Customizing giving statements in Breeze enhances user experience and ensures tailored communication. Utilize the "Email Statement" option to effortlessly preview and modify statements before distribution. Easily navigate the Modify Statement Editor to make desired changes, previewing updates in real-time. Save customized templates for future use and finalize statements with confidence. Explore various templates like Minimalist, Standard, and Kitchen Sink to suit diverse needs. Understand statement logic for precise distribution and leverage mail merge options for comprehensive customization.
We recommend customizing your giving statements using the "Email Statement" option for a more user-friendly experience. This option allows you to preview your customizations easily, without the need to actually send out the statements via email during the editing process.
Starting with Customization
- Click on “Email Statement”.
- Then click on the blue “Continue to Compose Message” button.
- At the bottom of the Compose Message Window, find and click the “Giving Statement Preview” hyperlink. This action opens a new “Preview Statement Window”.
- Inside the Preview Statement Window, press the blue “Customize Statement” button to access the Modify Statement Editor.
- Make your desired changes in the Modify Statement Editor.
- After making changes, click "save" to immediately preview the updates in real-time.
Additional Tips:
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To view the statement for different donors: Use the name dropdown on the right-hand side to select a donor for preview. This feature allows you to see how the statement appears for each individual, ensuring that your customizations are appropriate across different donor profiles.
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Saving Your Customizations: Once you are satisfied with the customizations, remember to save your work by creating a new Statement Template. This ensures that your adjustments are preserved and can be reused or further modified in the future.
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Finalizing the Statement: It's important to note that the version of the statement in the “Modify Statement Window” at the time of sending is what will be distributed to donors, whether printed or emailed. Double-check this version before finalizing to ensure it meets your requirements.
Using Templates
Here's a video showing how to use a pre-existing template that we've already built in Breeze:
You can use one of our templates by navigating to the statements editor and clicking "Templates" in the formatting toolbar. Click on the options below to view the different templates Breeze provides:
If you want to use a template you already created and have it fit window envelopes, we recommend using tables to put the address in the correct place. To do so:
- In the statement editor, hover over the table icon in the toolbar and create a table 2 wide x 1 high
- Using your mouse, grab and stretch the table out to span the width of the statement
- Add the name and address mail merge options in the right table cell
- Put the cursor in the left cell and navigate to "Table > Cell > Cell Properties." Give it a width (you could start with 150) and click "Ok." This will adjust how wide a space you have to the left of your address. Tweak this number until it matches your envelope windows.
Saved templates will be accessible by all users with permission to access the customize statements section. For more information on custom templates, view Statement Templates.
Customizing Statement Template Layouts
Breeze allows you to customize statements to appear just how you want them to look when a donor receives them. Here's a quick video showing how you can customize the appearance of your statement:
Customizing your statement allows you to spruce up the design and layout, making the statements unique to your church! Click on the options below to see how to accomplish the different tasks:
Let's say you want an itemized list of giving transactions, but you only want the date, method, fund, and amount appearing for each gift without any other columns (such as name, batch, etc). You can customize the mail merge options to include exactly the specific columns you would like to display by adding to the itemized mail merge option. See the available options below:
The standard mail merge option of [itemized] lists each tax-deductible gift given with the columns of Date, Name, Method, Fund, and Amount. You can specify which columns show up on the itemized list by adding specific text after the word itemized in the mail merge option. You will want to make sure not to include any spaces, not to capitalize, and to keep the amount as the last word. You'll only be able to have one customized line of [itemized] mail merge per statement template. If you have two [itemized] mail merges, the first will merge properly, while the second won't work.
[itemized:date:name:method: amount]
[itemized:date:envelope: amount]
[itemized:date:fund:method: amount]
|
Text |
Description |
|---|---|
|
date |
Date of the giving transaction |
|
name |
Name of the donor |
|
method |
Method of payment |
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fund |
Fund payment was given to (if listed as first column, entries will be sorted by fund; otherwise entries will be sorted by date) |
|
amount |
Amount of giving transactions |
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batch |
Giving transactions batch number |
|
batch_name |
Giving transactions batch name |
|
envelope |
Donor's envelope number |
|
note |
Note on giving transaction |
|
check |
Check Number |
|
account |
Checking Account Number |
The Pledge Summary Mail Merge Option contains information for active pledges during any part of the selected date range.
The amount given to the pledge in this mail merge will include all previous giving matching that pledge, even if they extend before the start date of your statements so that the amount given to the pledge will be accurate regardless of your starting date range for statements. This ensures prepaid pledges receive accurate pledge summaries for the current year.
You can also specify what pledge information is displayed and which pledges will show up by adding specific text to the mail merge option. You will want to make sure not to include any spaces and not to capitalize any letters. You'll only be able to have one customized line of [pledges_summary] mail merge per statement template. If you have two [pledges_summary] mail merges, the first will merge properly, while the second won't work.
[pledges_summary:campaign_name:date_range:amount:remaining:percent]
[pledges_summary:campaign_name:amount:remaining: percent]
[pledges_summary:campaign_name:amount:remaining:percent:campaign-5823]
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Text |
Description |
|---|---|
|
campaign_name |
The name of the campaign |
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date_range |
The start and end date of the donor's pledge (e.g. 1/1/2017 - 12/31/2017) |
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frequency |
How often and how much the donor planned to give (e.g. $50 weekly) |
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amount |
The amount given and total amount pledged (e.g. $200 of $500) |
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remaining |
The amount that still needs to be paid (e.g. $300 Remaining) |
|
note |
The note associated with the pledge |
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percent |
The percentage paid (e.g. 40%) |
|
campaign-nnnn |
The ability to specify a specific campaign to include, excluding the rest. Replace nnnn with the campaign ID. The campaign ID can be obtained by navigating to the campaign in your Breeze account and looking at the number on the end of the URL. You may include multiple campaign IDs if desired (e.g. :campaign-1000:campaign-1001:campaign-1002). An example using this option might look like: [pledges_summary:campaign_name:amount:remaining:percent:campaign-5823] |
- To include giving to non-tax-deductible funds on the statement, place your cursor where you would like to include this item.
- Click "Mail Merge" and choose "Non-Tax Deductible" and then select what type of mail merge you would like to include for the non-tax deductible giving (Total Amount, Itemized List, or Funds Summary):
When customizing statements, you may want to add your church logo or a signature of an authorized signer to your statements. This can be done using the Upload Tool in the Modify Statement Window.
When customizing your statement, it is important to understand the resources available to you in the Modify Statement window. Regardless of if you are modifying your statement through the "Email Statement" option or the "Print Statement" option, the Modify Statements editor box allows you to customize your statements to be exactly as you want them to appear when you send out a statement from your organization.
Options within the First Row of the Formatting Tool Bar:
- Bold allows you to bold text in your statement
- Italicized allows you to italicize text in your statement
- Underlined, you guessed it, allows you to underline text in your statement.
- Text Color allows you to change the color of the text.
- Background color allows you to change the
- Select Mail Merge Options to show the list of items able to be mail merged (included) in your statement
- Upload an image or a signature on the statement
- ... (this opens up the second row of formatting options)
Options within the Second Row of the Formatting Tool Bar:
(Select the ... in the first row to reveal the second row of the formatting options)
- Font Sizes allow you to highlight text and change the font size.
- Templates allow you to use Breeze-provided templates, save new templates, replace templates, and delete templates.
- Left Align formats your text with a left alignment
- Center Align formats your text with a center alignment
- Right Align formats your text with a right alignment.
- Table allows you to input tables into your statements
- Full Screen allows you to modify your statement in a fullscreen view rather than a small box.
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More reveals more options.
- Bullet List allows you to add bullet points to the content of your statement.
- Numbered List allows you to add a numbered list to your statement
- Horizontal Line inserts a Horizontal Line that can provide a clear separation between parts of your statement.
- Page Break will insert a page break where you place it in your statement. This can be helpful when writing a cover letter and wanting your statement to be on a separate page.
The following information is available to insert into your statement by using the "Mail Merge" dropdown on the formatting toolbar.
|
Text |
Description |
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Donor's Name. If part of a family, names of adult's will be used (e.g. 'John & Jane Smith') If a "Nick Name" is in the profile, the nickname will be used in place of "First Name". | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Address | Donor's Address | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Start Date | Giving Transactions included start at this date | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| End Date | Giving Transactions included end on this date | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Church Name | Name of your church as defined within "More > Account Settings" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total Amount | The total amount of tax-deductible giving transactions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Itemized List |
An itemized list of each tax-deductible gifts given by the donor, if not modified, the [Itemized_List] includes the columns of Date, Name, Method, Fund, and Amount. Only one itemized list can be mail merged into a statement. [itemized:date:name:method: amount]
[itemized:date:envelope: amount] [itemized:date:fund:method: amount] [itemized:date:envelope:note: amount]
The Options Are:
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| Funds Summary | A list of each tax-deductible fund the donor has given to, along with the total given to each of those funds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pledges Summary |
A list of pledges that were active during any part of the selected date range. There can only be one Pledges Summary Mail Merge per statement, if you need to include multiple pledge summaries include multiple campaign-nnnn options to the [Pledges_Summary] mail merge. [pledges_summary:campaign_name:date_range:amount:remaining:percent] [pledges_summary:campaign_name:amount:remaining:percent] [pledges_summary:campaign_name:amount:remaining:percent:campaign-5823:campaign-28938]
The Options Are:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Envelope Number | The envelope number of the donor (lists all envelope numbers if people in family have different numbers) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Family Members | A list of all family members | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Non Tax Deductible Total Amount | Total amount of non tax-deductible payments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Non Tax Deductible Itemized List |
An itemized list of each non tax-deductible payment. You can also specify which columns show up on the itemized list by adding specific text. [itemized_non_tax_deductible:date:name:method:amount]
[itemized_non_tax_deductible:date:envelope:amount] [itemized_non_tax_deductible:date:fund:method:amount] The Options Are:
|
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| Non-Tax Deductible Funds Summary | A list of each non-tax-deductible fund the donor has given to, along with the total given to each of those funds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Family Name | The last name of the family is surrounded by 'The' and 'Family' (e.g., 'The Smith Family'). If the person is not part of a family, the person's name is used instead (e.g., 'John Smith') | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Family Members | A list of all family members | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Unique ID | A unique number (this number changes each year) Unique ID is pulled from the start date, end date, and Breeze ID. (YYMM) (YYMM) (Breeze ID). For example A statement from 2019 - Dec 2019 and the Breeze ID was 65559384, it would look like this: 1901191265559384 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Today's Date | The current date with the full month name listed (e.g., January 14, 2018) |
Notes:
When using the [funds_summary] and [pledges_summary] mail merge features in the statement reports, the Funds order will populate in a different order for each person receiving their statement based on their giving history. This order is based on the first gift given. For example, if a gift was given to the "General Fund" first, this will show up first in the Funds (and Pledges) Summary. There is no ability to customize this order at this time. See "Itemized List" in the mail merge options for more customization options.
Why You Shouldn't Copy/Paste into Statements
We understand that sometimes a pastor or financial secretary wants to write a letter to be included in the statements you are generating.
The Email and Modify Statement Editor windows don't handle copying/pasting from other platforms. When you copy and paste, hidden formatting is brought into Breeze, which can cause your statements to break when sent or look very messy.
If setting up the letter in Breeze with the formatting tools available is not an option, we recommend creating the content as Plain Text. This can be done using Note Pad (Windows) or Text Editor (Mac). Creating content in these resources ensures no additional formatting coding is hidden in the background.
Another option that may work to remove source formatting is to use COMMAND+SHIFT+V (on Mac) or CTRL+SHIFT+V (on Windows) to paste, as this is supposed to cause the pasted content to exclude or remove any formatting. However, we cannot guarantee this will work.
Additional Information
- For more information on Sending Statements review this article.
- For more information on Ensuring Data is Ready for Statements review this article.
- For a Complete Guide to Creating Giving Statements review this article.
Statement Logic
Breeze has built-in logic that intelligently retrieves the list of statements the user most likely desires. While most users will never need to reference this section, for users who would like a peek under-the-hood to understand this logic better, here is how Breeze determines what statements to retrieve:
When Printing/Emailing Statements for a Specific Person
When printing or emailing statements for a specific person:
- Breeze will generate a statement for that person. The option to generate a statement only exists if that person has Giving history within the specified date range.
When Printing/Emailing Statements from a Giving Transactions Search Result
When printing or emailing statements based on a specific Giving Transactions search result.
- Breeze will generate a statement for everyone in the list.
When Printing/Emailing Statements to Everyone
When printing or emailing statements for everyone use the buttons located at "Giving > Statements":
- If the church's customized giving statement does not include any of the non-tax deductible mail merge fields:
- Statements will be generated for people who have tax-deductible giving
- Statements will be ignored for people who do not have tax-deductible giving (even if they do have non-tax deductible payments)
- If the church's customized giving statement does include any of the non-tax deductible mail merge fields:
- Statements will be generated for people who have tax-deductible giving
- Statements will be generated for people who have non-tax deductible payments (even if they don't have tax-deductible giving)