How to Create Donor Management Mailing Templates to Send

Let's Learn

• Overview of Mailings
• Manage and Create Letter Templates
• Create a Mailing
• Mailing List Types
• Sorting and Printing Envelopes and Labels
• Viewing Past Receipts and Reissuing a Receipt 

Overview of Mailings

There are several areas to familiarize yourself with before sending a mailing.  

Below you can see the Mailings area, which you navigate to by clicking on the Mailings button on the left side of the page.

Within the Mailings area, you can see several features:  

• Create Mailing: When you click into this area, you can execute mailings with previously created templates and mailing lists. You must first create a mailing template and a mailing list (or Smartlist) in order to create a mailing. 
• Mailing Lists: Within this area, you can create ad hoc mailing lists.  
• Manage Letters: This is the area in which you can create and edit mailing templates based on letter or email type. There are also options to create and customize headers and footers. You can also manage the templates that you have previously created. The type of letter that you select determines which merge variables (fields) are available for the letter. 

Manage and Create Letter Templates 

To create a new mailing template, first click on "Manage Templates" and then select which template you are creating or editing.

You have the option to create/update the following:

• Header
• Body
• Footer
• Tax Receipts

When looking to create a new mailing template you do so by clicking the body tab>Create Body Template. 

You will click the "Create Body Template" button to get started on a new mailing template.

You will be presented with a series of options with which to create the letter: 

The category that you select will determine the fields that are available in the letter template.

Select from: 

• Welcome Letters: General fields related to constituents, but not payments 
• Thank-You Letters: Fields related to constituents and payments, but no official receipt fields such as receipt number, date of receipt, etc. since this is not technically a receipt 
• Receipts: Constituent fields, payment fields, and receipt fields 
• Uncategorized: General fields but not specific to payments or pledges

Next, select the letter type from the following list. The type of letter you choose will determine what type of Smartlist or Mailing List can be applied to this letter.  

• Constituent: You can send a letter in this category to a Constituent Smartlist or a Constituent Mailing List 
• Donation: Can send donations marked for acknowledgment (not receipt, just "thank you letters") to this type of letter 
• Pledge: Pledge payments can be applied to this template 
• Receipt: Any donations marked to be receipted can use this letter template; when you add a payment to GiftWorks Cloud and mark the payment to be receipted, you will use a letter of this type to send the receipt 

• Envelope: This will generate envelopes 
• Tributes: Any payments given in honor or memoriam can be sent with this letter type; they must have tribute information in the payment 

For this example, we have selected to send a receipt for year-end giving. 

1. Name: Year End Receipt Letter) 
2. Category: Receipt 
3. Type: Receipt 
4. Click Next 

You will now see a blank template. This is where you will create your receipt and select the merge variables to be pulled into the mailing. 

Before entering text, be sure to hit the enter key on your keyboard two to three times to increase the margin between your header and the text body. As you write your letter, use the merge variable list to add relevant information to your receipt. 

You have successfully created a letter template! Next we will examine how to process the mailing. 

Create a Mailing

Once you have created a letter template and you want to send the letter, you will go to your GiftWorks Mailings area and click on "Create Mailing." 

Select the type of mailing. In this scenario, we are going to send physical letters to our constituents, so we will select "Letter" 

In this example, we are sending year-end tax receipts, which have all been marked to be receipted on a mailing list. So, next we will select "Mailing List" and "Receipts."

The mailing list that we had added the donations to was called "Donation Receipts" and we would like to combine all past giving onto one receipt, so we select "send only once to constituents (even if they have multiple gifts)." 

Click "Next" and uncheck any recipients you don’t wish to send receipt to.

Click "Next" again to continue.  

Select Letter Template, as well as a header and footer if you choose to add those elements. 

You will attach the receipt template at the bottom of the letter.

Click "Send Letters" to process the mailing.

This will lead you back to the main Mailings page, where you can see that the mailing is processing.

Once the mailing has been processed, you can click on the mailing that was "sent" in the mailing history list and select download in the right hand corner or the mailing to export the letters as .doc or PDF format.

From there, you can make any last-minute adjustments and print your letters! 

Once the mailing has been processed, a note will appear in the Activity tab of each constituent's profile to acknowledge that the receipt was generated. In the case of thank you letters and other mailings (non-receipts), a note will still appear in the Activity tab to show you that the letter was sent. 

Mailing List Types

Sorting and Printing Envelopes and Labels

Whether it's through the Mailings section or directly from a Constituents profile, GiftWorks Cloud provides a feature that allows you to print envelopes and/or labels. In this lesson you will see instructions for sending labels/envelopes from the mailings section, and also directly from a constituents profile. 

Printing Envelopes/Labels from Mailings: 

Step 1: Select Create Mailing 

Step 2: Choose the action you'd like to perform 

Step 3: After selecting whether to send your Envelopes or Labels, you will select the type of recipients along with choosing the source list to which this information pulls from. Once you've selected your recipients and list details, you will then be asked how to handle households. You will now decide if you would prefer to send only to the households and not include it's household members, to the household members but not the households, or to both the households and household members. 

Step 4: Finally you will select whether or not to record this action along with the date, select your label/envelope type, and also selecting how to sort your envelopes/labels. Once finished you will select to print. 

Printing Envelopes/Labels from a Constituent profile: 

Note: You will need to be sure that you have permission to contact the participant before sending a mailing directly from the constituent record (“Allow to Contact” in “Mailing Permissions.) 

Step 1: Start by selecting 'Send message' in the constituent's record, once there you will make the decision on printing envelopes or printing labels. 

Step2: Finally, you will select whether or not to record this action. You will also select the date and your label/envelope type. Once finished you will select to print. 

Viewing Past Receipts and Reissuing a Receipt 

When a receipt has been issued for a specified donation recorded in the system, you can see the receipt details in the Gift record.  

You will only be presented with the above Receipt information when the Receipt has been issued. In the case where the Gift record has not been receipted you will see the below information only where you can then add the receipt to a pre-existing receipt group in the database. 

Reissuing Receipts: 

You can now select to clear and re-issue receipts in Giftworks as shown in the screen-shot below you can click on the “Clear Receipt” from within a Gift record. Once cleared here the information relating to the receipt is removed from the Gift record. 

You can then select to re-issue the receipt should you wish to do so. In order to track the re-issue of the receipt in the system once the receipt has been re-issued there will be a flag on the new receipt stating that it is replacing the previous receipt and list the associated numbers for both in the Receipt Status merge variable where were it the first receipt and not a receipt re-issue it will simply state “Original”. 

Next, let's learn more about Tools!