Table of Contents

Materials Requests

Before you continue, you should make sure you are receiving emails to membership@votesmart.org and have access to the Materials Request Spreadsheet

Possible Requests
There are currently 9 different options to request materials listed on the renewal envelope. These include:
  1. The 4-minute Vote Smart video (this can be remotely sent via email to members who provide their email addresses. It must be sent as a DVD to members who do not have emails)
  2. One or both of the Vote Smart posters
  3. Vote Smart bumper stickers
  4. A sample letter to the editor about Vote Smart (this can be remotely emailed to members who provide their email addresses. It must be printed and mailed to members who do not have emails)
  5. Vote Smart brochures
  6. Information on contacting local news organizations about Vote Smart’s data (this request can be sent on to Adelaide remotely)
  7. Information on legacy giving (this request can be sent on to Adelaide remotely)
  8. Information on scheduling a presentation by a Vote Smart board member (this request can be sent on to Richard remotely)
  9. Giving gift memberships

Data Entry
We receive most materials requests from the boxes that members can check for various materials on the renewal envelopes we send out throughout the year. However, requests will also occasionally come in over email or mainline calls. As soon as you receive a request for materials, make sure to data enter it into the requester’s DonorPerfect contact notes and the Material/Membership Requests spreadsheet.

There are three form letters I use to fulfill materials requests, and three corresponding tabs on the Material/Membership Requests spreadsheet. When data entering materials requests, make sure to put each request in the correct tab:
Ambassadors → Ambassadors tab
Members without email addresses → No Email Members tab
Members with emails addresses → Members tab.

When requests come in via email or phone, they can be entered into the spreadsheet remotely. All other requests come in through the mail and must be processed in-office.

Gift Memberships
Processing gift memberships is not part of fulfillment, but they are important to data enter along the way and will be a necessary part of each thank-you mailing.

Gift Givers
When a member sends in gift memberships, give them the “Gift Membership Giver” flag. Also make sure to enter the name of each gift membership receiver in their contact notes in DonorPerfect, as well as in the “Gift Membership” box at the bottom of their profile. This should be formatted as “Name, Name, and Name” so that it will generate correctly in the gift membership thank-you letter.

Give the givers a freebie donation for $0 with the “Gift membership TY” thank you letter.

Gift Receivers
DO NOT WAIT to create DonorPerfect profiles for the gift membership receivers — the people whose names and addresses were provided to us by the member who is giving their gift memberships. We need these profiles in order to generate their letters for the thank-you mailing, and it is easy to lose track of them if they are not entered right away.

We treat these gift membership receivers as new members, so create a new profile (after checking to make sure they aren’t already in DonorPerfect), and give them the “Member” and “Gift Membership Receiver” flags. Make an entry in their contact notes and the “Gift Membership” box at the bottom of their profile with the name of the person who gave their gift membership.

Give the receivers a freebie donation for $0 with the “Gift Membership Receiver” thank you letter.

Fulfillment
Emailing
To begin fulfillment, first email the members whose email addresses we have. We ask all members who request materials if they would like to become Ambassadors, and this email is their first introduction to the program. You can find the templates I use (“2019-2020 Newsletter Materials Request Email Responses”) in files under Membership → Letters → Common Requests → Materials Requests. For members who request digital materials, such as the 4-minute Vote Smart video or an example letter to the editor, you can go ahead and include these in the initial email inviting them to become Ambassadors.

You will find that some emails bounce and some addresses are incorrect. As these members will therefore not receive the emailed Ambassador invitation, make sure to move their requests over to the “No Email Members” tab in the spreadsheet.

Once requests from the mail have been entered in the sheet, all of this preliminary emailing can be completed remotely.

Letters and Packaging
Now generate letters for each tab of the spreadsheet via mail merge on the Windows computer. Members receive “Materials Request Letter for Members,” No Email Members receive “Materials Request Letter for Potential AMBs,” and Ambassadors receive “Materials Request Letter for Ambassadors.” All of these letter templates can be found in files under Membership → Letters → Common Requests → Materials Requests.

If there are many requests, it is also faster to generate address labels rather than write each member’s address out by hand. To do this, log in to the Vote Smart account on Avery and use the Materials/Membership Requests spreadsheet to generate labels.

Print and sign the fulfillment letters — if there is time and we have few enough requests, it is a good idea to personalize the Ambassador letters, even if just with a handwritten “thank you!”

Package each letter along with the specific materials requested. When all packages are sealed, finish the mailing by weighing each envelope, generating stamps through our Endicia account on the Windows computer, and bringing the packages to the front for the mail carrier to collect.

Be sure to move all the materials requests you have just fulfilled into the “Completed” tab of the spreadsheet.

Unusual Cases
VSDM
We also receive requests for the Voter’s Self Defense Manual throughout the year. If we do not yet have printed copies available to mail out, enter these requests into the Material/Membership Requests spreadsheet in the VSDM tab so that they can be fulfilled later. If a member requests VSDMs as well as brochures or other standard materials, split the request between the appropriate tabs so that we can fulfill as much of the order as possible right away.

Misc.
Some renewal mailings will have options to check boxes for information on legacy giving, scheduling a board member presentation, or contacting local news organizations about Vote Smart’s data. We do not handle these requests directly, but compile them in a separate spreadsheet to send to Adelaide or Richard.

Member requests for information on legacy giving and/or contacting local news organizations should be entered in the Contact News Orgs spreadsheet for Adelaide to follow up on. Periodically, it is a good idea to resend the link to this spreadsheet to Adelaide as a reminder. We still send these members the email inviting them to become Ambassadors, so make sure to put them in the appropriate tab of the regular Materials/Membership Requests sheet as well.

Email board member presentation requests directly to Richard with the requester’s info sheet from DonorPerfect.

Once requests from the mail have been recorded in the main sheet, all of these requests can be separated and sent on to Richard and Adelaide remotely.

Requests from Votesmart.org/request-materials

DevComm receives emails from request@votesmart.org with the subject line “Publications Requested”. The email consists of basic information the requester fills out on Vote Smart’s website before submitting to DevComm. Input the information from the request email into the corresponding column on the Materials Request Spreadsheet.
Materials Requests are handled all at once every Thursday.
The common format of the email is:
Name: xxxxxxx
Address: xxxxxxxxx
City, State Zip: xxxxxxxxxxx
Phone: xxxxxxx
E-mail: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Country: United States

Are you a member? X

Please send me: xxxxxxxxx

Info
"Information about Vote Smart -- including how to become a member." Send this person via email or mail an information sheet on Vote Smart, brochure, and a letter about becoming a member.

Member (VOL)
"Information on volunteering"
Enter this person onto the Materials Request Spreadsheet, and put them in DonorPerfect with the VIR flag. Forward this request onto the internship/ volunteer coordinator for them to answer.

Student
"Information on student internships" - forward to internship coordinator!

VSDM
"Send me the 20xx Voter's Self Defense Manual"
When we have a recently released Voters Self Defense Manual, we will have IT add a checkbox on this page: http://votesmart.org/request-materials where people are able to check a box and request a printed copy. Make sure to send them a current letter that is specific to their VSDM request. Also include a brochure.

To get to letters: Membership → Letters → Common Requests → Materials Requests

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