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.

Managing Tribute Gifts with FundRaiser Software, part 1

Tributes

Tribute Gifts are in a class by themselves when it comes to fundraising. They can require a bit more management than "general" gifts, but they can also offer you the opportunity to acquire new donors that might otherwise not be involved with your organization. They also offer existing donors the opportunity to show their respects by giving to a cause they already deem worthy.

Tributes can be made for people or pets, a fact to which many animal-oriented nonprofits will attest. Tributes to the living are the "in honor of" kinds of gifts, while tributes to the deceased are the "in memory of" gifts. "In honor" of gifts may be motivated by an event such as a wedding, anniversary, birthday, graduation, or other important moment for congratulations.

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Keeping Track of Memorial Giving in FundRaiser

MemorialGivin_20180523-204123_1

With Memorial Day just around the corner, it might be a good time to mention a couple of ways you can keep track of memorial gifts in FundRaiser.  We call them "Tribute" gifts, and they can be in memory of departed loved ones, or in honor of living individuals, or even in celebration of some life event or other.

For FundRaiser Professional users, there is a built-in module, appropriately called "Tributes" to handle the recording and subsequent correspondence for these types of gifts.  In FundRaiser Select, the Tributes module is available as an "add-on" module for a modest price.  But even in Spark, which has no specific facility for tribute tracking, one can devise some practices to follow and report on tribute giving.  Let's see how they work.

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Re-Asking In Honor/Memory Donors

Re-Asking In Honor/Memory Donors

Dear Kim,

We receive a significant number of donations in honor/memory of individuals. Most are one time donations. Is it proper to add these donors to our ask list?

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5 Simple Ways to Publicize Your Memorial Giving Program to Donors

5 Simple Ways to Publicize Your Memorial Giving Program to Donors
Memorial giving reminder on flap of reply envelope
Example of reply envelope text. This is the First Witness reply envelope, and the text is on the back under the flap. It has generated much of their memorial gift donations.

Memorial giving feels good. A donor is able to give to an organization they or a loved one values, and at the same time express a positive connection to someone important to them. Because of the all-around 'feel good' of memorial giving, organizations who successfully promote this kind of donation reap the benefits not only of the gifts, but also the extra good feelings associated with the gifts.

Letting your donors know that they can give to your organization in honor of someone can be very simple and straightforward. Becky Lindberg of First Witness Child Abuse Resource Center and a FundRaiser Select user says, "it is such an easy painless way to keep people connected to your program."

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Managing Tribute Gifts with FundRaiser Software, part 2

Managing Tribute Gifts with FundRaiser Software, part 2

In last week's blog post, I discussed the general donor management issues for working with tribute donations. Here, I will go into more of the specifics of working with these gifts in FundRaiser.

The general flow of tribute gifts can be explained better, perhaps, with an example. Let’s say that a prominent citizen of the community has passed away, and that the family has requested that donations be directed to your organization. You might first enter that citizen’s name as an honoree in the Windows | Tributes section, along with the family member to whom notification should be sent. It is good to prepare this ahead, because you may receive many donations and you will want to respond promptly.

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Successful Tributes Fundraising Increases Donations and Positive Feelings

Successful Tributes Fundraising Increases Donations and Positive Feelings

Nonprofits who make it easy for donors to give gifts in memory or honor of someone, increase both donations and positive feelings towards their organization... especially when the follow-up on your part is handled well. Joan Young, a volunteer at Kairos Dwelling, who are FundSelect users, says that the key to managing tributes is understanding that two different letters are usually sent: the normal acknowledgment letter to the donor, and then an additional letter, called the notification letter, that goes to the family member of the memorialized person. Tracking both of these letters requires some attention.

The American Animal Hospital Association Foundation receives 800 or more memorial gifts a month."Veterinary practices will have a client who has a pet that passes away. The vet then makes a memorial donation to the program in memory of the animal," explains Tamara Fox. She says to deal with this volume of tributes, "being organized helps."

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Don’t Forget to Reach Out to Tribute Donors’ Families

Don’t Forget to Reach Out to Tribute Donors’ Families

Dear Kim,

Would it be tacky to add to our mailing list names of people from whom we have received tribute donations — in particular, the families of people for whom we receive “in memoriam” donations? In my eagerness to enlarge our donor base, I’m wondering if I’m wandering into the realm of bad taste? What do you think? —All alone with my memory gifts

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Inspiring Donors To Give Donations As Gifts

Inspiring Donors To Give Donations As Gifts

Does your nonprofit make it easy for donors to give donations as a special gift? Not only are these kinds of donations good fundraising, they also create positive feelings towards your organization. "More and more people are catching on– giving gifts in honor of holidays, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries," says Becky Lindberg of First Witness Child Abuse Resource Center. For the non profit organization, "it is such an easy painless way to keep people connected to your program," adds Lindberg.

With very simple techniques to get people thinking about making a memorial donation, you can simultaneously

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Joyful Tribute Giving

Joyful Tribute Giving

So my family had that conversation this weekend. The one that usually happens sometime at the start of November. My mother asked me, “so what do you want for Christmas?”. There’s a good chance similar conversations, centered around any number of the winter holidays, are happening in your donors’ households too.

I’m also hearing from a lot of organizations that are working to send out their holiday appeal letters.

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Memorial Tracking in FundRaiser


With Memorial Day just around the corner, it might be a good time to mention a couple of ways you can keep track of memorial gifts in FundRaiser.  We call them "Tribute" gifts, and they can be in memory of departed loved ones, or in honor of living individuals, or even in celebration of some life event or other.

For FundRaiser Professional users, there is a built-in module, appropriately called "Tributes" to handle the recording and subsequent correspondence for these types of gifts.  In FundRaiser Select, the Tributes module is available as an "add-on" module for a modest price.  But even in Spark, which has no specific facility for tribute tracking, one can devise some practices to follow and report on tribute giving.  Let's see how they work.

Continue reading
5329 Hits

5 simple ways to publicize your memorial giving program to donors

Memorial giving reminder on flap of reply envelope
Example of reply envelope text. This is the First Witness reply envelope, and the text is on the back under the flap. It has generated much of their memorial gift donations.

Memorial giving feels good. A donor is able to give to an organization they or a loved one values, and at the same time express a positive connection to someone important to them. Because of the all-around 'feel good' of memorial giving, organizations who successfully promote this kind of donation reap the benefits not only of the gifts, but also the extra good feelings associated with the gifts.

Letting your donors know that they can give to your organization in honor of someone can be very simple and straightforward. Becky Lindberg of First Witness Child Abuse Resource Center and a FundRaiser Select user says, "it is such an easy painless way to keep people connected to your program."

Continue reading
25525 Hits
Wait a minute, while we are rendering the calendar
#GivingTuesday small donations targeted mailings prospects mailing holiday giving in honor of donations change of address updating donor profile new version custom page anonymous donors lapsed donor operational costs segmenting donors adding personal notes to letters tax summary letters Crowdfunding Campaign Facebook online donations donor major donors word processor letter correspondence solicitors budget community broadcasting donor prospects data entry pledges Reminders Thank You holiday letters vacation entering auction gifts Thanksgiving gift entry data analysis salutation donor recognition merge fields Reporting to IRS passwords government grants correspondance charity golf tournaments giving levels FundRaiser Hosted new leadership texting donors donor attrition campaign management In-Kind gifts communications new nonprofit customer portal auction volunteering security merge notes moves management upgrading donors FundRaiser Spark Excel donor preferences ticket sales how-to videos GivingTuesday customer service importing csv gift acceptance policy major gift prospects legacy giving tech tip banquet brick campaign membership programs SYBUNTS volunteers flash sales premiums raffle PayPal holiday repeat donors Codes product news letter templates development director upgrade case study Volunteer module large donations transparency operating systems Tickles grants Personalizing grassroots campaign office increasing giving amounts on site training look and feel Cloud technical support disaster relief Resiliency GoFundMe project Network for Good role of nonprofits spreadsheets New Year membersip benefits donor engagement accounting software new donors advanced tab general Donor Portal new features donor advised funds donor source monthly giving Constant Contact giving history training tip social media Company culture End of Year Letters support thank you letters reports follow up phoning donors online donations FundRaiser Basic community supported gardens National Change of Address Task List Congratulations appeal letters planning nonprofit fundraising gift notes field event management welcome packet donor retention rate NCOA processing donor relations ticketsales fundraising membership benefits corporate sponsors donor slip fundraising letters user interface appeal updates training ROI announcements relationship tracking motivation code donor loyalty understanding giving trends capital campaign LYBUNTS data conversion email mission driven backing up data community arts nonprofits user spotlights arts password protection alumni campaign the Ask mode code spare fields memorial giving donation history Importing Data features Snow Birds endowment campaign publicity materials building donor relationships Facebook campaign planned giving Groupings Alternative Addresses recurring gifts donor attrition rate annual campaign pictures tribute gifts animal rescue personalizing letters overview annual maintenance plan donor retention how to handle auction gifts donor contact information happiness add ons direct mail board members donor targeting motivation foundations

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