Communications: Donation Acknowledgements Part III: Templates and Placeholders
- This tutorial will cover how to create donation acknowledgement templates within Fundly CRM.
- First mouse over the Communications menu header, and then click on Manage Templates.
- If you would like to view the templates for End of Year Acknowledgements, use the Template Categories(3 lines) button on the left hand side and select Year End Thank You Letter.
- To create a new template, click on the Add New Template(+) button in the upper right of the screen.
- This will open the “Choose Template –Acknowledgements” screen where you must pick a base template to use for the new template you are creating; a blank template is available.
- To Preview a base template, mouse over the template you wish to preview and click on the Preview(magnifying glass) button.
- To select a template to use, mouse over the template you desire and click on the Select Template(Checkmark) button that appears for that template.
- Before you start working on a template, it is important that you enter a name in the Template Name field, thus allowing you to save the template.
- Next, you may set a category for the template to help organize your templates in the main template list.
- The Template area on the right is where you will be entering the text and details of the template, using the editor provided.
- If you are familiar with HTML, you may change the mode of the editor from Design to HTML mode, by clicking the HTML button at the bottom of the editor.
- This option is very useful for those with any HTML experience, and who may wish to fine tune the template in particular ways.
- To switch back to the main design mode, click on the Design button to the left of the HTML button.
- An important part of designing a template is specifying what information, based on the donor and their donation, will be included in the resulting letter.
- This specific information is inserted into the template via placeholders, which are organized into sections based on the type of information to be inserted.
- To insert a placeholder into the template, click the appropriate location in the content editor where you wish to have the placeholder appear.
- Next, select the placeholder from the “Add Placeholder” drop-down, and click the Add(+) button to the right of the drop-down.
- You will notice that there arrofiteas many placeholders available; some placeholders will not be appropriate for certain kinds of donations.
- For this reason it is recommended that you create several donation templates, as appropriate, for your donation Names, Programs and Campaigns, as well as one each for Gift, In-Kind and In-Kind Auction donation types.
- The Formal and Informal Salutation placeholders will work for both Individual and Organization donor contacts and you will not need to create separate donation templates for these contacts.
- The Gift donation type will need to include the “Donation Amount” placeholder to show the amount received.
- The “In-Kind Value” and “In-Kind Description” placeholders will be used specifically for In-Kind donations.
- The “In-Kind Auction” placeholder will provide details concerning both In-Kind Auction item donations and purchases, in a table format.
- There are also specific placeholders to create templates for both Pledge and Grant payments.
- When creating a Year End Thank You Letter, be sure to use the Transaction Grid placeholder to include a table of all donations the contact has made that year.
- In addition to the previously mentioned considerations, each donation template should include the Donation Date placeholder, as well as your organization’s Tax ID, which is not a placeholder.
- When you have finished editing your template, click the Save button at the very bottom of the page, below the editor.
- To edit a template you have previously saved, mouse over the entry for the template and click the Edit(Pencil) button for that entry.
- You may copy a preexisting template by clicking the Copy(stacked papers) button for the template you wish to copy.
- This, like Edit, will open the template and will allow you to save the template under a new name.
- To remove a template, click the Delete(Trash can) button for the template you wish to remove.
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Please note, the above tutorial will also be used when making Year End Thank You Letter templates.
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