Tidying up Donor Acknowledgement Letters

Alan French

We're currently reviewing our list of donor acknowledgement letters (approaching 100 different templates ) but I'm unsure of the best way to remove the old ones. I can deactivate the old letter codes in Config, but that doesn't remove them from the mailmerge process and our poor gift adminstrators have to click OK about 90 times each time they run the mailmerge, as Word asks for permission to run a SQL command for each one of the letter conditions.


I tried removing the conditions relating to the old letters from the mailmerge, however this appears to delete that letter from the letter history on the constituent record, which I'd really like to avoid. How do others retire conditional mailmerge letter templates that are no longer required? At this point I'm thinking the only solution that would preserve the data would be to leave the current acknowledgement letter parameter file exactly as it is and set up an entirely new parameter file with our new templates.


Suggestions gratefully received!

Aaron Rothberg

Hi Alan-


Assuming I understand your setup corrrectly and you are using a conditional Word merge, as a quick stop gap you might consider changing the query your conditional Word merge uses to pull in the gifts. For example, our conditional Word merge asks us which letter codes we'd like to print letters for and only those gifts are pulled into the conditional export. If you were to do this your gift processors could select only the letter codes they are interested in precluding the need to click through codes you no longer want to use. Does that make sense?

Ryan Hyde

I'm a little confused - it sounds like your process is totally different from mine. Are you using the Mail module at all? If not, it sounds like maybe you should be because this is all pretty easy from within there. Assuming you have access to it.

Alan French

Yes we are using Mail, the issue is that the list of conditions has been ever-growing and I'm struggling to see a way to remove some without losing a record of who received those old letters. Aaron, your suggestion sounds like it might be my best bet, thanks - we don't currently, and never have, used a query as part of the acknowledgement letter process so that's something I hadn't thought to try.

Ryan Hyde

I think we use Mail very differently from one another. Are you doing a 'simple' merge with only one letter and then using letter code to trigger a condition within Word? Or are you doing a 'multiple' mail merge where you set up different letter templates for each possible letter?


We use the latter method, and we just update those letters from time to time. Most people get our "general TY" letter, and that letter typically changes from month to month. We retain copies of all sent letters on our local server once the merge is complete and the letters are printed, which I suppose is how we retain the exact verbiage of those letters. However, that detail is rarely useful to us, but every org's needs are different. 


If there's a particular letter type that is no longer useful, I inactivate it in Config and then I remove it from the Filters tab from within whatever Mail module I'm running.


Also, we have only 4 mail modules - one that runs all autosigned letters, one that runs all letters that need a physical signature, one that runs honor/memorial letters, and one that runs 3rd party acknowledgement letters. That last one is only separate because those letters need to go to an entirely different staff member. Of course we also run honor/memorial acknowledgements, but that's a little different.

John Heizer

Alan French:

We're currently reviewing our list of donor acknowledgement letters (approaching 100 different templates ) but I'm unsure of the best way to remove the old ones. I can deactivate the old letter codes in Config, but that doesn't remove them from the mailmerge process and our poor gift adminstrators have to click OK about 90 times each time they run the mailmerge, as Word asks for permission to run a SQL command for each one of the letter conditions.


I tried removing the conditions relating to the old letters from the mailmerge, however this appears to delete that letter from the letter history on the constituent record, which I'd really like to avoid. How do others retire conditional mailmerge letter templates that are no longer required? At this point I'm thinking the only solution that would preserve the data would be to leave the current acknowledgement letter parameter file exactly as it is and set up an entirely new parameter file with our new templates.


Suggestions gratefully received!

Regardless of cleaning up your letter templates, it sounds like you need to implement this fix:  https://kb.blackbaud.com/articles/Article/45255 and https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/825765/you-receive-the-opening-this-will-run-the-following-sql-command-messag

Alan French

Thanks John, I looked into that recently but our IT department weren't happy for us to modify the registry for security reasons (Microsoft themselves say they don't recommend their own workaround as it could leave the computer more vulnerable to malicious users)

Becky Ramberg

Ryan Hyde:

I think we use Mail very differently from one another. Are you doing a 'simple' merge with only one letter and then using letter code to trigger a condition within Word? Or are you doing a 'multiple' mail merge where you set up different letter templates for each possible letter?


We use the latter method, and we just update those letters from time to time. Most people get our "general TY" letter, and that letter typically changes from month to month. We retain copies of all sent letters on our local server once the merge is complete and the letters are printed, which I suppose is how we retain the exact verbiage of those letters. However, that detail is rarely useful to us, but every org's needs are different. 


If there's a particular letter type that is no longer useful, I inactivate it in Config and then I remove it from the Filters tab from within whatever Mail module I'm running.




 

Is there a limit to how many templates can be set up in a conditional mail merge. Right now I have 5 different templates in my mail merge and I need/would like to add 2 more if that is possible.  Thanks

Alan French

Becky Ramberg:

Is there a limit to how many templates can be set up in a conditional mail merge. Right now I have 5 different templates in my mail merge and I need/would like to add 2 more if that is possible.  Thanks

I don't know if there's an upper limit, but if there is then it's definitely well above 7 (we have over 90!) so you shouldn't have any problem adding a few more. I wouldn't advise having as many as we do though, it's a nightmare to run and maintain.

Becky Ramberg

Thanks for quick response. Hopefully 7 will be our limit.  
How were you able to get so many? When I was setting up our
conditional merge I only had about 6 lines so thought that was the
limit. The KB article doesn’t say anything at all about a limit
that I could find.

I’m guessing I just keep adding them in?

Becky

--

May the Lord bless you and keep you! May He make His face shine
upon you and give you peace!

Becky Ramberg

Becky Ramberg:

Thanks for quick response. Hopefully 7 will be our limit.   How were you able to get so many? When I was setting up our conditional merge I only had about 6 lines so thought that was the limit. The KB article doesn’t say anything at all about a limit that I could find.

I’m guessing I just keep adding them in?

 

Becky

--

May the Lord bless you and keep you! May He make His face shine upon you and give you peace!

 

Follow up:    Thanks Ryan! Set up 2 new conditional mail merges today. I really am grateful for this Community. You guys have been a God send.

Jennifer Koohbanani

Ryan Hyde:

Also, we have only 4 mail modules - one that runs all autosigned letters, one that runs all letters that need a physical signature, one that runs honor/memorial letters, and one that runs 3rd party acknowledgement letters. That last one is only separate because those letters need to go to an entirely different staff member. Of course we also run honor/memorial acknowledgements, but that's a little different.

Hi there, I'm curious to learn more about these auto-signed letters you've set up. Are your auto-signed letters all auto-signed with one individual's signature, or multiple people? If the latter, how did you set that up? I've got 16 departments that essentially send out the same 4 letters. However, 2 letters in each department have an e-signature from their department head - this means 16 different auto signatures for each letter x2. Trying to figure out if I should add each letter with its own unique auto signature into the system - sounds daunting. Wondering if there is another solution out there. TIA

Anne Herbert

Just a thought to consider regarding adding signatures to your letters.  We stopped doing this because of security concerns.  People can electronically lift the signature and use it on fake checks once they capture other information, such as address - which isn't too hard to find.  If you still want a signature then I'd recommend just using first name.

Claudia Sauers

Anne Herbert:

Just a thought to consider regarding adding signatures to your letters.  We stopped doing this because of security concerns.  People can electronically lift the signature and use it on fake checks once they capture other information, such as address - which isn't too hard to find.  If you still want a signature then I'd recommend just using first name.

Hmm what an interesting point, I never considered this