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.

Short take: Using Category Codes For Better Donor Targeting

TargetShortTake

Most organizations deal with a range of donors and sometimes clients who may be interested in different things from your organization. A nonprofit healthcare clinic, for example, may have physicians and staff (even if they are all volunteers), patients, friends and family of patients, as well as those who simply wish to sponsor free or affordable healthcare.

Each group will respond differently to appeals. For example, patients may wish to “pay back” some of the care that was received. Friends and family may give so that those they care about continue to receive care, and sponsors may want to know how many people their dollars helped.

Continue reading
3371 Hits

How FundRaiser Helps You Track Awareness Day FundRaising

Awarenes_20180523-213140_1

Nearly every day on the calendar, and certainly every month, has an Awareness Day attached to it. For example, did you know that not only is May Zombie Awareness month, but also Fibromyalgia and CF/ME Awareness month? Depending on the work your nonprofit does, awareness days, such as those related to families, children, or certain illnesses, can be excellent fundraising opportunities.

Not only is it important for organizations to use awareness days in their fundraising, but also to be able to track where those donors and gifts come from. FundRaiser Software will allow you to do so.

Continue reading
1803 Hits

5 ways your donor management software can help create a thriving membership organization

Membership5

Key to a thriving membership organization, is giving each member the sense that they are your most important. How can you do that, when members have different reasons for joining and different preferences for how you communicate with them? Your donor database can be your closest ally. With it, you can tune in to what it is that motivates a person to be a member, and record special preferences. That will help you to give each member the sense that you have them specifically in mind when you communicate with them, even as your membership continues to grow.

1. Make each member feel like they are your most important member

In a donor database, each donor/member has a record where you can enter information that is specific to that member. These specifics can be as basic as name and contact information, however to truly personalize your communications you need to go well beyond that. By recording information on what is important to a particular member about your organization, you can tailor your messages to speak to those interests. If you know what brought a member to your organization to begin with, what events each person participates in, and what friends, business associates or relatives of a particular member also belong to your organization, you are well on your way to understanding how to best connect with a particular member. 

Continue reading
2181 Hits

3 FundRaiser Thank You Letter Tips

3 FundRaiser Thank You Letter Tips
 1.  Be personal, share success, and Thank Them

It doesn't take much to include personal touches in a thank you letter template.  You could mention the last gift they gave (date and/or amount), or the first time they gave, or the amount of support they've provided over the years.  Different situations may call for different letter templates, and different groups of donors, but it's all possible in FundRaiser.  And while you are thanking them, let them know what their contribution has done.  What has your organization done since their last gift?  How many people (or animals, or communities, or ??) has the organization helped in that time?  This takes a bit of planning, so that you might have, for instance, a group of donors who have given, but not in the past 2 years, and another group who have given in the past 2 years, but not the past 6 months, and maybe another group who gave for the first time in the past 6 months, etc. You'll want different messages depending on the situation, but it's not that difficult to do, and the results will be a more personal approach to that "ask" for additional donations.

2.  Thank Often

Many non-profits are vying for the same donor dollars, and showing appreciation for past donations is important in ALL interactions with your donors.  If you are sending an invitation to an event, THANK them for their previous gifts.  If you are sending a newsletter, THANK them for their ongoing support.  If you have a special funding need and are sending an appeal, THANK them in advance for their consideration and for sharing your needs with their friends, family, etc., but THANK THEM.

Continue reading
5138 Hits

Revolutionize Your Thinking About Creating Targeted Mailings

Revolutionize Your Thinking About Creating Targeted Mailings

This month is the celebration of independence for the USA, and it seems appropriate to try revolutionizing your thinking about creating targeted mailings using FundRaiser. This is done by creating segments of your database, or Groupings, and, hopefully, turn an otherwise onerous task into one that gives you more freedom and choice. Groupings help you to pull out a sampling of people (or organizations) from your full database in order to treat them as a separate group. Why would you even want to do that? Well, the most common answer is to “target” an audience with a specific message from your organization, whether for an appeal letter, an invitation to an event, or a special “thank you” newsletter at the end of a particularly successful campaign.

By becoming  comfortable with creating Groupings, this will become an enjoyable task. And I’m going to give you some hints to ease you into creating exactly the groups of records you need. There is a trick to it all and it doesn’t even involve the software. Here it is, in a nutshell:

Continue reading
4946 Hits
Wait a minute, while we are rendering the calendar
follow up motivation new donors pictures transparency entering auction gifts prospects in honor of donations donor FundRaiser Basic brick campaign premiums repeat donors role of nonprofits Excel Facebook campaign PayPal small donations case study GoFundMe project training donation history ROI Company culture memorial giving GivingTuesday membership benefits new leadership major donors appeal letters customer portal donor preferences donor targeting tax summary letters adding personal notes to letters alumni training tip moves management Importing Data data analysis add ons Constant Contact mode code passwords annual campaign mailing Reminders End of Year Letters spare fields fundraising upgrading donors government grants disaster relief donor slip donor engagement increasing giving amounts holiday giving communications donor attrition motivation code volunteers data conversion online donations Crowdfunding Campaign tech tip Thank You general gift entry large donations overview letter appeal Reporting to IRS support donor retention on site training donor recognition board members how-to videos Volunteer module technical support phoning donors social media texting donors development director Snow Birds operating systems anonymous donors merge notes pledges office Donor Portal letter templates vacation fundraising letters membersip benefits new version Facebook community arts nonprofits NCOA processing animal rescue donor contact information ticket sales upgrade giving history monthly giving nonprofit fundraising Codes Congratulations the Ask importing csv Groupings personalizing letters ticketsales reports updates accounting software Tickles planned giving capital campaign gift acceptance policy Network for Good online donations backing up data Thanksgiving Resiliency merge fields Alternative Addresses #GivingTuesday grassroots campaign segmenting donors annual maintenance plan donor retention rate solicitors happiness membership programs password protection new nonprofit Cloud campaign volunteering product news donor loyalty operational costs LYBUNTS advanced tab recurring gifts National Change of Address endowment campaign New Year donor source direct mail donor prospects tribute gifts thank you letters building donor relationships FundRaiser Hosted budget look and feel how to handle auction gifts announcements targeted mailings donor attrition rate relationship tracking donor profile FundRaiser Spark user spotlights spreadsheets foundations event management gift notes field raffle arts donor advised funds user interface holiday auction understanding giving trends new features In-Kind gifts community supported gardens email data entry change of address updating major gift prospects security Task List corporate sponsors legacy giving custom page donor relations customer service planning features welcome packet community broadcasting banquet correspondance grants giving levels publicity materials lapsed donor correspondence holiday letters campaign management flash sales salutation SYBUNTS mission driven word processor Personalizing charity golf tournaments

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