Certificate of Thanks and Appreciation for Donors

A Certificate is an official document given to announce or officially confirm the award of some honor to a person. It may be given to students to acknowledge their good performance in studies or extracurricular activities or to an employee to acknowledge their hard work or a particularly good performance in a project.

It has been proven through research that when people are acknowledged and appreciated for donating, both the probability of donation and the amount being donated increase. So, when people donate generously to charitable causes, they are often sent certificates of appreciation to show the organization’s gratitude for their contributions.

Acknowledging their efforts helps to motivate them and encourages them to take part in charitable activities in the future too. It also encourages others to take an active part in charity drives and take time and money out to help less-fortunate people.

Certificates text…

A certificate usually has the following entries:

1. The purpose of the document is written on top of the certificate, usually in the middle. It is written in bold letters which in this case is ‘Certificate for appreciation of donation ‘or some other phrase conveying the same meaning. The font size should be bigger than the rest of the document.
2. The name of the organization giving out the certificates. The name should be written in a clear and bold font.
3. A descriptive line announcing the issuance of the certificate
4. The name of the person receiving the certificate.
5. The name of the donation drive for which the certificates are being awarded
6. A line giving the reason for awarding the certificate for example, “for your generous donation”
7. The date when the certificate is being issued
8. The logo of the organization awarding the certificate
9. Signatures of the person on whose authority the certificate is being awarded. If the charity was headed by two people or two different organizations had come together to give out the certificates, both of their signatures would be present.

Useable template…

It is usually printed on good quality paper and laminated to ensure that it stays safe for a long time and to give it a professional look. The certificate must be proofread before sending as the entire purpose of the document is undermined if there is a spelling or grammatical mistake.

If the spellings of the name of the person receiving the certificate are incorrect, it is bound to offend and disappoint them. Similarly, the accuracy of the other information entered is very important as it leaves a very unprofessional impression of the organization. Hence special care must be paid to this aspect.

Often a standard template is made by an organization with the space for the person’s name and date of issuance left blank, so that it can be customized to the occasion and used whenever required. Free templates are available online which can be customized according to the occasion.

Designers can also be hired to make a special customized certificate according to the organization’s requirements. These options depend on the choice and the budget of the organization.

Sample Templates

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