Does anyone have or know of a standard for appropriate salutations? What are your standards?

Not sure exactly what you mean. What is appropriate may vary depending on the type of organization you are and how "close" you are to your constituents. For instance, a school may use the salutation of just the first name, where a hospital may use the more proper salutation of Title and Last Name. For the record, the Sisters I work for are very close to our constituents and many have personal relationships with them, so most of our correspondence salutations use just the first name. Still on our constituent records the Primary Addressee and Primary Salutation are formal (using titles) and we have an additional salutation (for every record) called Informal Salutation, which lists the consitituent by First Name(s) only. Not sure if this is the type of information you are looking for? Denise Stengl School Sisters of St. Francis Milwaukee, WI [Email Removed]

I forgot to mention that there may be additonal Addressee/Salutations for other constituent groups like Board Members, etc. depending on your needs. Denise Stengl School Sisters of St. Francis Milwaukee, WI [Email Removed] [i]--- Edited at 5/31/2006 5:44:00 PM by Denise Stengl[/i] [i]--- Edited at 5/31/2006 5:44:51 PM by Denise Stengl[/i]

We are a school, so we do not have one blanket policy for everyone. Everyone gets a formal addressee, with a suffix for their class affiliation. Alumni get their first name or nickname as a salutation. Parents get the formal M/M salutation. There are some strange cases though. In the case of an alumnus who is also now a parent, we address solicitations as parents, but for mailings about alumni events, we have an alumni addressee and salutation (which does not include the spouse) in those records. Also, for parents that the ED knows personally, we have an Executive Director salutation in the record. Depending on the purpose, we export adds/sals accordingly. I think it really comes down to the formality of your organization and the level of familiarity with which you interact with your constituents. When you call a constituent, would you ask for John Smith or Mr. Smith? I think that would be a good guage for what your salutation should be. Johanna Shaw Development and Alumni Relations Associate School Year Abroad Lawrence, MA [Email Removed]

Hi. We use a primary formal Addressee on all records, i.e. Mr. and Mrs. John J. Smith and a formal salutation, i.e. Mr. and Mrs. Smith. We have addressee and salutations that are more informal for all of our development offices depending on their personal relationship with the constituent. We have committee addressee and salutations for all our volunteers. We have Professional Advisor addressee and salutations for attorneys, CPA's and other financial advisors that use their suffix, but no title. Karen Maine Community Foundation [Email Removed] Karen H. Hartt Philanthropic Services & Research Coordinator Maine Community Foundation 245 Main Street Ellsworth, ME 04605 [Email Removed]

We use formal on both primary add/sals. This allows us to use that format regardless of who the signer of the letter is and also allows us to exchange lists with those add/sals and not informal ones. Our preferred formal addressee is Mr. John Doe\\Mrs. Jane Doe. And our preferred formal salutation is Mr. and Mrs. Doe. These may chenge depending on donor preferences, however - they may prefer Mr. and Mrs. John Doe, for example. Our additional salutations include a CEO salutation where we would put an informal salutation if our Pres/CEO is informal with them (all staff get this format). We also have a Board Addressee and Board Salutation. We also have a Solicitor Salutation for an informal salutation if that is what their solicitor prefers. Rather than simply having an informal salutation accross the board it helps us to have informal salutations specific for certain situations where we know it is appropriate. *** my spelling is fine, it's my typing that stinks. Where is spell check? Melissa S. Graves Manager, Development Database & Direct Mail Planned Parenthood of Connecticut [Email Removed] 203-752-2804

Our standard Addressees/Salutations are as follows: Scenario 1 The husband is the primary donor and the spouse’s name is unknown. Primary Addressee: Mr. Paul Grey Primary Salutation: Mr. Grey Scenario 2 The husband is the primary donor and the spouse’s name is known. Primary Addressee: Mr. Paul and Mrs. Mary Grey Primary Salutation: Mr. and Mrs. Grey Scenario 3 The husband is the primary donor and the spouse has a different last name. Primary Addressee: Mr. Paul Grey and Ms. Susan Hugh Primary Salutation: Mr. Grey and Ms. Hugh Scenario 4 The wife is the primary donor and the spouse’s name is unknown. Primary Addressee: Mrs. Sylvia Hugh Primary Salutation: Mrs. Hugh Scenario 5 The wife is the primary donor and the spouse’s name is known. Primary Addressee: Mr. Paul and Mrs. Sylvia Grey Primary Salutation: Mr. and Mrs. Grey Scenario 6 The wife is the primary donor and the spouse has a different last name. Primary Addressee: Mr. Paul Grey and Ms. Susan Hugh Primary Salutation: Mr. Grey and Ms. Hugh Scenario 7 The primary donor has given us only an inital for first name and last name. Primary Addressee: P. Grey Primary Salutation: Friend

We are struggling to identify a consistant way of identifying spouse primary addressee/salutation. Right now, if the primary record is Mr & Mrs. John Doe and spouse first name is known, the spouse primary addressee is Mrs. Jane Doe. How are others identifying the spouse primary add/sal? Thanks for any advice,

Scott, I'm not sure what you are asking for either. Are you inquiring about forms of address such as: Governor **Addressee** The Honorable Jeb Bush Governor of Florida **Salutation** Dear Governor Bush: Michael J. Sherman Donor Services Manager The Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay 1307 N. MacDill Avenue Tampa, FL 33607 813.769-7533 [Email Removed]

What about Dr's. I have a Dr. Shelly Jones and her husband Mr. Don Jones, what is the etiquette there? I am looking for formal and informal. Lara R. Hermann Development Assistant Beloit Regional Hospice [Email Removed] (608) 363-7421

When I was at the university we had a reference manual - I'll see if I can't contact my buddies there and found out exactly which version it was... It had all kinds of reference material in it, not only addressee and salutations but tons of other stuff.. meanwhile (and from memory) If the relationship is closer to Shelly, Shelly goes first. If the relationship is closer to Don, Don goes first. Dr. Shelly and Dr. Don Jones Drs. Jones. OR Dr. Shelly Smith and Dr. Don Jones Dr. Smith & Dr. Jones INFORMAL: Shelly and Don Jones Shelly and Don Elaine Tucker Stewardship Coordinator St. Mark's School of Texas www.smtexas.org [Email Removed]

How would it go if the female is a doctor and the male is not. Both have a relationship with us. Lara R. Hermann Development Assistant Beloit Regional Hospice [Email Removed] (608) 363-7421

How would it go if the female is a doctor and the male is not. Both have a relationship with us. That reference manual would be very nice, I appreciate it!!! Lara R. Hermann Development Assistant Beloit Regional Hospice [Email Removed] (608) 363-7421

You might try the Gregg Reference Manual by William A. Sabin. We find it quite helpful on this subject and many others.

We would do: ADD: Dr. Laura Jones and Mr. Gary Jones SAL: Dr. Jones and Mr. Jones If Gary was closer to the org he would go first but still in the same format. It is awkward though I get it. I'm not sure I'm right but that is what we do. *** my spelling is fine, it's my typing that stinks. Where is spell check? Melissa S. Graves Manager, Development Database & Direct Mail Planned Parenthood of Connecticut [Email Removed] 203-752-2804