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Author Topic: Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution  (Read 5307 times)

pkeogan

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Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution
December 22, 2010, 05:19:48 am
Maybe I'm just missing this, but I don't see functionality to create a PDF letter for contributions.

What I'd like to do is:

1) Search for contributions limiting to search to  (1) a specific fundraising campaign  (2) where the "Thank-you date not set?"
2) Print a PDF letter for those contributions using tokens that would include the contacts name, address, and the amount of the contribution.

-- I know this can be done through a mail merge, but I'd like to be able to do this directly from Civi.  Is this possible?

Thanks

Donald Lobo

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Re: Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution
December 22, 2010, 07:55:40 pm

hey paul:

we have most of what we need, but not all :)

1. is already present in standard contribution search
2. is close to being there with the ability to print the PDF receipt

what needs to change, is to expand 2 to:

a. the ability to take a template with tokens and evaluate that template in the context of the contribution and the standard tokens. We have most of this code in the system message templates
b. the ability to process any contribution. The current code only allows u to print a receipt for completed contributions

lobo
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pkeogan

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Re: Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution
December 22, 2010, 08:03:58 pm
Thanks.... so can this be a Make it happen project.  I got to believe many organizations want to print these PDF letters directly from Civi?  I may be able to get sponsorship.... what would the cost be?

Thanks

fen

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Re: Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution
January 07, 2011, 06:46:35 am
I believe I'm running into the same issue that Paul had: if a staff member receives a contribution via phone or some other offline process and then enters the contribution info into CiviCRM, it appears that there is no current way to generate a PDF Thank You letter that for printing and snail mailing.  Or am I missing something?

pkeogan

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Re: Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution
January 07, 2011, 07:19:31 am
Fen,

We decided to use Jasper reports to create the letter.  We use Jasper a lot with Civi (much easier than editing or creating a php report and much more visually pleasing to the users).

Give me a shout if you want to discuss this more

fen

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Re: Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution
January 07, 2011, 08:43:48 am
Paul - thanks for the reply, which confirms my understanding that CiviCRM doesn't offer this functionality (yet).

I did some quick searching (on civicrm.org and jasperforge.org) but wasn't able to find much info on connecting the two.  Does it take much Java programming to connect the two?  (My Java skills are pretty elementary.)  Or is there a place I can go to for more information?

Thanks again!
=Fen

pkeogan

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Re: Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution
January 07, 2011, 09:30:59 am
the Jasper integration is something we are working. We presented it in the NYC meet up in the fall and have had discussions with Lobo/Dave/Kurund about using it in Civi -- if we only had more time and $$ we'd be working with the core team to make it part of the core :)  They way we are integrating today, no java skills are required. 

I think we all can agree that SQL based reporting tool needs to be integrated with Civi at some point; php reporting doesn't cut it.  Jasper is the largest open source reporting tool. 

Paul

fen

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Re: Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution
January 07, 2011, 09:51:48 am
Ah yes - I think I remember that now (I think my eyes glazed a bit when I heard "Java" ;)

The client is currently exporting contributions and using MS Word mail merge - and that is working for now.  The path I think I'd like to take is extending CiviCRM per Lobo's comment above to enable this action.  But that will have to wait a bit as I'm currently immersed in a huge Kintera-and-custom database import project...

Thanks!
=Fen

alejandro_salgado

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Re: Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution
March 11, 2011, 06:29:42 am
Hi. I'm facing the same problem. We want to Print PDF Thank you letters for some contributions. Until now, I have 2 options: mail merge with Word and using Jasper, right?

Thanks
Alejandro Salgado - iXiam - Civi-Go

pkeogan

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Re: Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution
March 12, 2011, 04:32:16 am
Yes,  Using Jasper to generate the the mailing like a report.  It works great, but there is quite a bit of upfront work to get Jasper installed and technical skills to write the report.  Once it's done, it works like a charm.

Paul

fen

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Re: Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution
March 12, 2011, 08:02:11 am
And yes, I have a client that is exporting spreadsheets and using (Word) mail merge.

GregoryHeller

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Re: Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution
September 12, 2011, 12:45:30 pm
Perhaps I am missing something, but is there any reason why I couldn't take some of the code (with the tokens/variable for contribution amount) form the contribution receipt message template and stick it in a PDF letter template?
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  • CiviCRM Community Forums (archive) »
  • Old sections (read-only, deprecated) »
  • Support »
  • Using CiviCRM »
  • Using CiviContribute (Moderator: Donald Lobo) »
  • Sending a Thank you letter after a contribution

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