You may have bought a book at a book table or attended a retreat of some kind. This month we wanted to give you a peek “behind the scenes” at the exciting world of database records and mailing lists. I imagine that you’re not very interested in this topic. However, to the ministry of WWCCR, these less glamorous topics are critically important and a lot of time is spent working with them.

So, why should you be interested?

Have you ever received a donation summary at the end of the year with incorrect information? Have you ever missed a GLEANINGS because you moved? Then our record keeping does affect you.

The most important part of our records is your communication with us. When you send in a donation, do you write the word donation on your check? Then we know that you want the money to be recorded as a donation. When you pay an invoice, do you write the invoice number on the check? When you remember to include these few simple notes to us, we can better record your transaction.

Mailing GLEANINGS at bulk mail rate is cheaper than using regular stamps. But did you know that if you go out of town or forget to tell us that you moved, the post office will tell us? Of course, they will charge us to give us your new address. It’s true that we request that they give us the new address—but that’s better than mailing your newsletter with a wrong address. If they can’t deliver “standard non-profit” bulk mail, they can dispose of it. When you contact with us your address change, we can make sure that you keep receiving the newsletter and save money at the same time.

When you receive an appeal letter it usually asks you to consider making a pledge to support the work of WWCCR. With that letter, there is usually a form. We hope you will fill out this form when you make a donation—whether you plan to make a pledge or send a one-time donation. That form is another way for you to communicate with us and greatly assists us to understand your intention and to help us with our record keeping.

If you plan to make a donation pledge for a particular year, please fill out the pledge form completely. Tell us how much you plan to pledge. Tell us how often you plan to send in your donation. Even if you have been a donor for years, we need to have a new form filled out every year. When you fill out and send in the whole pledge form every year, it helps us keep our records correct and current. Then when you receive your donation summary, the information can more likely be correct.

Sometimes even when you fill out the form completely, we may still make a mistake in recording it. When we do, please feel free to call or write us so we can correct our records. If your circumstances change during the year and you need to change or cancel your pledge, please tell us that also.

Behind the scenes there are many things that happen that keeps us organized and able provide the ministry that we do. When we work together and keep in touch, we all benefit.