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.

3 Tips for Appeal Letters

Mary Lenker
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We’re into the end of the year giving season when many organizations are sending out appeal letters. This is a busy time for many nonprofits between Thanksgiving, Giving Tuesday, and then Christmas and last minute donations before the New Year rolls around. Yet, it’s important to give as much thought, if not more, to the appeal letters you send during this time of year. Your donors will most likely receive more of them and each one has to stand out.

Here are three tips to get you started.

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appeal letters End of Year Letters holiday letters holiday giving
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Three Things To Prepare For Holiday Mailings

Mary Lenker
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As we enter the last quarter of the year, many organizations begin to think about their holiday fundraising campaigns. The holiday season, including the end of the year and all the associated holidays, is a big time of year for sending appeal letters and in the US, the January tax letters indicating the giving that had happened during the previous calendar year. Before you begin creating these mailings, try taking these three steps to ensure they’re reaching the right people and are cost effective for your organization.

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appeal letters campaign management
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Non-Profit Fundraising Tips
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What do you do with motivation codes?

Mary Lenker
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It’s easy to get overwhelmed with the coding of gifts in any donor management software. There’s motivation codes, which track what prompted your donor to give, and purpose codes, which track the way in which the gift will be used. Once you code a gift, other than running reports for the month (or year), what can do you do with them?

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The Value of a Salutation

Mary Lenker
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As many of the letters being sent transition from paper to digital and even email is being replaced by text messages and push notifications on apps, it’s important to think about whether we still have a place for formal salutations. While politeness and courtesy will never go out of style, too often when we call someone Mr. or Ms., such titles are eschewed for the person’s first name. When appealing to donors, what salutation should you use?

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salutation letter templates appeal letters event management
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Creating Value with Non-Ask Events

Mary Lenker
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Most of the time organizations offer donors reciprocated value. They send thank you notes in response to donations, preprinted labels in the hopes of receiving a donation, tickets when purchased, or other tangible things received either in response to or in anticipation of a donation. This isn’t bad, but it’s very reactive. It assumes the organization has a quid pro quo relationship with its donors.

To start thinking proactively, it’s important to work on non-reciprocated value. This is something that you can offer to your donors for free without asking for a donation or any other consideration. When it holds real value for them, it becomes memorable.

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event management appeal letters donor loyalty donor recognition donor targeting
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The Who, What, and When of Tax Summary Letters

Sasha Daucus
The Who, What, and When of Tax Summary Letters

What is an End of Year letter? Usually it is one of two things:

a letter which contains a summary of all donations that a donor has made to your organization in the past year. This is sent in January, to help donors with their taxes.an appeal letter which is sent in November and December to solicit donations.

This article will go more in depth about tax summary letters. You might be surprised at the return you get from this simple and helpful correspondence.

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

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