How can I acknowledge my donors?

You've received a generous donation - congrats! Now what?

It's best practice to send each donor a warm and personal thank-you within 3-5 days of receiving their donation. Donor Management makes this simple with professionally written acknowledgement templates and an easy workflow, so you can send your thanks without breaking a sweat.

Acknowledging Recent Gifts

First, go to your Giving page (or the donor's Contact record). Find the donation that you'd like to acknowledge.

TIP: You can easily find last week's gifts by using the "Donations Last 7 Days" recommended filter. If you're behind and want to send bulk acknowledgments, we recommend using the Email Blast or Direct Mail feature. Learn how by clicking here. 

Check out those orange flags! They appear next to gifts that have not yet been acknowledged.  Click down arrow, and you have the choice to either mark the gift as acknowledged, write a letter, or send an email.

Sending Acknowledgement Letters (Snail Mail Style)

The next screen gives you handy templates for your mailings, ready to edit to suit your organization.  The text highlighted in green awaits your personal flair!

The Standard Gift Acknowledgement template is great for any gift that was given online through Network for Good - we send your donors tax receipts separately, so all you need to send is warm thanks.  Choose Standard Gift Acknowledgement w/ Receipt if you're acknowledging cash or check donation (or any donation not received through Network for Good).

To customize your message, click the yellow Edit button at the top left section of the text.  This will reveal formatting options, and let you edit the text.

TIP: Merge fields can be used to automatically customize this template for each individual donor. See how the date, name, and address are filled in automatically? That's the power of merge fields.

Once you've edited the text to your liking, click the orange Save button at the top of the text editor.

To make your template even more beautiful, click Setup Options on the right hand menu.  Here you can upload your stationary and adjust the page margins so everything is picture-perfect.

Be sure to save your template for later! Click Save as New Template on the right hand menu, give it a beautiful new name, and perhaps set it as your default template if you know you'll use it again and again.

Finally, you'll download your acknowledgement letter as a PDF (the file will go to your browser's download folder). Check the box to mark the donation as acknowledged, then Save and Exit to do it all again for your next lucky donor.

If you ever need to look at the letter you sent in the past, correct a mistake, or just print it out again, you can choose "View Sent Letter" from the (now green!) acknowledgement drop down.  Now just pop your letter in the mail, and know that you're treating your donors right!

Acknowledgement Emails (new!)

If instead you choose Send Email, you'll see a slightly different template. 

You can add images to the body of the email by clicking Edit and inserting them using the little photo icon in the menu bar.  You can save and manage email acknowledgement templates just like you do paper acknowledgement templates. Check out the standard templates in the drop down template menu, and create your own!

If you click Edit Setup Options at the right you'll have the ability to customize the email subject line, add attachments and additional recipients, and more.

Be sure to click send a test email to make sure it's just right! 

TIP: If you have trouble receiving test emails, first check your spam folder, then be sure to whitelist the sender [e-mail].

Acknowledging your donors is like brushing your teeth - you should do it every day. But if you get behind, don't worry! You can easily send bulk acknowledgements too. Check out this article for step-by-step instructions, so nobody feels left out.