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.

Handling Holiday Auction Gifts

auction-blog-header

Auctions are a popular part of holiday fundraising and festivities. People are often looking for gifts and a charitable donation while they’re marking off items on their holiday list creates a great way to raise funds and provide value to your donors. Auctions also provide a way for local businesses to promote themselves and do good in the local community. Once the auction is over, how do you enter in the money raised from the auction?

Continue reading
2774 Hits

3 Important In-Kind Gift Entry Tips

3 Important In-Kind Gift Entry Tips
1.  Mode Code Denotes In-Kind or Monetary

When entering a gift in FundRaiser, the Mode Code is used to differentiate not only between methods of payment (cash, check, charge, etc.) but also between monetary or in-kind donations. When you create a Mode Code you must specify whether that code will be monetary or in-kind. A Mode Code is always one or the other, and each gift requires a Mode Code. You may have multiple codes, as is usual in FundRaiser, which allows for specific types of in-kind donations. For instance, one of our users is a diaper bank, and, while they accept many infant-related types of in-kind donations, they need to keep diaper donations separated from others. The easiest way was to have, simply, a "diaper" Mode Code. When running various reports, you can specify to include monetary, or in-kind, or both types of donations. Use these codes to your advantage.  And check out the Coding & Spare Fields training video in the Customer Portal section of our website.

2.  Use the Merge Notes for Descriptions

On each gift record is a "Letter Notes for Merging" section. It is primarily used for notes that will then be merged into thank you letter templates. And for monetary gifts, these are usually personal greetings, of sorts, like "Gee, it was great to see you", or "Glad to see you've recovered from surgery", or something else to more personalize the thank you letter. For In-Kind donations, this is a great place to put a description of the items (or services) that were donated. It makes a permanent record as well as an easy way to pull that description in to a thank you letter.  More information on entering gifts is available in both the FundRaiser Overview and Recurring Gifts training videos available in the Customer Portal section of our website.

Continue reading
7082 Hits

Short take: Changing Merge Field Criteria In Letter Templates

Short take:  Changing Merge Field Criteria In Letter Templates

When updating a previous letter, it's important to review the criteria for the merge fields. This is especially true when using merge fields that input a total of all gifts or a list of gifts which meet certain requirements. For example, you may want to make the total of the gifts include the current year to date, rather than the date range used previously.

You can remove and then insert the merge field again to bring up the list of criteria to make those changes; however, there's an easier way to do this. Double click on the capital letter or symbol preceding the field name in brackets. This will open up the criteria window where you can make changes to the criteria and click okay to save it. Then, save your letter again.

Continue reading
5689 Hits
Wait a minute, while we are rendering the calendar
Company culture adding personal notes to letters community broadcasting upgrading donors relationship tracking raffle premiums look and feel Reminders holiday letters welcome packet volunteers recurring gifts tribute gifts donor advised funds gift entry Constant Contact new features ROI budget arts social media advanced tab planning campaign Snow Birds monthly giving communications annual maintenance plan Reporting to IRS campaign management FundRaiser Spark building donor relationships importing csv appeal letters SYBUNTS in honor of donations planned giving donor targeting increasing giving amounts fundraising security moves management annual campaign spreadsheets disaster relief accounting software Cloud ticket sales banquet ticketsales Facebook prospects data entry customer portal FundRaiser Hosted role of nonprofits LYBUNTS mode code corporate sponsors spare fields community supported gardens data analysis understanding giving trends capital campaign how-to videos GoFundMe project new donors correspondance new version gift notes field pictures general operational costs technical support tax summary letters community arts nonprofits user interface Congratulations gift acceptance policy phoning donors nonprofit fundraising user spotlights personalizing letters volunteering password protection Excel donation history donor retention rate Task List add ons event management texting donors major donors End of Year Letters fundraising letters customer service motivation product news Volunteer module follow up animal rescue donor attrition rate Personalizing overview transparency grassroots campaign donor slip segmenting donors upgrade motivation code NCOA processing foundations alumni email happiness operating systems entering auction gifts donor source donor merge fields Tickles appeal donor contact information Importing Data new nonprofit Crowdfunding Campaign donor profile training PayPal donor relations flash sales new leadership Codes board members solicitors development director donor retention Resiliency support legacy giving giving levels #GivingTuesday targeted mailings office holiday passwords lapsed donor backing up data announcements major gift prospects mission driven updates pledges In-Kind gifts Groupings endowment campaign training tip anonymous donors Facebook campaign New Year the Ask Network for Good large donations Thanksgiving publicity materials grants correspondence tech tip donor loyalty on site training membership programs membersip benefits auction how to handle auction gifts merge notes donor attrition online donations word processor government grants charity golf tournaments reports National Change of Address case study letter templates memorial giving donor recognition holiday giving online donations membership benefits vacation salutation repeat donors thank you letters Alternative Addresses Thank You direct mail data conversion donor engagement donor prospects giving history letter Donor Portal mailing custom page small donations donor preferences change of address updating brick campaign features GivingTuesday FundRaiser Basic

Connect With Us

  800-880-3454 ext 3
  Email Us
  Request More Information
  Monday-Friday
      8:30AM-5:30PM CST

Customer Portal Login Form

User Name:
Password:

If you are not sure about your Customer User Name, please call 800-543-4131 and we will be able to help you.

Or you have lost your password, Request Password