Developing a sustainable revenue model for a hospital foundation

UNSW x Accenture Song

The Problem

The Royal Hospital For Women Foundation received most of its funding through a mix of government grants and donations. When it came to supporting all their research and growth endeavours this wasn’t enough, and so they required the development of an additional revenue stream that would be sustainable and feasible with their limited resources.

My Contributions

I led a team of 3 other design students to develop a revenue-generating solution for the Royal Hospital For Women Foundation. I researched the problem, developed straegies and ideated solutions along with the team. In addition, my role involved delegating tasks amongst the team, aligning the team with the project timeline, facilitating conversations with the client, and the UX/UI design of the chosen solution.

Background

Methdology

The Royal Hospital for Women’s Foundation was providing essential funding for medical equipment, research studies, and other innovative programs at NSW’s only dedicated women’s health hospital. The Foundation relied heavily on a small group of loyal benefactors, which limited its funding potential. Recognising this, they saw the need to maximise funding by developing a strategic revenue model. The Foundation approached UNSW to use this design problem as the basis for a student innovation exercise in collaboration with Fjord (now Accenture Song).

The design process began with familiarising ourselves with the client and problem space through stakeholder consultations and sensemaking methods. As the challenge was ambiguous and open-ended, we conducted a range of discovery, ideation, research, and evaluation activities to unpack the problem, generate ideas, and guide decision-making. The process was non-linear, with various research and evaluation methods applied iteratively at different stages to inform and refine our approach.

Discovery

  • 5 Whys

  • Stakeholder mapping

  • 5 Cs Analysis

Ideation

  • Crazy 8’s

  • Brainstorming

  • Card Sorting

  • Rapid storyboarding

Research

  • User interviews, questionnaires

  • Data synthesis

  • Journey mapping

Evaluation

  • DVF framework

  • Evaluation Matrix

  • SWOT analysis

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Key Insights

From our research, we identified the main internal constraints faced by the client in developing an alternative funding solution:

1. Limited resources to start and maintain the developed solution.
2. Maintaining patient confidentiality.
3. Be able to deliver a quick financial return and have a long term and ongoing impact.

Through stakeholder and target audience mapping exercises, along with discussions with the client, we identified three key challenges the Foundation faced in relying on donations as its primary source of revenue:

1. Low incentive to donate beyond good will.
2. Public misconceptions around amount of government funding.
3. Donations largely limited to local geographic catchment.

Based on our research and findings, we established that for the solution to be successful, it would need to have:

  • Personalised experiences that resonated with potential users / audiences.

  • A consistent narrative around funding and the reason for it.

  • The ability to reach a wide range of users / audiences.

Design Response

Following extensive research, ideation, and iteration, we identified an opportunity to develop a subscription-based online learning centre as a strategic solution to meet the Foundation’s needs. While the Royal Hospital for Women Foundation already offered a free education platform, it was minimal, featuring only three articles and a handful of videos, and lacked depth and user engagement.

Our concept built on this foundation by expanding it into a rich, dynamic resource developed in collaboration with UNSW Medicine, a partnership the hospital already had in place. The vision was to support individuals and families through key life stages and common health and wellbeing challenges, offering trustworthy, relevant content that could inform, comfort, and empower.

The platform would leverage the hospital’s credibility as a trusted health source, delivering high-value content worth paying for. A subscription model was key to both accessibility and sustainability: it gave users flexible, ongoing access while providing the Foundation with a robust revenue stream. Our research showed that Australians are increasingly turning to self-guided learning platforms, with 35% of people aged 15–74 engaging in them, and prefer health information from professionals, even if convenience is a barrier.

By bridging this trust-convenience gap, our solution capitalised on the Foundation’s existing partnerships and resources, creating a scalable offering that supports long-term impact and financial growth.

In essence, the learning centre is a digital companion to the first aid kit – a proactive tool for navigating life’s big and small health moments, not just emergencies. It serves hospital patients, their families, and the broader public by making credible healthcare knowledge accessible when it’s needed most.