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

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