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How to Acknowledge Donations with Ticket Orders: https://help.pm.leapevent.tech/a/1639802
When a patron makes a donation while purchasing tickets, a PatronTicket Donation is created. Because these donations are made with a Ticket Order, a separate acknowledgment email for the donation won't be sent.
So how can you acknowledge these PatronTicket Donations? In this article, we'll show you a few different ways:
- An automated acknowledgment message in the Order Confirmation Email
- Manually acknowledging gifts
At the end, we have some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs).
Auto-acknowledgment in Order Confirmations
You can set up conditional text to appear in your donors' Order Confirmation Emails when they add a donation to their Ticket Orders. This allows you to configure immediate acknowledgment for donors using your preferred language and reduces effort for your staff.
Before setting up your automated acknowledgment text, make sure you've qualified all pre-existing Ticket Order Donations!
1. From the PatronTicket Hub, go to PatronTicket Settings
2. Click Edit
3. Add the text you want to use to acknowledge donors in the "Confirmation Email Donation Text" box, then click Save
4. Your new acknowledgment text will be added to the Confirmation Emails for anyone who adds a donation to their Ticket Order!
Here's what that text looks like in the Confirmation Email:
This is great, but what if I'd like a little more customization?
By default, the Confirmation Email Donation Text set in PatronTicket Settings will always appear below the Order Summary in your Order Confirmation Email and will appear for donations of any amount made on Ticket Orders.
If you'd like to adjust where in the Order Confirmation Email your acknowledgment text appears, or if you'd like different text to display based on the size of the donation, you can do so by editing the Confirmation Email Template directly.
Before customizing the Confirmation Email Template, review our instructions on editing Visualforce Email Templates, like the Confirmation Email Template!
1. Double check the Confirmation Email Donation Text in PatronTicket Settings
Since you'll set your acknowledgment language directly into your Confirmation Email Template, you'll want to make sure you're not duplicating your work. Depending on what you'd like to do, you may need to edit the Confirmation Email Donation Text field.
- If you plan to move the acknowledgment language in your Confirmation Email, make sure that the Confirmation Email Donation Text field is blank
- If you plan to add conditional text based on the gift amount, keep a standard acknowledgment in this Confirmation Email Donation Text field
2. Get your updated text ready
The text you'll add depends on what you're planning to do:
To change the location of the automated acknowledgment text, you'll use the entire code string below:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c > 0}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>We recommend copying and pasting this string into a plain text editor, like Notepad.
Make sure to replace "CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE" in the string you copied with your preferred language, in plain text without formatting. That means you'll be editing just the part that's highlighted in this example:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c > 0}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>
Remember, the custom text you use here will appear for all donations made on Ticket Orders, regardless of the amount.
To add more acknowledgment text for donations above a minimum amount, you'll use the entire code string below:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c >= 25}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>We recommend copying and pasting this string into a plain text editor, like Notepad.
Make sure to replace "CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE" in the string you copied with your preferred language, in plain text without formatting, highlighted in this example:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c >= 25}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>
You'll also need to replace "25" in the string to the minimum amount at which you'd like this text to appear, as highlighted here:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c >= 25}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>
So if you'd like this text to only appear for donations over $100, you'd replace "25" with "100"!
This is the option to use if you want the email to display completely different acknowledgment text based on the gift amount.
In this option, you'll have several blocks of text, one for each donation level you wish to acknowledge separately. Since the conditions for each block are specific to the Donation Amount on the Ticket Order, the email your patron receives will only contain the text that applies to them -- even though the template itself will contain all possible versions.
First level: Gifts up to X amount
You'll use this block of text to acknowledge all gifts under a certain amount:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c > 0 && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c < 25}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>We recommend copying and pasting this string into a plain text editor, like Notepad.
You will use this block exactly once.
Make sure to replace "CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE" in the string you copied with your preferred language, in plain text without formatting, highlighted in this example:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c > 0 && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c < 25}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>
You'll also need to replace "25" in the string to the minimum amount at which you'd like this text to appear, as highlighted here:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c > 0 && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c < 25}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>
So if you'd like this text to only appear for donations under $50, you'd replace "25" with "50"!
Middle level: Gifts between X and Y amounts (optional)
You'll use this block of text to acknowledge all gifts between a specific range:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c >= 25 && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c < 100}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>We recommend copying and pasting this string into a plain text editor, like Notepad.
You may use this block multiple times if you have a lot of intermediate levels that require different acknowledgment text, or skip it completely if you have only two levels.
Make sure to replace "CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE" in the string you copied with your preferred language, in plain text without formatting, highlighted in this example:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c >= 25 && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c < 100}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>
You'll also need to replace "25" in the string to the minimum amount at which you'd like this text to appear and "100" as the maximum amount at which you'd like this text to appear, as highlighted here:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c >= 25 && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c < 100}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>
So if you'd like this text to only appear for donations between $50 and $200, you'll adjust "25" to "50" and "100" to "200"!
Top level: Gifts above Y amount
You'll use this block of text to acknowledge all gifts over a certain amount:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c >= 100}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>We recommend copying and pasting this string into a plain text editor, like Notepad.
You will use this block exactly once.
Make sure to replace "CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE" in the string you copied with your preferred language, in plain text without formatting, highlighted in this example:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c >= 100}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>
You'll also need to replace "100" in the string to the minimum amount at which you'd like this text to appear, as highlighted here:
<apex:outputText rendered="{!NOT(ISBLANK(relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c)) && relatedTo.PatronTicket__DonationAmount__c >= 100}">CUSTOM DONATION TEXT HERE</apex:outputText>
So if you'd like this text to only appear for donations over $200, you'd replace "100" with "200"!
3. Edit the Order Confirmation Email Template to add your updated text
Depending on the change you'd like to make, you'll add the text you copied and pasted in step 2 to your three different Confirmation Email Templates. Here are the templates you'll need to edit:
- Order Confirmation Template
- Subscription Order Confirmation Template (if you sell subscriptions)
- Membership Order Confirmation Template (if you sell memberships)
Make sure to add the text string you copied and pasted into both the HTML and plain text portions of the Confirmation Email Templates.
If you need help editing your Confirmation Email Templates, check out our instructions here.
Manual acknowledgment
Even with the option to auto-acknowledge donations that come in on Ticket Orders, you may wish to still acknowledge gifts manually, especially if a particularly large gift is made on an order.
If you'd prefer to manually acknowledge Donations on Ticket Orders, you'll want to take the following steps:
This is a great option if you'd like to be notified on a regular basis if patrons add a donation to their Ticket Order that meets certain criteria. In this example, we'll set up a report to be notified of donations of $500 or more made on a Ticket Order in the last 7 days, but you can adjust your report filter to fit your needs.
If you're not familiar with reports, you can learn more about how they work here.
1.1. From the Reports tab, search for and select All Donations
If you can't find the All Donations report, make sure you're in "All Reports."
1.2. Make a copy of the report using Save As
1.3. Give your report a new Name, then Save
1.4. Click Edit
1.5. In the Filters pane, adjust your filters to match
- Show Me: All donations
- Close Date: Last 7 Days
- Donation Status: Closed Won
- Probability: All
- Donation Origin equals Ticket Order
- Amount greater or equal $500.00
Remember, you can adjust the Close Date and Amount filters to meet the criteria you want!
So if you'd like this report to show all Donations on Ticket Orders in the past month or if you'd like to see donations with a different minimum amount, you can adjust the filters as needed.
There are several different ways to manually acknowledge a gift. Below, we have a few options:
To do this, use the "Email" action from the Activity Timeline from the Donation record itself:
If you don't see the "Email" action from the Activity Timeline, make sure your page layouts are set to use this feature!
If you prefer to send printed letters through the mail, you can generate mail merge letters to acknowledge your Donations on Ticket Orders.
If you have several gifts to acknowledge at once, you can use a report to generate a bulk mail merge.
If you just need to generate a single mail merge letter to send, you can set up an individual mail merge.
Once you've manually acknowledged the Donations on Ticket Orders that you wish, you'll want to mark them as "Acknowledged" so that you don't accidentally send another email or letter for the same gift in the future.
You can mark gifts as acknowledged from each Donation record individually with these steps:
3.1. Go to the Donation record
3.2. Hover over and click the pencil icon next to "Acknowledged"
Don't see the "Acknowledged" checkbox? Make sure it's on your Donation page layouts!
3.3. Check the "Acknowledged" box, then click Save
You can mark several gifts at a time as Acknowledged using a List View, as long as you filter the List View by record type. Here's how to build a List View for Donations on Ticket Orders to mark them as acknowledged in bulk:
3.1. Go to the Donations tab
3.2. In List View Controls, click New
3.3. Fill in the details for your new List View
- List Name: Donations on Ticket Orders
- Who sees this list view?: All users can see this list view
- Save
3.4. Set your filters
- Filter by Owner: All donations
- Donation Record Type equals PatronTicket Donation
- Acknowledged equals False
- Save
3.5. In List View Controls, click Select Fields to Display
3.6. Move "Acknowledged" from Available Fields to Visible Fields using the arrows
3.7. Click Save
Now you can mark the "Acknowledged" checkbox for several donations at once
Want to learn more about List Views? We've got just the article for you.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
In short, no! In order to keep your reports accurate and help you keep donor acknowledgments up-to-date, PatronTicket Donations no longer need to be qualified separately from the Ticket Order itself.
If you have some ideas, we'd love to hear them! Please submit a Product Idea in the Client Community to let our Product Development team know your ideas and how they'll help your team handle PatronTicket Donations.