Nursing leaders rarely lack ideas for strengthening nursing excellence. The harder question is often how to fund them.
Certification support. Preceptor and mentorship programs. Leadership development. Recognition and engagement. Wellness and resilience. Nursing research and innovation. And, for some hospitals, an investment in a nursing excellence designation like MAGNET® or Pathway to Excellence®.
These priorities require resources, and they compete with staffing, technology, capital projects, and other demands on a limited operating budget.
Most hospitals already work within a familiar funding stack: what the CFO can support through the operating budget, what the Foundation can fund, and what grants may be available.
Sometimes, even after those resources are considered, a funding gap remains.
The Financial Stakes Are Significant
The funding challenge comes at a time when retaining and recruiting nurses remains a major priority.
According to the 2026 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, staff RN turnover increased to 17.6%. NSI estimates the average cost of turnover for a bedside RN at $60,090 and the average annual cost of RN turnover to a hospital at $5.19 million.
Investments that strengthen the nursing workforce matter clinically, professionally, and financially. But many of those initiatives require discretionary funding that must compete with other hospital priorities.
That is the funding gap Nursing Excellence Fundraising is designed to help address.
Another Path for Funding Nursing Excellence
Nursing Excellence Fundraising, or NEFP, works alongside the funding sources hospitals already use. It does not replace the operating budget, Foundation support, or grants.
It adds another path: business-funded contributions.
System Stream operates a network of financial solutions designed to help hospitals and other organizations reduce expenses and improve financial performance.
When organizations engage with solutions available through that network, the resulting business activity generates revenue across the network. A portion of that revenue is used to fund contributions supporting approved nursing excellence initiatives.
Those contributions can help support priorities the nursing team has already identified, including professional development and certification, preceptor and mentorship programs, leadership development, recognition and engagement, nursing research and innovation, wellness and resilience, community and patient impact, and nursing excellence and designation work when that is part of the hospital’s strategy.
The objective is straightforward: create an additional funding source for nursing excellence without asking nursing leadership to become the fundraiser.
Nursing Expertise Is Built Into the Network
NEFP is not being developed in isolation from nursing leadership.
The System Stream network includes a nurse-owned, nurse-led nursing excellence organization whose team includes former CNOs, nursing executives, and MAGNET® Program Directors.
That perspective matters because the objective is not simply to identify dollars. It is to understand the nursing excellence priorities those dollars are intended to support.
Your nursing excellence strategy may already be designed. NEFP is intended to help address the funding needed to advance it.
Funding Consideration Is Separate From the CFO Conversation
There is an important distinction in how the program works.
Your hospital does not have to participate in a System Stream solution or implement an expense reduction project for a nursing excellence initiative to be considered for funding.
Funding requests are evaluated separately based on the initiative and available funds.
Likewise, a nursing excellence funding request is not contingent upon the CFO purchasing or implementing anything through System Stream.
That separation is important. NEFP is designed to create another potential source of support for nursing excellence, not another purchasing obligation for the hospital.
The CNO’s First Step Is Simple
The CNO does not need to solicit businesses, manage fundraising campaigns, or become an expert on the financial solutions within the System Stream network.
The first step is a 30-minute funding conversation.
We will explain how the model works, learn more about the nursing excellence priorities you are trying to fund, and answer your questions.
If you are comfortable with the model, the next step is simply a personal introduction to your CFO.
System Stream works directly with the CFO from there to determine whether any of the financial solutions within the network warrant further discussion. The nursing excellence funding request remains separate and is not contingent on the CFO purchasing anything.
Your nursing team can remain focused on nursing excellence. We handle the business conversation.
Explore Another Funding Path
If your nursing excellence strategy includes priorities that are important but difficult to fully fund through the operating budget, Foundation, and grants, NEFP may provide another path.
Schedule a 30-minute funding conversation: https://calendly.com/systemstream
Learn more about Nursing Excellence Fundraising: https://systemstream.com/nursing-excellence-fundraising/
MAGNET®, MAGNET RECOGNITION PROGRAM®, Pathway to Excellence and ANCC MAGNET RECOGNITION® are trademarks of the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). The products and services of System Stream, LLC are neither sponsored nor endorsed by the ANCC.