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.

The Value of a Salutation

blogheader_0723

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?

Continue reading
2321 Hits

Creating Value with Non-Ask Events

ask_events_header

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.

Continue reading
1945 Hits

Three Tips for Managing Your FundRaiser Codes

PrintCodeListin_20181023-195919_1

When you’ve used a database for any length of time it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the amount of codes you have. The power of codes is that they’re what the system uses to show you data. Too many, and you won’t know what information you can obtain or how you’ve coded your donors to get it. Just like we do “spring cleaning” at home, it’s a good idea once or twice a year, usually spring and fall, to do a review of the codes in your database. These three tips can help.

1.  Use the Code Listing Report (Reports > Code Listing) to see what you have

When running this report, check the box that says “show inactive codes” so you can see every code in your system. Then review the report to see what codes can be marked as inactive (or hidden) so that you don’t see them during day-to-day data input or if you have duplicate codes which need to be merged.

Continue reading
2028 Hits

Short take: Making Event Participants into Regular Donors

Even_20181016-171706_1

 Your event was a smashing success and you raised a lot of money. After entering the participants into FundRaser, you might be wondering what the next steps are. How do you convert them to prospective, and hopefully future, donors?

First, make sure you’ve coded them as having been a participant at the event. This could be using the motivation code from their gift or ticket purchase to attend or even just a category code. If you have FundRaiser Professional, our Campaign Management Module is a great way to keep track of complex events and their participants.

Continue reading
1978 Hits

What's THE Best Fundraising Strategy?

Best

Dear Kim,

I only want to use the most successful fundraising strategy. Which is it?

Continue reading
2593 Hits

Short take: Event Managment

Short take: Event Managment

FundRaiser Software provides many tools for managing event participation and donation. Users of FundRaiser Pro have access to the Campaigns and Events Module, which will track participation, donations, sponsorships, and provides detailed reporting. If you’re interested in the Campaigns and Events Module, you’re encouraged to sign up for the next training class.

However, even without the Campaigns and Events Module, you can keep track of campaign participation several ways. The Motivation Code records what motivated someone to give, and that’s usually because they attended an event or received a mailer. Using a unique motivation code will allow you to run reports as well as create groupings based off of event donations.

Continue reading
4883 Hits

Successful Closure to My First Fundraising Campaign

Successful Closure to My First Fundraising Campaign

As mentioned in earlier blog posts, I tried my own hand this year at fundraising for an organization I support. From creating my first fundraising campaign, to doing a little extra donor outreach with FundRaiser to reach our campaign goal, I enjoyed the experience and look forward to more. 

One of the very satisfying things was not just reaching the fundraising goal, but also an additional and important side benefit that I had not foreseen:  Based in part on the work our fundraising committee did, we had a wonderful turn out for the event in spite of some challenges that hit just before the event took place. Here's what happened...

Continue reading
4860 Hits

Organizing Your Letters

Organizing Your Letters

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?

Continue reading
4331 Hits

New Year, New Codes

New Year, New Codes

For organizations with annual events or campaigns, there are many ways to track the donations that come in each year. From fund and motivation codes to more general category codes, there are a multitude of ways to make sure you know exactly how and why your donors gave to your organization.

Keeping your coding system understandable plays a big role in the effective use of your donor management software. Therefore, when it comes to your annual events, think about using one main code and append then year to it. For example, a gala would be GALA14, GALA15, and so on. This way you would know that all codes that start with “GALA” would be for your annual event. (Or whatever prefix you choose to use for your event.)

Continue reading
5128 Hits

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!

Continue reading
7921 Hits
Wait a minute, while we are rendering the calendar
GoFundMe project donor slip nonprofit fundraising personalizing letters Excel Reporting to IRS upgrading donors giving history donor attrition rate donor contact information add ons Thanksgiving email Network for Good office #GivingTuesday new leadership building donor relationships welcome packet Crowdfunding Campaign community broadcasting letter how-to videos phoning donors anonymous donors new features passwords monthly giving follow up targeted mailings animal rescue gift acceptance policy appeal annual maintenance plan accounting software corporate sponsors customer service End of Year Letters spare fields mode code case study operating systems donor attrition donor recognition tax summary letters capital campaign adding personal notes to letters donor loyalty Congratulations data entry New Year technical support raffle memorial giving Snow Birds moves management giving levels ticket sales online donations Reminders spreadsheets new donors community supported gardens custom page donor targeting role of nonprofits Groupings holiday letters password protection entering auction gifts FundRaiser Basic grassroots campaign holiday backing up data in honor of donations gift entry auction PayPal Tickles texting donors change of address updating brick campaign announcements lapsed donor foundations the Ask event management alumni social media planned giving community arts nonprofits gift notes field campaign management training tip overview new version planning SYBUNTS development director grants ticketsales increasing giving amounts upgrade reports how to handle auction gifts fundraising letters holiday giving online donations premiums small donations board members Personalizing flash sales budget user spotlights membership benefits Facebook campaign security letter templates repeat donors Company culture ROI motivation code recurring gifts volunteers pledges donor engagement product news advanced tab thank you letters major donors fundraising tech tip LYBUNTS banquet motivation donor retention rate data analysis Thank You support pictures Resiliency updates charity golf tournaments major gift prospects Facebook general Importing Data donor data conversion Donor Portal In-Kind gifts donor prospects correspondence Volunteer module training new nonprofit FundRaiser Spark Codes segmenting donors word processor correspondance National Change of Address GivingTuesday donor advised funds donor profile large donations Constant Contact transparency on site training publicity materials appeal letters donor source tribute gifts Alternative Addresses operational costs communications prospects features endowment campaign merge fields salutation happiness legacy giving annual campaign membership programs donor preferences relationship tracking disaster relief Cloud vacation campaign volunteering direct mail donor retention membersip benefits merge notes importing csv user interface arts understanding giving trends mailing customer portal government grants look and feel donor relations FundRaiser Hosted donation history NCOA processing solicitors Task List mission driven

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