Public donations to NHS Grampian increased by nearly 40% last year – after four years of declining support.
More than £3.7million was pledged to its endowment trust, which used to improve facilities, buy equipment and fund research.
A bequest worth more than £660,000 left by one well-wisher helped dramatically swell the coffers.
The trustees of the health board’s charitable arm are aiming to use more of the available money – shifting the balance away from investments.
Spending went up almost 50% in 2015-16 from £4.2million to £6.3million – including about £2.7million on infrastructure.
And the trustees want to encourage more people to contribute through donations or in their wills.
A revamped website – along with a new logo – will allow direct gifts, which at present are only accepted via the Justgiving website.
Operational manager Sheena Lonchay – who is also an Aberdeenshire councillor – said they were delighted by the revival in income.
She said: “Public generosity is just overwhelming. People have a genuine affection for the NHS.
“Everybody knows it is a very cash-strapped organisation.”
Explaining the new approach, she said: “For many years the endowment fund was spent as and when.
“We are going out looking for projects. People give money for it to do well, not for it to sit and be counted.”
She said the trustees were “very particular” about making sure the money was not spent on items which should be covered by day-to-day budgets – only funding those which would be seen as “extras”.
Councillor Lonchay said they were particularly pleased that the bulk of the recent large bequest – left by someone named in the accounts as Elizabeth Gordon – had gone to the general fund.
Many donations are made to parts of the trust devoted to individual facilities or specialities, such as cancer wards.
But that leaves less visible “Cinderella services” at risk of losing out as they have to rely on a share of the more flexible main pot.
About £50,000 of the bequest was devoted to the Kincardine Community Hospital in Stonehaven but Mrs Lonchay said they were still to discover the personal story behind the gesture.
“We will perhaps never know,” she said.
Proposals to invest endowment funds in affordable properties for health workers were dropped over fears the income threshold to qualify for them was set too low for most staff with working partners.
