My client needs to send year-end statements via email

Hello Comms Coordinators,

Some clients send out year-end statements via their email platforms – whether that be MailChimp, Constant Contact, or Klenty. This means a client wants to send a statement to their donors as a record of their giving totals throughout the calendar entire year. We begin this process in November to confirm the client has an email platform to send from (the answer for you will always be yes, you shouldn’t have to build/set up an email for a client that doesn’t have one – send that to Blaine if so). In December, we need to have built and QA’d the statement email for client approval. In January, the client will confirm the list and Julia will schedule the email. We as a comms team are hands-off after the email is approved! We do not schedule these, only Julia.

Here are three examples of emailed year-end statements:

• RESTORE SMALL GROUPS
• NEW COVENANT MISSIONS
• RESTORATION ATLANTA

Here is information on how to execute sending these emails:

Circumstances under which YE statements might be sent via the client’s marketing tool include: statements can’t be sent through the CRM, which is the preferred way. Database will notify the TL/CC to let them know that we need to use Mailchimp or Constant Contact instead of the CRM (like Bloomerang, Neon, etc).

1. The writer should have already created copy similar to the client’s year-end campaign theme for a year-end statement. This will be simple and straightforward.
2. Build the email much like we typically do – headers/graphics are optional as these need to be as simple as possible. RATL (below) used a simple Thank you! header in theirs and it looked great. See below for a link to a template I set up in Mailchimp for ease of use/merge fields.
3. Have the email QA’d and send it to the client per usual with our email process.
4. Assign Julia a task to schedule the email after approval and edits from the client are done, she will schedule these statement emails by January 27 using the list database will provide to her in January. You are done at this point and passing it off to Julia!

All email statements’ copy should contain this information:

1. Nonprofit contact info
   1. Required: name and mailing address
   2. Not required: website, email address, phone
2. Donor info
   1. Full name
   2. Mailing address
3. Text – Include one or more of the following:
   1. Impact statement: A brief narrative or overview of how donor contributions have been used, highlighting specific programs, initiatives, or successes from the year
   2. Thank you message: A note expressing gratitude for the donor’s support, emphasizing their role in the organization’s mission
   3. Future engagement opportunities: Information about upcoming events or initiatives to encourage continued support and engagement
4. Total donated (cash gifts) during the previous calendar year
5. Tax deductibility statement
   1. Must include nonprofit’s EIN

Klenty Overview

In general, we have Klenty Accounts set up to send between 500-750 emails per day because they are actually coming from a client’s email address, versus something like MC. We also set it up to only send on business days/during business hours. We can change these settings but we just need to remember to do that if we are running behind.

Video overview on Klenty can be found here.

Helpful tips for Klenty:

• Get the account set up and active in December.
• This means connecting the client’s email address (accessing that info in real-time on a client call can be difficult).
• Sending a test Klenty email to top donors to ‘warm up’ the account and ensure everything is working.
• All fallback fields for address items should be a space. So the fallback value would be: ” “. This ensures that if there is no data in the address field, it doesn’t send as missing the info, rather it sends as a space that isn’t noticeable to the recipient.

MailChimp Overview

We can use our standard MailChimp email templates for each client with some additional merge fields.

I have built a year-end statements email template in Mailchimp. Log in to your client’s Mailchimp first, then click this link to open the template and begin drafting as per your client’s style/design in Mailchimp.

Video overview on MailChimp YE statements here.

For the database team, when sending you a file of merge fields for MailChimp, here are the specs:

1. We cannot import dollar amounts, the cell should be a simple number format and we add “$” to the email itself.
2. We need to import full addresses in 1 cell with two spaces between each field to eliminate the “,” from showing up. (This is imported as the full address so it shows up correctly in MC). A cell example would be: 4385 Eli Whitney Drive Middleburg FL 32068
3. The file must be a .csv to import. Julia Sweeney will handle all imports and scheduling for all statement emails once the email is fully approved and the list is complete and approved by the client.

Bloomerang Overview – Year-End Statements setup

Constant Contact Overview – year-end statements setup

Helpful tips:

• Use a specific tag when importing year-end statements. Julia will do this.
• Ensure all the merge fields are working appropriately. There should be no fallback text for anything we want to not show up – meaning if the person doesn’t have an address on file, the fallback field is blank so it sends as blank in MC.
• Use the ‘full address’ merge field for the address at the top.
• Ensure you have the tax statement info at the bottom – this can be found on the physical printed receipt, as well as provided by the database team.