Sarah's Shortcuts: A Donor By Any Other Name

It might work with roses, but if you address a donor with a name other than what he indicated as his preferred addressee/salutation, you're not likely to get the same positive response. I realize it shouldn't be that big of a deal, but when someone addresses me as "Sara" without the h, I'm caught in a brief identity crisis (Sara who?) and am less inclined to appreciate the content of their actual message.

The same thing applies to your donors. Whenever you send a mailing, your message can significantly drop in value (or be completely overlooked) if you address them incorrectly. A huge part of fundraising is developing relationships with your constituents and making personal connections whenever you can. Get the name wrong and that connection may be short-lived.

So how do you avoid this obvious-yet-sneaky pitfall?

1. Make sure the names on the record are right.
   • When adding new constituents to your database, be sure to spend a moment on the Addressees/Salutations tab. The bulk of your mailings will probably use the Primary Addressee and Primary Salutations fields, so verify the correct addressee/salutation formulas (BB26317) from Configuration are selected, or if using the Editable? checkbox, double-check for any possible spelling errors. (Don't forget the h!)
   • If some of your mailings use additional addressees or salutations (BB96322) (e.g., for less formal or spouse-specific letters), make sure the right Type has been selected since this is what you'll use to pull in the corresponding name within the mailing. Note: Addressing Robert as "Bob" may establish a sense of camaraderie or cause offense if he never okayed a less formal approach, so just be sure the name matches up with the donor's preference, when known.
   • Lastly, for donors with especially long names, it may be helpful to do a quick test for label truncation (BB103702) to see if another addressee/salutation type would be preferable.


2. Choose the correct addressee/salutation in your mailing.
   When you're ready to prepare the actual mailing, select which addressee/salutation to use (BB386294) on the Fields to Include tab. The Raiser's Edge defaults to using constituents' individual names (e.g., Robert Hernandez), which isn't the end of the world, but this is where you can add a more personal touch.

Using the right name will help your mailings get off on a good start, though this is just one small part of relationship building. Please feel free to share other techniques you've developed within mailings, data entry, etc. for making more personal connections.

Happily yours,
Sarah