Sample forms to capture donor preference for addressee/salutations

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We are trying to be more donor centric and want to proactively give donors an opportunity to state their preference on how we present their name in the addressee and salutation fields for electronic and paper communications.  For example, should the wife be listed first or the husband?  Should we use formal Mr. & Mrs., or nicknames, etc.  We already have a policy should the donor not have a stated preference, but we wanted to reach out and let donors state their preference up front rather than make an assumption and get a phone call because our default policy didn't match their expectation.  


Do you have sample wording or format for asking donors their preference?  I've seen organizations ask how individuals want their name to appear on an annual report, but our organization doesn't do an annual report listing. 


Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!  :)


Jim

 

Comments

  • Jim -  We typically send out an enclosed card with all of our mailings and have a line on our online giving form for this purpose.  We have a check box at top if the gift should be anonymous.  Under that we have a line that simply reads "Please print names(s) as it will appear in our Annual Report as follows", followed by their name/ address block. 

    Our online form has a line that reads "Donor Name"  and I enter it as they did.  You could reword it to "Print name(s) as it will appear on mailings" or any publications you produce.

    This really worked well for us and I'm so glad we ask for that info now.  We had all of our addressing name formats setup formally, such as "Mr. and Mrs. John Smith, III".  The vast majority of our donors preferred to be addressed more informally such as Mary and John Smith, most of the males asked their wive's names be listed first.   If we have donor instruction we use that . If not, our system was setup years ago to list male's name first as we were an all male school until 1976, then went co-ed.  My default is that but if the female is the alum, her name always goes first.

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