Imagine that one of your donors suddenly has a large sum of money in their account. They don’t have a plan for this money yet, and they remember connecting with you a few months ago. They decide to give a major gift to your organization that helps you serve your mission and take care of your staff.

What if we told you this happens every year to many Americans? People who are required by law to withdraw funds from their retirement account to avoid penalties, but don’t have an immediate need for it. Many of these people choose to make a qualified charitable distribution to benefit both the organization and themselves.

In this article, we will explain to you what Required Minimum Distributions are and how to ensure your organization takes advantage of these major gifts.

You spend hours designing an eye-grabbing outer envelope for your direct mail appeal to increase the chance of being opened. Then you spend even more time crafting your appeal letter, pulling on emotions with your heart-warming story and creating a problem the donor wants to help solve. 

But you never receive a donation.

What happened? Why are so many of your donors not converting after being moved by your appeal? The answer could be your remit envelope. 

Just like the outer envelope’s job is to entice the donor to open your piece of mail, the remit envelope has the critical job of inspiring the donor to send it back with a big check. Sometimes the appeal letter was thrown out weeks ago, and the only thing that remains is the remit envelope. If it is confusing, illegible, or not direct, they will get distracted and not follow through. If it is generic and vague, they will forget what it is for, and it will end up in the recycling bin.

You can use the remit envelope to highlight a specific program or fund you would like to increase contributions towards. Highlighting your endowment fund on your remit envelope is a great way to raise awareness about the fund and grow direct gifts. Many major donors do not know about the different options they have to make a gift, and it is up to you and your remit envelope to educate them. 

Here are four tips to grow your nonprofit endowment fund using your remit envelope.

Finance documents can seem confusing and boring to nonprofit fundraisers and marketers. But with more nonprofits fighting for a limited amount of donors, it is critical to be strategic and thorough in your marketing and fundraising efforts.

Due to the increased popularity of online rating and charity evaluator sites, donors are turning to public records more than ever to evaluate nonprofit organizations. Continue reading to find out what a form 990 is, why it is important, and how you can optimize it to maximize major gifts and donor relations.