Donation Processing A to Z

Overview

NBS offers all of the services required by your organization to handle incoming donations in a timely and accurate manner, regardless of the software you use. We can provide any or all of the following services:

• Securely receive your contributions:
  • Dedicated PO Box for your direct mail responses, picked up daily
  • Call Center with live staff to receive your telephone donations
• Caging (lockbox) services
• Electronic Images
  • Scanned copies of all checks
  • Scanned copies of all related letters and correspondence (for special handling)
• Electronic deposits of all checks directly to your bank account (via Check-21)
• Processing of credit cards directly to your bank account via existing or NBS provided merchant accounts
• Data entry using your own internal coding for constituents, campaigns, funds, appeals/approaches, etc.
• Special packages – printed items, products, or both:
  • new member
  • information requests
  • major or monthly donor premiums
  • adoption kits
  • planned giving
  • certificates
• Receipts and letters merged, printed, mailed
  • Postal discounts through the use of our high end client commingle technology and equipment

DONATION (GIFT) PROCESSING – THE DETAILS

Donation processing is a large part of any development department’s workload. Our quick and accurate donation processing services start with receiving the contributions and end with the mailing of the tax receipts and/or acknowledgement letters. There are many tasks in between that we can take care of for you – professionally and precisely – as well.

For your peace of mind, and to ensure the integrity of all of your transactions, all NBS processing services are performed by our professional, bonded staff, in our secure, video-monitored, PCI compliant facility.

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Expand your donor support capabilities by using our professional call center!

Let our friendly call center representatives answer phone calls from your donors via your own dedicated 800 number. Our representatives will have scripting created by you with our professional input, a reference manual, and prior specific training about your company to ensure they can give your customers the best answers and service possible.

Our call center representatives are experienced in supporting nonprofit transactions, donations, membership, product purchases and campaign code capture. The NBS call center offers:

• Multilingual options
• Your own dedicated 800 number. NBS can acquire a new toll-free number or transfer existing numbers to our call center.
• Custom scripts
• Quality control: We constantly monitor calls and customer service issues as part of the NBS continuous improvement program.

Outgoing Calls:  Consider using our call center to proactively reach out to donors as well! This is a great way to contact monthly donors and obtain their updated credit card information, or to provide support for an outreach/fundraising program. We can set-up an outgoing Caller ID Number to match your main office.

We know that donor stewardship is extremely important to your nonprofit's success. That is why we ensure that your receipts and acknowledgements are processed accurately and personally, and mailed within 48 hours. We can customize an unlimited number of acknowledgment letter templates for you, and once the letters are merged and printed we can, at your direction, match them with any number of back-end premiums or inserts.

Whether you generate thousands of donations each day, or ten per month, our services are tailored to your budget and to your unique campaigns. We combine the mailings (commingle) of all our clients to create a large volume, so you benefit from the lowest fulfillment and postage costs possible, regardless of your nonprofit's size.

Our services include:

• Mail-merging gift data into letter templates which you write (e.g., new, regular, major donors, tribute donors, etc.)
• Using gift data, we can print either or both:
  • Tax receipts
  • Acknowledgment letters
• For letters which require personalized signatures (such as to major donors), we can e-mail a ready-to-print PDF to your designee
• Package fulfillment: include special printed information or back-end premiums for
  • new members
  • monthly donors/sustainers
  • information requests
  • major/high donors
  • adoption kits
  • planned/estate giving
  • tribute certificates (e.g., in-honor and in-memory)
  • anything your organization needs or wants to send to your donors!
• Online reporting
• Postage discounts:
  • Take advantage of being part of the large NBS group of nonprofit clients - we blend mailings and get high volume postage discounts
  • It is our business to know all new and changing postal rules.  We know how to sort mail and get all possible discounts
• No minimums!

Raise Funds: Let us help you turn your receipts and acknowledgement letters into genuinely personalized fundraising appeals! We have a very powerful system called the "Variable Data Printer" which allows us to create the most highly tailored letters possible with very little manual work and decision-making. We can collect up to 100 pieces of information about individual donors and use these variables to "build" – word by word – a letter which speaks directly to each supporter. This type of highly personal stewardship has been proven to ensure donor loyalty and often garners an immediate turn-around donation when the letter is received.

Our data entry specialists are experienced in keying nonprofit transactions with both accuracy and speed. They are familiar with a wide-range of database systems and are trained to each client's exact specifications. Whether you use Raiser's Edge, Sales Force, DonorPerfect, eTapesty, or another database system, we will tailor a flexible, customized solution for you. Input is via our integrated data entry system, which can utilize mail file finder numbers (such as constituent IDs) or bar codes.

It is typical for nonprofits' donation volumes to ebb and flow. We can handle peaks in your donation volumes on short notice…and there are no minimums when your incoming contributions slow down.  As you may well know: such workforce and budget flexibility is unusual in a fixed, in-house system.

The NBS team can thoroughly gather details and accurately enter data of all kinds:

• Donations: Whether received  through the mail, at an event, or online
  • Including all related coding, such as "ABC  funds," campaigns, appeals/approaches, notes, etc.
• New supporter records: Create new constituent accounts with all contact information and appropriate coding
• Subscription Service Processing: Magazine subscriptions, renewal notices, renewals, and new magazine fulfillment.  We also provide all subscriber files for printing.
• Chapter List Management
• Volunteer information: Record volunteer's interests, availability, assignment history, etc.
• Special data entry projects: Nonprofits have a wide variety of data they want to capture and memorialize in their database - we can do it all!

Be assured that your gift processing will be handled with professionalism and care. Once entered, using each set of gift/constituent data we can generate for you highly personalized thank you letters…with very little manual labor.

Your direct mail response envelopes will be picked up each day by a bonded courier and brought to our secure facility. Alternatively, you can express-mail photocopies or originals of collected contributions (check or credit card) or upload scanned copies to a dedicated secure FTP site.

In the Caging/Lockbox department, our employees work in two-person teams, insuring security and accuracy. These teams perform the following important duties: Opening mail, batching, counting, reviewing, and recording all checks and credit cards. Checks are scanned into the Federal Reserve's Check-21 system and deposited into your organization's bank account daily. All bank deposits not processed the same day are stored overnight in safes located in a fireproof room with limited, monitored, "authorized only" access.

Credit card donations are processed daily via a fully PCI Compliant system using your own merchant services account. Transaction authorization numbers can be included in the data entry process if you wish.

You will receive end-of-day proofs, including deposit logs and reconciliations, to ensure all financial data entry matches cash deposits.