My family is big on writing letters, and I think there’s no more powerful form of written communication than a letter in the mail. It shows that someone took the time to write, print, sign, and mail a letter. The organization (or the individual) cared enough to use a stamp and make sure the letter got to the carrier or the post office. It’s a personal way to communicate.
FundRaiser has many features for helping you with this fine mode of communication. One feature that I'd like to highlight here is that of being able to mark letters active or inactive as necessary. This comes in very handy for events which occur on a regular basis. How does this work?
If you drafted a letter for your event, say for example a banquet you held in 2015, you will find that letter in the Letter Templates window of FundRaiser, which you will access by going to Communications > Letter Templates. Not only can you copy the text of the letter to have a basic template for this year’s letter, but you can also mark the letter inactive. This will not remove the letter from FundRaiser. However, it will stop that letter from appearing so it won’t accidentally get sent out instead of the 2016 letter.
The inactive feature becomes a powerful item for your organization. It keeps your letter menus streamlined and easy to navigate. Beyond that, it allows you to keep archive records of the previous years’ letters. This means when it comes time to plan your next recurring event, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel, or the letter in this case. You can start from last year’s template, update it for this year’s details and goals, and then send it to your donors. By doing this, you save valuable time.
Inactive letters works for more than yearly events. Seasonal appeals, monthly campaigns, any kind of letter you may only send during certain times of the year can be marked inactive when not needed.
Within the Letter Template window you’ll find three columns listing when the letter was first used, last used, and any notes. These fields allow you to keep track of when you last used a letter and you can add notes, for example when the letter was last updated, in the notes field. The Letter Templates window creates a streamlined communications panel for your organization. You’ll be able to quickly and easily find the letters you want to send to your donors and make sure your communications with them have the personal touch.
To learn how FundRaiser makes the creation of targeted mailings simple