(NOTE: originally published 9/11/2013) It sounds like an oxymoron: “personal” form letters. How can a form letter be personal at all? Well that’s really a big part of what donor management software is all about, whether it’s FundRaiser Basic, Spark, Select, or Professional. In the old days, when everything was done with typewriters and people power, some organizations would get pre-printed letters with gaps or spaces in the areas that needed to be filled in with the “personal” information. Now, though, with the power of the computer and well-designed software programs, we can do essentially the same thing, but resulting in letters that are not obvious “fill-in-the-blanks” forms. Each letter is individually fitted, printed, and contains information specific to the recipient.
Even in the early days of computers, when information (data) was kept in a program (spreadsheet or database) separate from our letters (word processor), it was a real chore to *export* information to a file, and then *point* the word processor to that reference file. The titles of the fields of information in the file had to match the merge field title used in the letter template, and there were specific formats that had to be used to insure that data transferred correctly into the letter as it was printed. And with database information programs, there could be information that was not easily exported to a file at all. In fact, that export difficulty still remains, but, by design, FundRaiser gets around the problem with a (seemingly) simple solution: put the word processor IN the program, so that nothing has to be exported and all fields of information are readily accessible when creating a template!
Okay, that’s all fine, but do we really need access to everything when creating a template? Well, that depends, of course, on your message. In a Thank You letter, you want to mention the date and amount of the gift, along with all the personal info you’ll need, like mailing address, salutation, etc. In appeal letters, what do you need? Again, that depends on the message. But the wealth of information available gives you a unique opportunity to craft multiple letter templates, dependent on your relationship with the donor and their past history with your organization. Your face-to-face approach with people varies, no doubt, when asking them to donate, based on what you already know about them, and so should your appeal letters.
This is where segmenting your database becomes important. Create mutually exclusive queries (Groupings, in Spark/Select/Professional) to target donors with specially crafted appeals depending on their situation, like: they’ve given in the past but not in the last 6 months; they’ve never given; they’ve given in the past 6 months, but not more than $xx.xx, and so on. Then you can have different messages for each of these segments. With one, you might mention when/how much they last gave. With another you might mention their first gift date with “you started supporting us back on (first gift date)”. Another might say “yes, you’ve given recently (last gift date), but we could really use your help right now”.
You have the power, in FundRaiser, to make these appeal letter templates personal, while keeping the work involved to a minimum. Think how difficult it would be without it. Since you no longer have to typewrite every letter, take a little time to create captivating appeals with phrasing that allows you to let FundRaiser take information from each record to “fill in the blanks”. The dividends are personal letters that target specific prospects/donors, in an efficient and repeatable process, and a greater number of positive responses from those recipients. Personal form letters are no longer an oxymoron.