Medical offices, we have an announcement: Donation boxes do not belong in your lobby.
This is not the right place to be asking for money, coats, or canned goods — even if it’s for a good cause.
While supporting a cause is admirable, donation boxes aimed at patients look B-A-D for several reasons:
- Patients do not remember to bring donations in.
This results in:
1) patients feeling bad and
2) a mostly-empty, sad-looking donation box. It’s simply not in the normal order of things to bring a used winter coat to your medical appointment.
- It’s common knowledge that most providers make more money than their patients. Your patients are already paying you. It’s in bad taste to ask your patients for more, even if those things are for a cause. We get feedback from patients that if this was the practice’s passion, they should donate instead of asking patients to! Patients also wonder if the practices are taking a writeoff for this donation, which just feels icky.
- It looks aesthetically unpleasing, because either you’ve got the empty-ish box, or you’ve got a box full of canned soup or used coats. Either way, it’s not pretty or welcoming. You want people to have a good experience in your lobby — one that is reflective of the quality of care they will receive at your practice. Do cans of beans reflect the amazingness of your practice
- It can feel ingenuine, especially if you have multiple donation requests throughout the year for different organizations. Patients might wonder — if they really care about this cause, why aren’t they doing more?
If this is a cause that’s truly important to you, here’s what to do instead of putting a donation box in your lobby.
- Automatically INCLUDE the support. Let patients support the charity by doing nothing outside the ordinary! You can add a line of your invoices that says:
A percentage of our profits is donated to our charity, NAME. Thank you for helping us support this important cause!
You can do a newsletter or social media post that brings awareness to the cause and says: In addition to being our valued patient, you are also helping us to support this amazing cause! Thank you!
It’s still a writeoff, and you’re not asking anything of your patients.
- Do an event. Really want to get monetary or tangible support from patients? Do a patient event. Give them a movie, a bounce house, or a rollerskating night, and ask patients to bring a donation. This will highlight the cause in a much more beneficial way than having a box in your lobby.
If a donation box is something you still really want to do — make this a backroom situation. If your team members bring a coat, match their donations and find an additional way to reward them.
If you’re going to support an organization, we say SUPPORT IT! Not with a donation box. With a more serious commitment. Commit to your charity, or don’t have one.
And if a team member asks if they can put out a donation box, say no. Instead, give them a check.