Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Many Ways to Use Altru’s Write a Letter from Template Feature

With Altru’s 3.19 release, you can create pre-formatted templates to send a single constituent a letter. This was a feature requested by many members of the Altru community, and there’s a lot of ways you can use this function for fundraising, membership, major giving, and even group sales and facility rentals.

The Write a Letter from Template function allows you to create templates, format the letters with standard merge fields then generate the letter as a Word document for a constituent on an as needed basis. Here are just a few ways you can take advantage of the Write a Letter from Template option in Altru:

1. 
   
2. Major Giving and Moves Management. If you are working with a potential donor for planned giving, sponsorships, or major giving, that can take time and often requires many communications over time. Write a Letter from Template will allow you to quickly generate a basic template with constituent information, including name, address, and contact information. Because the letters are exported as Word documents, you can also personalize a letter to a potential major donor after you’ve generated the basics in Altru. Send a letter thanking a new sponsor for their support to your new exhibition. Create a letter to follow up on a conversation you had with a donor considering a planned gift to your organization. Often times with these types of communications to major donor prospects, the timeline may be unique to each potential donor, but the content of the letter is often consistent.
   
3. Donors, Members, and Prospects. If you want to thank a donor for a special role they’ve played in your organization, you can generate a basic letter in Altru then personalize it further once you’ve generated it. If a board member donated their home for a board cultivation event, Write a Letter from Template is a great way to recognize a contribution that isn’t necessarily monetary in value. Sometimes, a letter thanking a long time donor for their support over the years can go a long way, and using Write a Letter from Template features in Altru is a perfect way to get started with that letter.
   
4. Group Sales and Facility Rentals. Within Group Sales you can send formatted contracts, but if you need to send an invoice to a group that haven’t paid for their visit yet, the Write a Letter from Template function would allow you to generate a document to send to the group informing them of their outstanding balance. If your organization doesn’t require groups to pay a deposit to secure a group visit, the Write a Letter from Template function is a good way to send communications to the group about their upcoming visit.
   
5. Merchandise Vendors. If you need to include a cover letter or additional details when placing an order with one of your gift shop vendors, a template can be used from the Write a Letter from Template feature.
   
6. Volunteers. Sending Volunteers their hours worked for the year or their upcoming docent schedule, send them a formatted letter directly from their constituent record using the Write a Letter from Template feature. You can supplement the letter with standard reports like the Volunteer Schedule Report to give them details about upcoming dates worked too.
   

Learn more here about how to configure and use the Write a Letter from Template function.