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.

Save Time and Minimize Errors using Recurring Gifts in FundRaiser Software


The Sacred Heart Radio case study includes a reference to a feature in FundRaiser, called Recurring Gifts, and I want to point out to everyone that you don't need the Donor Portal version of the program to take advantage of it.  It is particularly helpful for those with Donor Portal, since it not only allows a donor to set up their own regularly-scheduled donations, including bringing them into FundRaiser, but also allows for special "thank you" letters dependent on whether a payment is accepted, rejected, a card is expired, or about to expire.  But even if you don't have the Donor Portal, recurring gifts can save you a lot of time, if you have one of the following situations:

Donors on a payroll deductionDonors who supply credit card or bank info for regular withdrawals

If, for instance, you have 50 people who give on a monthly basis, regular as clockwork, the same amount each time, you can save a lot of time by entering the donation only once per person (as a Recurring Gift setup) and then have FUndRaiser produce the actual gift entry each time it comes due.  You can offer each of the donors a preference on what day of the month they'd like their gifts processed.  Once a Recurring Gift is established, it's just a matter of running the utility to process Recurring Gifts to have FUndRaiser build the gift records.

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Case study: Ease of use for staff and donors of online donations helps Sacred Heart's fundraising thrive

logo for Sacred Heart Radio

Sacred Heart Radio is fortunate in their problem—they need to process lots of online donations. For this reason, Beverly Hill, office and database manager for Sacred Heart Radio, was eager to implement the automatic entry of online donations that is offered through the FundRaiser Donor Portal. Sacred Heart Radio is a national Catholic radio station. They are users of FundRaiser Professional with the Donor Portal for online donations.

Successfully promoting online donations

“We promote online donations strongly and it is working for us. As a radio station, we have access to the airwaves. We use public service announcements that say ‘visit us online and click donate’,” explains Beverly.

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7 steps to increased donations for schools using a donor database

increasing donations for schools large and small

Schools can significantly increase incoming donations by clarifying who their most generous constituent groups are and then focusing development efforts on those donor segments. Several FundRaiser users have done this, with excellent results.

1.    Enter your donation amounts into your database

The first step to locating your most generous donors is easy. “It’s a simple matter of entering your checks into FundRaiser. Then all that information is there,” says Ellen Bouye, Administrative Assistant of Oklahoma Christian Academy and a FundRaiser Select user.

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Looking Ahead

The brilliant colors of Fall are beginning to blaze here in the Ozarks.  I see crimPiawacket helps himself to his son blushed sumacs nestled among the stalwart green of the oaks.  Oaks are the last trees to change color, calmly keeping their glossy green raiment as a lovely backdrop to the riotous colors of less sedate trees.  Acorns and walnuts rain down and the grass grows with spring-like abandon.

All of this color and abundance tends to make me forget we are heading into the cold, drab days of winter.  Days when all is quiet and still and where growth happens unseen below fallen leaves and brown grasses.  I always long to take some green with me into winter and this year I am determined to do so.  I have spent the last month designing a hydroponic system for growing wheat grass.  The idea was to be able to feed the few critters I want to add to our home without having to depend on outside hay.  I accomplished this, but since I am currently “critterless” with the exeption of a few cats, I am now considering using it to grow salad greens all winter.  What can be better that eating a fresh picked salad as I watch the snow fall outside? 

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Grow Where You Are Planted


I love weeds. That may seem very odd to hear from someone who enjoys gardening, but perhaps I am not a typical gardener. I must confess I’m terribly fickle when it comes to my garden. Each spring I succumb to the passion of lush, green spring and gaily plant far more than I can ever take care of. Inevitably the oppressive heat of summer squelches my enthusiasm and only those plants that survive the minimal tending I care to give them live to benefit from my renewed vigor with autumn’s chill.Despite these serious flaws in my gardening technique, I’m never without green in my life. For intrepid weeds soften my failures. Perhaps my favorite is the wild morning glory. Its rich green leaves cover a vine as tough and tenacious as barbed wire. These tendrils coil from dry, barren ground and climb to the sun upon anything they can reach. Yet from this ruthless creeper spring delicate ivory blossoms that sing to the sun for only one day. It is truly heartening to see beauty spring from what seems to be nothing.

Nonprofit organizations often have the same issue with hardware and software. You spring out of what seems to be nothing, pulling resources from volunteers and donations from the community you serve. Purchasing up to date computers and hiring someone to set up and maintain them is frequently out of your reach, financially, although I’ve seen some pretty amazing things done with the bare minimum.

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

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