AI gave Shriners Children’s Portland a faster and more efficient way to find high-capacity donors across a wide region. Colin described using DSAI to run queries based on wealth capacity and likelihood to give, identifying individuals the team wouldn’t have found otherwise.

The Benefits

• High-Impact Fundraising: AI helped surface donors who could fund large initiatives, such as event sponsorship.
• Regional Expansion: Their team was able to reach past patients across state lines.
• Time-Saving Tools: AI streamlined the process of identifying top prospects.

Conclusion

DonorSearch AI is helping Shriners Children’s Portland achieve more with fewer resources. By surfacing overlooked donors and enabling fast, data-driven prospecting, the tool empowers the hospital’s philanthropy team to build meaningful relationships that support their mission of accessible pediatric care.