Upcoming Special Days
What appears
Section titled “What appears”Upcoming birthdays and anniversaries for your contacts, including family members whose birthdays you’ve recorded.
The data comes from the Birthday and Anniversary fields on the contact record, and the birthday field on each family member.
Why bother
Section titled “Why bother”Because almost nobody does it, and everybody notices when someone does.
A birthday message costs nothing and isn’t an ask, which makes it one of the few reasons to be in touch that doesn’t carry an agenda. It also gives you a natural opening with someone you’d otherwise appear on the Out of Touch Donors report about.
Birthday reminder emails
Section titled “Birthday reminder emails”Karani can email you a reminder ahead of a contact’s birthday. Configure it in Preferences:
- Birthday reminder emails — on or off
- Days before birthday to send reminder
Useful if you’d rather be prompted than remember to check the report.
Collecting the dates
Section titled “Collecting the dates”Most people don’t have birthdays for most of their list, which limits how useful this is.
Ways to fill it in:
- Ask. When you meet someone, it’s a normal thing to note.
- Import them if your organisation’s data has them — see Importing contacts.
- Add them as you go. When you learn one, put it on the record then.
You don’t need everyone’s. Your top thirty donors is plenty.
Anniversaries
Section titled “Anniversaries”The anniversary field takes a wedding anniversary, but there’s no rule about it. Some people use it for the anniversary of a first gift, which is a good reason to reach out and thank someone for a milestone.