FundRaiser Blog

The FundRaiser Software Blog is an excellent resource for nonprofit organizations looking to learn more about fundraising, donor management, membership management, and much more.

In Remembrance of Larry Weaver, the voice of FundRaiser Technical Support

Larry Weaver at his retirement part
 Larry Weaver, at his FundRaiser retirement party in December 2014. 

It is with sadness we report the death on January 13, 2016 of Larry Weaver, long-time employee and friend at Fundraiser.

Many of you have have “known” Larry for years, as he helped all of our FundRaiser users in his roles as Technical Support expert, and in later years, the “star” of our Training videos and live classes. Larry was the first employee hired by founder Gene Weinbeck, and remained, through the ups and downs of the company and his own move from Missouri to Arizona, a staunch friend and supporter of FundRaiser’s mission.

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Prepare for sending end-of-year letters to donors for tax season

Prepare for sending end-of-year letters to donors for tax season

Now is the time to start thinking about what information you need for your End of Year letters for tax season.  Start with a few simple decisions and complete your data entry for 2015 in order for the process to go smoothly. Questions to answer are

Will you send out letters to all donors, just to donors who will be required by the IRS to have written proof of their donations, or skip sending them altogether?Do you want to include a fundraising appeal with the tax summary letter? What is a tax summary letter?

Tax Summary letters, often called End of Year letters, give donors information on what they have donated to your organization that year. These statements differ from the holiday appeal, in that they are sent after the holidays. Their primary intention is to give information to the donor for taxes; however it is not uncommon to combine them with another appeal.

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How a Christian Radio Station Got Back On Track By Responding Quickly to Listener Letters

How a Christian Radion Station Got Back On Track by Responding Quickly to Listener Letters

About 15 years ago, key members of CrossTalk ministry took a step back from their work, and realized they weren’t getting where they wanted to go. “We had a lag of four to six weeks in responding to people who contacted us. When we got around to contacting them they were irritated and didn’t care anymore. We were failing,” says Caleb Weiss, Development Director.

Caleb knew that donor management software could help, but theirs was more of a liability. “We had some kind of membership tracking software at that time. It took more work to use than it saved. We were also using several Excel spreadsheets. We needed a software product that would help us do our job without having to put so much into it.”

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Case Study: BRING Recycling is #WorkingUpstream to create a compelling campaign for #GivingTuesday

Case Study: BRING Recycling is #WorkingUpstream to create a compelling campaign for #GivingTuesday

BRING Recycling is adding #WorkUpstream – an online campaign starting on #GivingTuesday , December 1st – to their traditional end-of-year fundraising strategy. The social media portion of the campaign targets new donors from their Facebook and Twitter followers, says Ephraim Payne, Development and Communications Director at BRING.

New donors attracted through social media outreach will be added to the FundRaiser database as contacts, allowing for regular follow-up. “It allows us to reach them in a more focused way than we can through Facebook or Twitter,” says Ephraim. “We’ll be able to include them in our donor appreciation and cultivation communications.”

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Case Study: Society of St. Andrew wins big by keeping things simple on #GivingTuesday

Case Study: Society of St. Andrew wins big by keeping things simple on #GivingTuesday

Society of St. Andrew (SoSA) started their #GivingTuesday efforts 2 years ago, and those efforts have paid off big. The first year they brought in $65,000. Last year, their second year, they brought in $87,000. “This year we are hoping for $100,000,” says Steven Waldman, Executive Director of the Society of St. Andrew. Many of the donations they receive from #GivingTuesday come in from their website. The online giving will be handled by the FundRaiser Donor Portal this year.

Steven believes that SoSA’s success with their #GivingTuesday campaign is due primarily to “keeping things simple. We make a clear connection to the GivingTuesday message and we make it easy for donors to give to us.” 

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Case Study: What to Do When You Inherit Fundraising Software from your Predecessor, Figge pt 3

Case Study: What to Do When You Inherit Fundraising Software from your Predecessor, Figge pt 3

Like many development directors, Raelene Pullen of Figge Art Museum has a small staff and limited budget, so she needs to use resources wisely. On first arriving at her new job, she turned to the donor database in place at the Figge for information on how to do that … and found that the data she needed wasn’t there. “The previous development team didn’t use the software in a very dynamic way. I’d have a question and refer to the software. The answers weren’t there. So I had to ask myself why that was. Is this software not good? The software can only return information based on what was input,” says Raelene about her first experiences with the donor database.

Instead of giving up on FundRaiser, she sat down to figure out what information she needed and if FundRaiser could do the job. She went through each of the technical trainings offered by FundRaiser Training and spoke to FundRaiser Technical Support.  When properly implemented, FundRaiser was able to provide almost all she needed. “Since then, we’ve revitalized and revamped the coding and campaign management processes. Now we are able to benchmark and track the differences in response for appeals, museum events, gifts, and engagement and have data over a number of years.”

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Successful Tributes Fundraising Increases Donations and Positive Feelings

Successful Tributes Fundraising Increases Donations and Positive Feelings

Nonprofits who make it easy for donors to give gifts in memory or honor of someone, increase both donations and positive feelings towards their organization... especially when the follow-up on your part is handled well. Joan Young, a volunteer at Kairos Dwelling, who are FundSelect users, says that the key to managing tributes is understanding that two different letters are usually sent: the normal acknowledgment letter to the donor, and then an additional letter, called the notification letter, that goes to the family member of the memorialized person. Tracking both of these letters requires some attention.

The American Animal Hospital Association Foundation receives 800 or more memorial gifts a month."Veterinary practices will have a client who has a pet that passes away. The vet then makes a memorial donation to the program in memory of the animal," explains Tamara Fox. She says to deal with this volume of tributes, "being organized helps."

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Inspiring Donors To Give Donations As Gifts

Inspiring Donors To Give Donations As Gifts

Does your nonprofit make it easy for donors to give donations as a special gift? Not only are these kinds of donations good fundraising, they also create positive feelings towards your organization. "More and more people are catching on– giving gifts in honor of holidays, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries," says Becky Lindberg of First Witness Child Abuse Resource Center. For the non profit organization, "it is such an easy painless way to keep people connected to your program," adds Lindberg.

With very simple techniques to get people thinking about making a memorial donation, you can simultaneously

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Case Study: Lessons Learned about Moving Donors Up the Giving Ladder

Case Study: Lessons Learned about Moving Donors Up the Giving Ladder

In part 1 - Raelene Pullen, Development Director at the Figge Art Museum, shares how she is successfully uses FundRaiser Professional to engaged more donors and increasing donations.

FundRaiser Professional is important in evaluating ROI (Return On Investment) of the events organized by Raelene Pullen. “After an event, we are interested to see the relationship between donations received by the Museum and the donor’s attendance at recent events. How do the donations that come in from those prospects compare to the ones that come from people who haven’t attended? This makes visible the impact of the event and that way of cultivating these relationships,"says Raelene.

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Case Study: Figge Art Museum Moves Donors Up the Giving Ladder, part 1

Case Study: Figge Art Museum Moves Donors Up the Giving Ladder, part 1
Figge Art Museum
Amy Martens and Raelene Pullen at Figge Gala Event

Figge Art Museum is on the move, and so are their donors-- moving up the giving ladder! Raelene Pullen, Development Director at Figge Art Museum, is very deliberate about the steps she takes to communicate with donors and encourage them to become more involved in the museum. Her fundraising software, FundRaiser Professional  is crucial to the process. 

“One of the most important things I’ve learned through this work and using FundRaiser is the need for data organization and entry. We use the coding in FundRaiser in a way that allows us to communicate with donors in a dynamic way. We have clarified what kind of information we need to record and maintain so when we need it, we have the information we need.  Our intention has been to use highly specific information to target and move donors up the giving ladder,” says Raelene.

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How can memberships benefit my nonprofit organization?

How can memberships benefit my nonprofit organization?

Membership programs may have many practical benefits, but the biggest benefit to an organization is their potential to increase donor loyalty. Someone who sees herself as a member of an organization will generally feel more ownership and involvement in an organization than someone who sees herself just as a donor, even if the member never has any more concrete involvement than simply giving money.

In addition, enrolling a donor as a member gives a concrete reason for sporadic donors to become regular donors, at least once a year when their membership renewal comes due.

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Happiness Happens Day at FundRaiser Software

Happiness Happens Day at FundRaiser Software

A lucky thing about a job that feels valuable is knowing that going to work means more than just getting a paycheck. That feeling gives a sense of deep satisfaction, of real happiness. The downside is that sometimes work may start to feel not just valuable but also a little serious.

The founders of FundRaiser, Gene and Marcy Weinbeck, were aware of that and came up with a company tradition to help. At least once a month, the company has a three-day holiday weekend. In August, when the US has no official holiday, we picked our own-- Happiness Happens Day.

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Schools improve donations by focusing on their most generous donors, part 2

Schools improve donations by focusing on their most generous donors, part 2

Read Part 1 here

Most schools find that building strong relationships with parents, alumni, and the close relatives of students and alumni, is an excellent way to increase donor loyalty and donations.

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Schools improve donations by focusing on their most generous donors, part 1

Schools improve donations by focusing on their most generous donors, part 1

Read Part 2 here

When schools focus their donor cultivation on parents, alumni, and the close relatives of students and alumni, they are likely to see a very positive return. Knowing this has led to increased donations for several schools who are FundRaiser users. They know for a fact that these groups are their most generous because they clearly identified this trend in FundRaiser. Using these same techniques to identify common giving trends, your school – or other non profit— can clarify which of your constituent groups are most supportive.

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Organizing a charity golf tournament

Organizing a charity golf tournament

by Tom King

Far too often, if we'll be honest, the motivation for organizing a special event, like golf, is to avoid having to do basic fund-raising. We hate making the calls. We hate asking for money.  So, to avoid having to do things we don't like, we have a golf tournament because we do like that!

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Getting over the fear of asking for money

Getting over the fear of asking for money

Some interesting facts about asking for money:

few people give money unless they are askednearly everyone feels good when they give moneylower income people dig deeper and give a higher percentage of their income than high income peoplewhen you ask people you know for a contribution, at least half of them will say yes

Are you still nervous thinking about how you 'should' ask for money, but think you can't?

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Even Donor Management Improves with a Break

Even Donor Management Improves with a Break

This Sunday is the first day of summer, bringing with it good memories of relaxed easy days.

Taking a break from work is something that the founders of FundRaiser, Gene and Marcy Weinbeck, wove into the culture of our company. Although hard-work is highly valued here, every month the office is closed one day to honor a holiday. When there isn’t a ‘common’ holiday, we find one. Marcy Weinbeck is the one who established the FundRaiser holiday custom. She says it came about this way:

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How to Capture Email Addresses from First Time Online Donors

How to Capture Email Addresses from First Time Online Donors

When someone makes their first online donation to your organization, do you automatically add their name to your email contact list? This is a "Best Practice, for most organizations. Here's why:

First, consider that the reasons for an opt-in or a double opt-in on an email list:

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Local fundraising fixes feral cats

Local fundraising fixes feral cats
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A tribe of happy feral cats lives near the FundRaiser office and several staff members are involved in helping care for them. Last September, I mentioned this colony in the FundRaiser newsletter. Newsletter readers responded warmly and we received quite a few emails expressing concern for the cats. Along with sharing our feelings for the cats, many hoped that we had plans to spay and neuter them.

This month, Autumn Shirley of FundRaiser organized a campaign to do just that.

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Tornado near FundRaiser office hits close to home

Tornado near FundRaiser office hits close to home
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Last Thursday, people around the FundRaiser office had their eyes glued to the weather radar. A tornado was headed our direction. It hit in the early morning hours of Friday, April 3rd. Although the damage wasn't widespread, many of us were personally connected to someone who was impacted. One of those was the Whetstone Boy's Ranch, a boarding school for at-risk and troubled boys in Mountain View, Missouri. Whetstone is a FundRaiser user. A further connection for us it that Joey Patten, of FundRaiser Technical Support, has been helping with the damage clean-up at the Ranch, along with other members of his church, the Pomona Christian Church. 

Everyone at the Ranch is safe -- boys, staff and animals. The Ranch, however, has been severely damaged. It's a devastating sight, relieved in part by news of the faith and funds being raised to recover from the damage. On their facebook page, Whetstone is reporting rapid fundraising progress. We are so sorry that this has happened, and are looking forward to hearing more happy news as the recovery process continues.

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Wait a minute, while we are rendering the calendar
flash sales overview gift acceptance policy how to handle auction gifts campaign mission driven capital campaign New Year volunteers change of address updating GivingTuesday Donor Portal email volunteering premiums campaign management donor contact information Congratulations welcome packet data entry donation history importing csv brick campaign ticket sales user interface community broadcasting merge notes Task List understanding giving trends Groupings Facebook mailing repeat donors pledges targeted mailings product news online donations NCOA processing word processor arts holiday letters new features government grants donor profile grassroots campaign major donors entering auction gifts FundRaiser Basic board members customer portal #GivingTuesday advanced tab donor retention rate Volunteer module memorial giving Thanksgiving Facebook campaign segmenting donors annual maintenance plan large donations communications personalizing letters general Codes anonymous donors small donations charity golf tournaments donor slip auction FundRaiser Hosted donor loyalty on site training banquet planning GoFundMe project follow up animal rescue prospects letter lapsed donor Alternative Addresses new nonprofit fundraising letters holiday spare fields Cloud relationship tracking donor prospects End of Year Letters user spotlights appeal letters raffle role of nonprofits spreadsheets recurring gifts gift notes field tax summary letters Resiliency Excel appeal technical support Company culture merge fields Constant Contact updates monthly giving Thank You nonprofit fundraising transparency new version development director correspondance look and feel donor retention online donations donor engagement holiday giving data conversion PayPal ROI upgrading donors donor adding personal notes to letters Importing Data data analysis Personalizing membership programs budget LYBUNTS donor targeting the Ask custom page phoning donors correspondence pictures Network for Good customer service solicitors passwords membersip benefits Reporting to IRS endowment campaign happiness membership benefits donor attrition rate thank you letters grants publicity materials add ons social media accounting software training tip letter templates FundRaiser Spark motivation disaster relief donor recognition community arts nonprofits corporate sponsors giving levels foundations tech tip giving history donor attrition donor advised funds planned giving community supported gardens training upgrade motivation code major gift prospects security backing up data increasing giving amounts reports SYBUNTS in honor of donations Reminders how-to videos National Change of Address vacation texting donors gift entry support donor relations salutation operating systems Snow Birds tribute gifts new leadership features announcements office password protection Crowdfunding Campaign operational costs alumni new donors ticketsales annual campaign building donor relationships moves management donor source legacy giving direct mail Tickles mode code fundraising event management In-Kind gifts case study donor preferences

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