Donation Acknowledgements Part III: Templates and Placeholders (Version 1.0)

Communications: Donation Acknowledgements Part III: Templates and Placeholders

1. This tutorial will cover how to create donation acknowledgement templates within Fundly CRM.
2. First mouse over the Communications menu header, and then click on Manage Templates.
3. 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.
4. To create a new template, click on the Add New Template(+) button in the upper right of the screen.  
5. 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.
6. To Preview a base template, mouse over the template you wish to preview and click on the Preview(magnifying glass) button.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Next, you may set a category for the template to help organize your templates in the main template list.
10. The Template area on the right is where you will be entering the text and details of the template, using the editor provided.
11. 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.
12. This option is very useful for those with any HTML experience, and who may wish to fine tune the template in particular ways.
13. To switch back to the main design mode, click on the Design button to the left of the HTML button.
14. 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.
15. This specific information is inserted into the template via placeholders, which are organized into sections based on the type of information to be inserted.
16. To insert a placeholder into the template, click the appropriate location in the content editor where you wish to have the placeholder appear.
17. Next, select the placeholder from the “Add Placeholder” drop-down, and click the Add(+) button to the right of the drop-down.
18. You will notice that there arrofiteas many placeholders available; some placeholders will not be appropriate for certain kinds of donations.
19. 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.
20. 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.
21. The Gift donation type will need to include the “Donation Amount” placeholder to show the amount received.
22. The “In-Kind Value” and “In-Kind Description” placeholders will be used specifically for In-Kind donations.
23. The “In-Kind Auction” placeholder will provide details concerning both In-Kind Auction item donations and purchases, in a table format.
24. There are also specific placeholders to create templates for both Pledge and Grant payments.
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. When you have finished editing your template, click the Save button at the very bottom of the page, below the editor.
28. To edit a template you have previously saved, mouse over the entry for the template and click the Edit(Pencil) button for that entry.
29. You may copy a preexisting template by clicking the Copy(stacked papers) button for the template you wish to copy.
30. This, like Edit, will open the template and will allow you to save the template under a new name.
31. To remove a template, click the Delete(Trash can) button for the template you wish to remove.