Create a House Cleaning Invoice for NPOs Effortlessly

House cleaning invoice for NPOs

foreign [Music] podcast powered by donor bucks [Music] something about the energy of spring lends itself to New Beginnings and that includes spring cleaning after a Winter's worth of grime and dust it feels invigorating to deep clean our homes and to begin anew but what about your non-profit like a typical household your non-profit organization has likely collected some cobwebs and dust bunnies over the year welcome to the non-profit podcast I'm Kara fundraising coach at donor box we are here each week with practical actions you can use today to increase donations and take your non-profit to the next level tomorrow so the age-old tradition of freshening things up after a long winter can be very useful to non-profits with the seasons changing now it's the perfect time to take a step back from the day-to-day grind and recalibrate take some time to review and refresh this can make a big difference in how your non-profit organization Works maintaining the organization and health of your nonprofit is just as important to the long-term success of your mission as advocacy work and fundraising projects so today we tackle some budget-friendly quick must Do's for you this spring that will help you breathe easier and get your organization station in tip top shape first get down into your donor data now I like a good data cleanup but with the exception of those data nerds like me out there very few of us like to go through and organize data but good data is essential to success even if the cleanup seems tedious and here is why it is oh so important we talk about this all the time fundraising is about relationships it is all about relationships and maintaining a clean donor database means you can use your donor's correct name when you're personalizing it means you're sending to their most recent address or you know how they last interacted with you one misstep there can mean a lost donor forever and here are some things that you can do to help find those things in your database first check if the phone numbers and email addresses you have in your database are correct this is especially important if you've had an influx of address changes maybe you've seen some return turned mail or bounced email after you've sent your last appeal and then check for duplicate contacts in your donor data and merge or dedupe those records can you segment or tag your contacts somehow in your database some recommended filters include tagging new donors or lie buns those are your donors who donated last year but unfortunately not yet this year that's an acronym of lie buns maybe you can tag your major donors or your monthly donors so use these lists to better tailor your Communications then add in some new relevant information into your donor database like event attendances or volunteering and always think of the person behind the donor record no donor wants to see their name misspelled or receive three mailings because you have duplicate records for them in your data you can send a survey to your donors and add their responses to their donor profile so that you can continue to better personalize your communication to them them okay our first must do was Data hygiene now let's talk about how to fine-tune some processes taking the time now to check on processes with your team can be really helpful having these processes in order and part of your routine is just one more way to shore up those good fundraising processes so that you're in really good shape this year and a good shape for anything that comes your way so what processes are important well there are a ton there are so many but I want to talk about three today three easy ones that you can tackle right now right after this podcast let's talk about how you receive donations how you receipt donations and how you acknowledge donations having streamlined processes for these can really be a Time Saver for you so first are you ready to receive donations processing donations and gift entry can take an investment of time but when they're done efficiently they can make acknowledging and Reporting easier on the back end and each organization processes donations differently but there are some common processing practices that are helpful to any organization so I have them listed here and if you want to answer these along with me can you do these things yes or no so here they are okay can you easily identify who made a donation does your donor database show you your list of donors can you identify what type of donation was given so whether it was a credit card cash a check was it an in-kind donation or a gift of stock can you tell that by looking at your donor data okay can you identify the amount of the donation easily can you identify when the donation was made the date that it came in through your doors can you tell where the gift should be directed should it be directed to a particular fund or a campaign make sure that that is recorded in your donor data and then is there more than one person on your team who can also find these things if you were to go on an extended leave could someone find what they needed to so if you have more yeses than no's to those you're in great shape and if you have more no's that's okay dig in and work on these work with them with your team work in your data and get a system in place how did you do okay that was a receiving donations so next let's talk about receipts and acknowledgments and I have a little quiz for you true or false receipts and acknowledgments are the same well are they they are not so I often use the analogy of a grocery store receipt versus a note to your favorite aunt when you go to a store and purchase items you receive a receipt it's very transactional it has the date of the purchase it lists what you purchased and your total amount and conversely let's say your favorite aunt sent you a sweater for your birthday and you would write a nice warm thank you note saying you know dear auntie thank you for remembering me on my birthday the sweater you sent really made me feel loved and appreciated and I will wear it all the time see there's a big difference there and I encourage you to use this analogy to test your outgoing stewardship communication from your organization a donation receipt is like that grocery store receipt it's transactional it's a proof of a contribution or a proof of a transaction and an acknowledgment is a really great way to say thank you as you write your favorite aunt you would never say dear auntie thank you for the sweater you sent on January 2nd valued at 49.97 you would never say those things and so when you're writing your acknowledgments don't include that information either leave it for the receipt as we talk about receipts non-profit organizations typically issue donation receipts when the donation is made along with a year-end comprehensive receipt for tax purposes and here are some common receipt functions that may apply to your organization again answer yes or no a donor making an online contribution receives a receipt immediately after submitting the donation yes or no the online donation receipt includes the date time and amount of the donation the online receipt contains appropriate tax deductible information if that applies to your organization is the receipt personalized with the donor's name the receipt conveys appreciation and the impact of the donor's gift in a warm tone and a big one here I have proofread my donation receipt for readability and grammar how did you do this time were there more yeses than no's or was it the other way around you know I mentioned that receipts are transactional but your receipts don't have to be impersonal and boring like a grocery store you can add a ton of customization to make your receipt the best possible in donor box all right next let's talk a little bit more about the importance of my favorite process acknowledgments the way you say thank you to donors could be the most important communication you do as a non-profit organization how you recognize donors generosity plus your plan to keep them engaged with your organization will often mean the difference between a one-time gift and long-term support it is oh so important to Express gratitude for every single donation you receive regardless of the amount but you must also communicate the connection between the donor the donor's act of giving and the success that the mission of the organization is operating with when donors give so use your words to express gratitude plus convey how the money will make the mission move remember the receipt is transactional and your acknowledgment is relational so here are a few yes or no questions about acknowledgments so I understand the difference between a receipt and an acknowledgment I hope at this point you do yes right my organization has identified who will be responsible for sending regular prompt and personal acknowledgments if you haven't make sure that you do that my team understands that acknowledgments are important to donor stewardship and retention and last one my organization has a standard acknowledgment for sending appreciation after a donation is received well these are some best practices for acknowledgments through the how but I want to spend a little bit and focus on the why do you know why these tips are important well fewer Americans are giving we know this from a lot of data and a lot of research and those who are donating are supporting fewer causes than they did just a few years ago and good donor communication Fosters a good giving experience and really makes your organization stand out over the years fundraisers have been so much better with applying these best practices they're turning around acknowledgments a little more quickly they're personalizing them but some recent research found that 80 percent of acknowledgments are still starting with on behalf of the Board of Trustees or thank you for your generous gift they're starting out with some predictable and boring openers so try to recapture what the donor was feeling when they made the gift and as you work through creating your acknowledgments I really challenge you to try to create an opening line that begins with something that doesn't even have the phrase thank you in it we have some sample acknowledgments for you in the donor box blog and we'll be sure to link those for you in the show notes and as we talk about acknowledgments you know acknowledge is a very important a in our cycle of the five A's of awesome fundraising we talked about that on a podcast episode a few episodes ago and if you want to learn more about the 5as of awesome fundraising we'll leave a resource for you in the show notes but the big point is when you do the other A's well when you're acknowledging when you are showing accountability for donations when you're attracting people to your organization and continuing that conversation again and again the ask the a the ask often comes easy so be sure to really build up your acknowledgments as part of your fundraising strategy in your organization so you know how house cleaning and organizing projects sometimes seem a little worse the longer you put them off right and they really tend to weigh on our minds day after day but it really feels amazing once we get them done and the same really goes for your non-profit spring cleaning take time to clean up your data remember that good data leads to better relationships and better fundraising then look at your your processes what can you tighten up in your receiving receding and acknowledging I say put on your comfy clothes and take on your non-profit cleaning as soon as you can you'll be really happy once it's done a strong organizational base ensures that you will continue to serve your community and your mission for many years to come did you know how grateful we are for you you have a lot going on and I just want to say thank you for choosing to spend time with the non-profit podcast I hope you've left with confidence to take a small step today that will make a big difference tomorrow don't forget to download and review the podcast or give it a thumbs up if you're listening to the non-profit podcast on YouTube your review is a great way to help others to find us you're here to help others and we're here to help you so until next time stay inspired that warm feeling when you help someone it's not just happiness it's fulfillment and we believe it should be available to everyone from Frontline Heroes to first-time fundraisers our tools Empower you to help others this is our mission this is donor box helping you help others [Music]