With the Virtuous CRM+ Acknowledgement Builder, users can generate professional acknowledgement templates for sending paper acknowledgements or email acknowledgements. Acknowledgements are non-tax deductible and are only intended to thank the donor and recognize their Gift given through a donor-advised fund (DAF), or a different party. A drag-and-drop visual editor makes it easy to create one or more templates that can be used for thanking these Passthrough donors.
Table of Contents
Getting Started
To get started, select Gifts in the left side Primary Navigation menu and then select Receipting from the sub-menu.
Next, select the Acknowledgements tab at the top, then click the Acknowledgement Templates tab.
You'll see small previews of all existing acknowledgement templates for your organization. To get started on a new template, select the Actions button and then select Create Acknowledgement Template from the available options.
This will launch the Acknowledgement Builder wizard.
On the first screen, there will be several options to select.
On the left, be sure to give the new template a unique name. This name will be the only identifier for your new template, so be specific!
On the right, the Multiple Gifts per Acknowledgement option is selected by default. This will be the option to choose if you are generating monthly summaries, quarterly statements, or year-end acknowledgements. Select the Include Single Gift per Acknowledgement option if the acknowledgement template being built should only target specific individual Gifts.
Next, select Email or Paper Mail for your acknowledgement delivery. Note that you must choose either the email or paper mail option for your template; these two options cannot be combined into a single template. Once these options have been selected and work has begun on the actual template, these options cannot be changed. Paper acknowledgements will be designed and built using a different template interface, as the demands are slightly different for each. This means that there are four possible acknowledgement types that may be generated:
- Email Acknowledgement - Single Gift
- Email Acknowledgement - Multiple Gifts
- Paper Acknowledgement - Single Gift
- Paper Acknowledgement - Multiple Gifts
Paper Mail
After selecting Paper Mail, you’ll see a few additional options.
- Paper Size: You have several sizes to choose from depending on the type of paper you would like to use to print these acknowledgements.
- Margins: Standard margin sizes are set by default, but you can override them by checking the Use custom margins box and inserting the margin values you would like to use.
- Envelopes: Use this dropdown to control how you would like to address your mailing envelopes.
There are three options available:
- No envelopes: This option is selected by default. Use this to generate JUST acknowledgement PDFs, with no option to print address labels or print on your envelopes.
- Download CSV: This option will generate a separate CSV file to download along with the PDF of your acknowledgements. The CSV will contain all the address fields needed to print mailing labels from a program like Microsoft Excel.
- Download PDF: This option will generate two PDF exports, one with acknowledgement letters to print and another that is formatted to allow you to print addresses directly on a standard mailing envelope. Selecting this option will prompt you to enter a return address, if desired, to print on the envelopes as well.
Once you have made your acknowledgement selections, click Next in the lower right of the screen to select your Template. This gives you the option to continue creating a new template or to customize a new one based on an existing template.
If you would like to create your new mail acknowledgement from scratch, continue with the default selection (your acknowledgement name with (CURRENT) next to it). If you would like to create a mail acknowledgement similar to an existing template, select that template and then make any changes you want to make in the Customize screen.
Use the guidelines below to create your template, depending on the type.
Mail Acknowledgement - Single Gift
Mail acknowledgements will be built using the same templating tool used by Virtuous CRM+ Letters on Demand for creating letters and postcards. Use the tools in the toolbar near the top of the screen to insert and format your content as needed. You'll see several options for customizing the font, colors, and styling, much of which can be accessed from the Format menu in the toolbar.
When selecting a color for your font or background, you'll see a small color picker with a selection of common colors to choose from. Click on any color block to select that color.
To add a custom color, click on the palette icon to bring up the color picker dialog box. Enter the RGB values, a hex code, or use the tools on the left to find the right color match and select it.
To add an image, for example, your logo, to your acknowledgement, click on the image button in the toolbar.
This will bring up a dialog box for adding an image.
Add your image by entering the URL for it in the Source field. This means that your image must be available online. If you are using your logo, you should be able to find the URL for it from your website's source code. Make sure you are using a valid URL that is hosted on your site (not a Google Image or Dropbox file, for example). Your URL should look something like this:
Use the Width and Height fields to re-size your image as needed to fit your acknowledgement. Make sure the lock symbol shows as a closed lock so your image will be re-sized proportionally.
To upload an image file stored on your computer (or on a networked drive), click on the Upload option and you'll see the option to drag-and-drop your file or browse for an image file.
Once your file is uploaded, it will be converted to a URL, which will display in the Source field. Use the Advanced options to add styling, padding, or a border to your image.
Once you have added your image, set the styling, and confirmed the size, click on "Save" to save your image and continue editing your acknowledgement.
Once added to your acknowledgement, resize your image by clicking and dragging any of the corners of the image.
Use the Format menu in the toolbar to adjust the alignment of your image if you'd like to center it on the page.
Use the Merge tags available in the toolbar to add specific information about your donor and their Passthrough Gift. When creating an acknowledgement for a single gift, you are not crediting the donor with a tax-deductible Receipt. But you may include some Gift data and Merge Tags related to the originating donor.
Dear %ContactInformalName% ,
Thank you for your generosity. A gift of %PassthroughAmount% was recently credited to you from %OriginatingGiftContactName% at {your organization name}.
Please note that this message is not a tax receipt — you'll receive that documentation separately from the giving organization.
Some organizations prefer to separate the text and include Gift data separately, often so that acknowledgement copy can be updated regularly. In cases like this, you may choose to use the Gift Passthrough Table Merge Tag instead.
Mail Acknowledgement - Multiple Gifts
Creating a year-end acknowledgement letter works in much the same way as creating a Single Gift Acknowledgement. The main difference is in the format of your Passthrough Gift data.
Since, by definition, these acknowledgements will include more than one Passthrough Gift — monthly donors, for example, will have at least 12 on an annual statement — it's not possible to merge all the Passthrough data into the body of your acknowledgement text. Instead, you will need to use the Gift Passthrough Table Merge Tag.
Click on the Merge tags button in the toolbar, and then select Gift Passthrough Table from the drop-down. This will insert the base Gift Passthrough Table into your acknowledgement, which looks something like this:
Once the table has been added to your acknowledgement, you can manipulate the table by using any of the tools shown below the table. Hover over each icon to see its function. For example, if you'd like to add a column for Gift Notes after the Amount column, click on the Projects column in the table, and then click on the Table menu and scroll down to Column, where you can select the option to Insert Column Before.
This will add a new, blank column. Type in text for the header, and then enter the Merge Tag for Gift Notes.
Use the table tools to remove unwanted columns from your table, if needed.
Custom HTML Styling
In some cases, you may wish to add custom styling options beyond those available within the editor and formatting tools. Examples of this might include setting a custom paper size, like legal paper (this can be especially useful if you want to include a tear-off reply device at the bottom of your acknowledgement) or adding your own custom design elements. If a member of your team is familiar with writing or editing HTML, then click on the source icon in the editor menu to edit the source code for your acknowledgement.
The acknowledgement editor does require following HTML best practices and guidelines, which means that any styling must be included in the head, as opposed to the body. Learn more about HTML and best practices from the Mozilla MDN Web Docs site.
Saving
Manually save your progress at any time by clicking on the Actions button in the upper right. There, users can choose to save and continue working, or save and return to the main acknowledgement screen. Save your work periodically to avoid losing any changes.
Use the Preview option to see what your acknowledgement will look like, using sample data, by downloading a sample PDF. We recommend downloading and printing this sample to make sure your final acknowledgements will look just the way you'd like.
Once you have finished putting your mail acknowledgement together, click Save and Go Back to save your work and return to the main acknowledgements screen.
When you select Email, you’ll be prompted to add an email subject, the sender name and the email address. After filling in these values, select the Next > button in the lower right hand corner.
Next, choose whether or not you'd like to attach a PDF acknowledgement to the email being sent. If yes, check the box Include Attached PDF Acknowledgement. Then choose which mail acknowledgement template you would like to use. Select an existing PDF template or create a new PDF template later.
When sending a PDF acknowledgement as an email attachment, you can still use the email acknowledgement editor to edit the contents of the email the Passthrough donor will receive. This will allow you to craft a warm thank-you message, including all of the same merge fields available in the acknowledgement editor, and then direct them to the attached PDF.
If you have not selected a mail acknowledgement template to be attached, click Next in the lower right of the screen to select your Template. This gives you the option to continue creating a new template or to build a new one based on an existing template.
If you would like to create your new email acknowledgement from scratch, continue with the default selection (your acknowledgement name with (CURRENT) next to it). If you would like to create an email acknowledgement similar to an existing template, select that template and then make any changes you want to make in the Customize screen.
Use the guidelines below to create your email acknowledgement template, depending on the type.
Email Acknowledgement - Single Gift
Email acknowledgements will be built using the same templating tool used for Virtuous CRM+ Marketing Emails. To get started, click and drag elements from the right side panels into the template. To change the layout of objects on the screen, click and drag elements from the rows tab.
Click and drag elements from the Content tab to add text blocks, images, and other objects to your template.
When adding a text block, click anywhere in the block to bring up the editing toolbar. Use the toolbar to format your text, including fonts and alignment, and click on Merge Tags to add in merge fields for Passthrough Giver data, originating donor data, or Passthrough Gift data.
Email Acknowledgement - Multiple Gifts
Email acknowledgements for multiple gifts will also use the same editor and tools, so they share much in common with email acknowledgements for single Gifts. The key difference is in how Gift data is treated. Since these acknowledgements may include data for any number of Gifts, this data will be displayed in a table, as opposed to incorporating it into text via Merge Tags.
To create a Gift table, click on the Dynamic Content option on the Content menu and drag it to the appropriate location in your template.
Then, click on the table in the editor to display the table options on the right. There are five different Gift tables to choose from:
- Default Gift Table
- Detailed Gift Table
- Gift Designation Table
- Tribute Gift Table
- Premium Gift Table
Each table contains a pre-determined list of fields:
Default Passthrough Gift Table (recommended)
- Passthrough Date
- Passthrough Amount
Detailed Gift Passthrough Table (recommended)
- Receipt ID
- Originating Gift Type
- Passthrough Date
- Passthrough Amount
- Projects (list of all Project splits)
- Premiums (list of all Premiums)
- Tribute
Gift Designation Table
- Date
- Amount
- Tax-Deductible Amount
- Designations (list of all Project splits)
Tribute Gift Table
- Date
- Amount
- Tax-Deductible Amount
- Tribute
Premium Gift Table
- Date
- Amount
- Tax-Deductible Amount
- Premiums
Depending on the table selected, it may be necessary to click on the Settings tab on the far right and increase the Content area width to clearly display all of the table data.
More advanced users comfortable with editing HTML can use the HTML content object to create more customized Gift tables, if desired.
Saving
Manually save your progress at any time by clicking on the Actions button in the upper right. There, users can choose to save and continue working, or save and return to the main acknowledgement screen. Save your work periodically to avoid losing any changes.
Use the Preview option to see what your email will look like, on a desktop screen or on a mobile device. Send a test email to see your email in your inbox and make sure it renders correctly. Note: Merge Fields and custom senders will not be populated for a test email.
Once you have finished putting your email together, click Save and Go Back to save your email and return to the main acknowledgements screen.